Poor Lucy’s butt has succumbed to the heartbreak of diaper rash. Maybe it’s surprising that we haven’t had an issue with it until now, since she seems to have inherited my sensitive skin. What’s even more surprising is how tenaciously her case is hanging on.
We didn’t even notice this rash until it was quite bad. Tucked away in her little cheeks, we fully appreciated the problem only once her skin started to bleed a little bit (poor girl!). We quickly implemented a regimen of frequent diaper changes, cleaning with warm water and cotton balls, and lots of diaper cream. But Lucy’s newfound three-poops-a-day habit was getting in the way of healing, and the little dime-sized raw spot persisted.
After a week, Lucy and I went to our doctor’s walk-in hours for a quick check and got some good tips. An antibiotic ointment was recommended (which I had considered, but wasn’t sure if it could be used on babies). We were to switch from our normal, lovely Aveeno diaper cream to high-intensity, stinky Desitin. And I was directed to find a way to allow Lucy some naked-butt-time.
With Jon away at some meetings for a few days, diaper changes have become exciting adventures. Desitin is thick and smeary and gets everywhere. Lucy has increased her poops to four a day just for giggles, prompting me to change her diaper about every 90 minutes, just to be sure. And I puzzled for a bit about how to air out my active and crawling daughter’s bottom without risking puddles all over the house.
The thought came to me while emailing my Mom last night: the bathtub! We lined it with towels (to ward off the chill) and popped Lucy in with some bath toys. She loved it! I quickly wiped the faucets clean when I could tell she was about to chew on them. And her butt was nice and dry after a few minutes of airing.
We still aren’t out of the sore-butt woods yet, but I have hope that the end is in sight and Lucy’s will feel brand-spanking-new.
Both my kids are very susceptible to diaper rash because they have such sensitive skin. I use Desitin pretty regularly, but when their case gets really bad, I have a special diaper cream from a compounding pharmacist that works really well. It’s not a prescription or anything – you could perhaps ask your pediatrician if their is a compounding pharmacist in your area.
One other thing I thought of while changing Ella this morning – once you get rid of the rash, you can use vasoline as a preventative measure. That way, if she poops and you don’t catch it right away, it’s not against her bare skin. I use it always on Ella (and used to for Benjamin when he was younger) unless she has a rash in which case I switch to desitin, but I find the vasoline prevents really well – it was working great on Ella until she had to be on an antibiotic for a sinus infection that caused her to poop 10 times a day!
‘…the end is in sight…’
Ahhh, you said that on purpose, didn’t you? You thought you could sneak that one past us, didn’t you. Well, you can’t. My love to you all, even if the end IS in sight…
I know the diaper rash is bad, but the post is funny! =) Glad Lucy liked the bath tub idea. Good call!
I feel your pain. Maddy just went through that with all of the meds she was on. She just had tubes put in her ears and finally the child is feeling really good. It is hard to keep the rash away with cloth diapers when you get some “ghost poops” because you can’t use the creams with the clothe. But one thing we did when maddy went through the same thing is to put a doubler in-between the butt and the diaper and then A&D or vasoline or lanoline (sp? .. nipple cream) on her butt. This way you don’t ruin the diapers and you keep her rash free until she goes back to one poop a day. We are also working on Maddy telling us that she is poopy so we don’t have these “ghost poops” but she could care less!! Good luck.
Good luck with that Katrina – Benjamin still won’t tell us when he’s poopy and he’ll be two in June. Of course, I have heard that girls are quicker about that then boys, but still – good luck!
I also heard that diaper rash is caused by their increase in solid foods. Abby is a frequent pooper and three times a day or more is normal for her. :) I figure that at least things are in working order! I’m definitely a Desitin fan and smear it on her butt at the slightest redness. Actually at our last appt. her doctor even suggested using Lotrimin (the athlete’s foot stuff) because she thought Abby might have a yeast infection in the folds. Who knew!
Have you tried baking soda in the bath water?
We’ve been doing the “infant potty/elimination communication”-thing, and it’s been working for us. (http://www.diaperfreebaby.org/).
Christine (6 mos) poops in the toilet consistently now. Every time I check her diaper, I take her to the toilet, make the “psss”-sound, and she goes! She still wets her diaper, but we’ve only had 2 or 3 poopy diapers in over a month.
I think at some point, she’ll be able to cue me when she has to go, but we’re not there yet. But for now, I mostly like not having to wash out poopy cloth diapers.
I have a friend that actually had to switch from clothe to full time disposables because her 8 month old has had such bad diaper rash. Glad she got some “air time.” That helps so much.
My two kids have sensitive skin too! Kaia is allergic to dyes, and I have yet to figure out what has been setting off Mo’s eczema (we know amoxicillin is one thing, but he hasn’t had that lately) but he has a nice case of it across his shoulders. Had I known how they would be, I would have bought some stock in Benadryl and Cetaphil.
I was reading your post last night and being grateful that we’ve never had a bout of diaper rash when BAM — we got a case today. A bad one too — Ben was really upset and crying & squirming through every diaper change. Poor baby. I think I’m going to try your suggestion of towels in the bath tub tomorrow.
Grace, I am totally impressed with Christine’s potty-usage! Good for you both! I think that is so awesome.
Kindra, I hope Ben’s rash gets better quick! Lucy seemed to calm down when we started using warm water and cotton balls to clean her off — I think the wipes stung a little bit.
Update: Lucy’s butt is a zillion times better! almost completely healed. I think this weekend we may even be able to go back to cloth diapers. Desitin may be stinky, but it sure does help.
Hooray! Just make sure to keep using it until there is no more redness – I’ve made the mistake of switching too quickly from Desitin (because it’s stinky and goopy and well, you know!) and then the rash comes back.