what 'green' barrier cream or other advice for sore skin?

[hovely]

Ds (13 months) uses motherease onesize with fleece liners, but recently his poor skin is getting very sore. All round the tops of his legs is red, like he is wearing red shorts, and now the skin is peeling off. It's not 'shiny' and I don't think it's thrush. he's also developed a little rash in the folds and creases. If I use sudocrem it just gets awfully dry, and peels. It seems like he needs a strong moisturiser/barrier. I've tried kamillosan, sudocrem, almond oil, green baby salve, and some other concoctions based on beeswax and chamomile. he gets his bum washed in a mixture of camomile and redbush tea (yes, we are completely barking in this house). I haven't changed washing liquid or his food, the only thing we've had recently is occasional bubble bath.
Any ideas? I'm not keen on metanium, it might sort out the rash but I think it would hurt his red patches, and it doesn't seem to be a barrier.

Have you tried Bepanthen? It's made by those evil oppressors at Roche, but I've found it much more effective and nicer to use than Sudocrem

try egg white. give it a little whisk, just slightly... and then apply it to sore bits. It will dry and form a barrier...

old fashioned zinc and castor oil cream from boots is what i use, and it a very good barrier. A mix of vaseline and metanium has been recommended to me in the past for sore bums, but i have never needed to try it.

starlover I never knew...
hovely we're all barking in this house too.
Do you make sure your ds is completely dry before putting a new nappy on him? I find that dd will get sore if I put a nappy directly onto damp skin....??

i thought "barriers" weren't a good idea because they stop things from healing quickly...

The Weleda calendula nappy change cream is very good and smells lovely. I would also recommend the Active Birth Centre's nappy gel. Found both excellent - I use the gel after shaving or waxing as it really soothes.

I was told not to use egg white if skin has broken - I think it was because of the outside chance of contracting salmonella.

I used kamillosan (chamomile (I think or maybe calendula) nipple cream!) for all sorts of sore patches and it worked wonders.

When dd(1) gets red and sore (not very often thankfully) I let her run round in the kitchen without a nappy on for as long as possible esp first thing in the morning and before she goes to bed. I also use camomile tea to wash her and occasionally use some zinc and castor oil cream but find that no nappy at all is best where possible.
(I use water with teatree oil and lavender to clean the floor when she wets it so obv barking in here as well. DD is starting to 'help' mop up her mess too which just adds to the fun as she spreads it all over the floor . Luckily she has regulary in pooing so rarely had any accidents with that)

thanks all for helpful suggestions.
Bundle, that's a good point about letting things heal, I am mixing up prevention and cure to some extent. Once the skin is healed/rash free, then I think something moisturising is required, and perhaps 'barrier' is the wrong word to use.
Dannie, following your advice I had a good look at bepanthen, but one of the main ingredients is lanolin and after Kamillosan was such a disaster I think ds may have a lanolin allergy.
starlover, egg white sounds interesting! I guess you can use it for chicken pox etc as well.
In fact I remembered that for a while we were using aloe vera gel, so I plastered Ds in that today and his sore bits are much better. Have to try something else on the rash however. main drawback is that the gel is extremely expensive.

Hi hovely, Is the rash any better? What sort of wrap are you using ? have you recently started using fleece liners ? I do hope its improved, let us know.

One of my friends (much more eco conscious than me as I use metanium) swears by Earth Friendly Baby products . I think there are 2 creams for 2 different jobs IYSWIM. They can be ordered online on the link, but I think Sainsbury's also stock the line,

this sounds really gross, but my friend has recently tried emu fat for her ds's eczema and it's apparently a bit of a cure all.

no good if you're a veggie but it's from www.mezza.co.uk

sounds revolting to me... but I'm a veggie...

forget about the emu fat - friend said it said on the label you should avoid using it on babies.

My ds gets the same sort of dryness that you describe, and I find that Vaseline really helps to soften his skin up again.

We've also dropped the fleece liners, as they seemed to heat his skin up too much, and now just use triple folded flannalette sheet.

Also, if it gets bad (whenever he's getting a new tooth ) we do as much no nappy time as possible, and when he's got to have a nappy on, I use terry squares with no wrap so I can tell the second he gets wet.

Thanks for asking bensmum. It isn't really getting better. I did try the dreaded metanium, which helped with the rash, and i kept it off the dry bits, but the skin where the rash was is now terribly dry and starting to split. the aloe vera gel has helped a bit with the dry patches round the legs, but they are still very red. i have tried vaseline in the past, and it doesn't really seem to help, likewise the weleda creams (which do smell delicious). I use riki wraps with the aplix fastening, and it is possible they are chafing. I usually slip a fleece liner in across the tummy to keep the edge of the wrap off DS's skin, but maybe it's doing more harm than good. DS is an unpredictable pooer, so nappy-off time is rather fraught with risk, but I'll definitely try to do it a bit more. Not helped by DH stalking about saying "god, I haven't seen his skin for a week, it's terrible isn't it, what have you been doing?".

Hi Hovely
My DS has exactly the same problem and I was going to post a message myself. I am also using motherease one size but am using airflow wraps (poppas). His rash did improve once I stopped using disposable liners and moved to fleece but now the rash has got worse again. I don't think its nappy rash though as it is mainly wear the edges of the nappy and wrap rub (shorts like you describe). Was going to try stripping the nappies (washing 3 times without any detergent) incase it was a build up of washing stuff. You can also get silk wraps but they are about £2 each - don't know if they work though. Its so depressing isn't it. I'm almost considering going back to disposables as he looks so sore. I must say they it doesn't seem to bother him too much though - but he does scratch it like made when I take his nappy off poor little mite. If you find anything works please let me know and vice versa. Good luck x

One thing I forgot to mention is that it really improved when I stopped using baby wipes and started using plain old warm water. I found that bathing him nightly in water also helped but now we're back to square one so who knows!!

another vote for weleda nappy change cream - though don't get it mixed up with weleda baby moisturiser cream like i did one time -(they come in almost identical boxes)

Have pondered over Weleda Calendular a few times but will now definately give it a try. Thanks for the tip about which one - will pop to health shop in the morning....

hemp cream from body shop?

Hi Evesmama - did you find Hemp cream worked?

Hi Hovely and Allycat

I've found the Active Birth Centre's nappy gel very good in these situations. Would also just like to echo the advice about using water, not wipes, and letting it dry before putting the nappy back on.

Cornflour is a good substitute for old-fashioned talc to help dry their 'creases' (unless anyone has a corn allergy of course).

hth

Hi SamN Will try weleda calendula first and they if it doesn't do the trick will def try active birth gel. Thanks for the tip.

I read that if you soak a disposable nappy liner in strong chamomile tea and put it in the nappy wet that it is really soothing. Not tried it myself though. It might be worth a try...