Diaper Rash - Louisville,KY

Updated on April 29, 2008
L.F. asks from Indianapolis, IN
26 answers

My 4 month old baby has horrible diaper rash, and I am treating it. My question is can diaper rash keep a baby from sleeping well? My daughter usually takes 3 really good naps during the day. She wakes up crying and has a poopy diaper. I wasn't sure if this was connected at all.

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So What Happened?

Thanks everyone for all the great advice! I really appreciate it. Her diaper rash has cleared up. I can also see two bottom teeth beginning to poke through.

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M.H.

answers from Lexington on

L.
I know this will sound really weird but believes me, it works wonders. Used it on all 3 of my children when they had diapr rash. I used a yeast infection cream. Cleared up the diaper rash and it didn't bother them. Also, get some of the chuck pads hospitals use and let her lay on that without a diaper on..... Good Luck

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J.N.

answers from Indianapolis on

My son used to have the same problem. Use a skin protection with Zinc Oxide in it. It's a better skin protector than white petroleum jelly. Usually the brand that works the best for me is triple paste.

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S.B.

answers from Indianapolis on

L.-
I didn't read all of the responses, however I would like to give you some ideas that I have used and worked. I have used Desitin, Lotrimin AF, and then over the top of that I would put Aquaphor on, which is like a barrier against urine and feces. Also, if it gets to the point of bleeding, which happened often with my son because he had C-Diff, but we were given a prescription for Riley's Butt Balm/St. V's Bear Butt, it is the same thing however, just different names. It did wonders!! It is a combination of many ingredients which one is a pain killer.
Good luck!!!!

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M.E.

answers from Lexington on

if her rash is bad enough, then yes it can interupt sleeping. poop and pee can burn when a little tushy is already irritated. just make sure she is good and dry before nap. keep a good coating of rash ointment on her at all times. baby gold bond medicated powder really helps too. when she wakes up, get the wet diaper off ASAP. if you can, try to leave her diaper off for a little while and let her little bottom air out. if all this doesn't help, you might have to take her to the ped...she could have a yeast infection and those are a little harder to treat than normal diaper rash.

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S.F.

answers from Indianapolis on

Depending on the age of your baby she could be teething which is causing her diaper rash. Try giving her some tylenol an hour before naps and bedtime, give warm bath and try to give her some time without a diaper on to let her toosh air out and heal faster. That always helped my son. I also recommend using desitin overnight. It is alot thicker and stays on longer that the other products. Good Luck!

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L.S.

answers from Parkersburg on

L. - I totally understand your frustration with diaper rash. To answer your question, yes it can keep your baby from sleeping. I would give both my girls *and still do when they have a rash* a dose of Tylenol or Motrin before putting them to bed for the night. I don't remember what the dose would be for such a young baby, call your pediatrician to find out. Also, if during the day you can put down a towel or thick blanket and just let the baby lay naked instead of putting on a diaper. That will help the rash clear up so much faster. The poopy diaper irritates her rash and hurts that's why she is waking up and crying *probably*. I hope this helps!
LeeAndra

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T.B.

answers from Evansville on

yes it is like anything else that hurts it can keep them from sleeping well. Especially if she goes and it gets on it. Have you tired cornstarch baths with her?

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J.M.

answers from Indianapolis on

ABSOLUTELY! The rash stings and burns and can itch...poor baby! When you change her avoid commercial wipes (while she has a bad rash). Use just a washcloth and warm water. If she has open sores or bleeding I would call the ped. for a prescription cream. It's actually a burn cream and it is miraculous for diaper rash!

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J.S.

answers from Indianapolis on

My daughter (now 3) was the diaper rash queen. I could only use "sensitive" wipes on her. When her rash got bad, I would clean her well and put her fanny-side-up on a towel in front of the sliding glass door for a little air and some sun. Our best results came after a friend recommended mixing Aquaphor and liquid Maalox. The Aquaphor acts as a barrier and helps it heal...I think the Maalox must help neutralize some of the acid. You have to really whip it together (I use a fork) and keep it stored in a container with a lid. I could see an improvement from the first application and it always worked much faster than anything I could find over-the-counter. Also, when she got a little older, we found that our daughter was sensitive to any foods with red dye in them. They = instant rash. He is a totally different baby but my son has not had any trouble with diaper rash--maybe because I use the Aquaphor/Maalox cream from the get-go now. Hope your little one gets some relief.

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T.H.

answers from Fort Wayne on

This may sound a little weird, but try to put Lanolin on it. It's in breast creams (for sore nipples during breastfeeding)and it's very thick. This stuff has helped heal things very quickly. Hope this helps

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A.C.

answers from Charleston on

I have never noticed that a diaper rash could causing sleeping issues in my son. Sounds though like your little one could be teething, which can cause lots of poopy diapers and diaper rashes. Has your pediatrician looked at the rash? My son was getting rashes that I thought were diaper rash but ended up being a yeast infection which looked horribly painful. If that is the case that you will need some prescription cream to clear it up.

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K.L.

answers from Indianapolis on

Not sure of what your using ...but there is this stuff called "butt paste"...It is the Best!!!! You can only get it in a couple places...CVS ....Wal Mart ...It helps alot.

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P.B.

answers from Indianapolis on

The best results I ever had with clearing up a diaper rash is using Desitin onitment. It has zinc in it, put it on real thick after you have clean her with water and soft cloth. Change her diaper real often. If she crys she is probably wet it burns when the tee tee get on the skin. Keep the doing that for a couple of days. It will get better. My granddaughter came to spend the weekend with me and her skin was peeling because it was so bad. This cleared it up.

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A.P.

answers from Indianapolis on

Hi L.!
When my daughter was in diapers, she would have the same thing happen. Her butt would be the worst if I ate a lot of citrus (I breastfed) and after she started eating solids if she ate anything w tomatoes, citrus etc. I used just plain zinc oxide- it is cheaper than desitin (which made my daughters rash worse) and costs a lot less- I think a tube is $1.86 at Wal-mart, some stores keep in the pharmacy area because I guess you can build a bomb with zinc-oxide??? It's just what the pharmasist told me! Also I used Lansono Lanalin breast creme (I know it is spelled wrong- but it is pure lanolin and is in a purple tube) if her butt was really sore- it also works great on chapped cheeks (the ones on her face :) and chapped lips in the winter. Eucerine also makes a good product called Aquaphore- it is water resistant so you dont' have to re-apply everytime you wash your hands- I prefer the tube to the tub bc I dont' like getting it under my nails. Hope some of these products help! Most of them are really cheap and can be used in different ways and different areas of your baby's (and your) body. Oh- the Aquaphore works GREAT on dry cracked heals- better than any foot creme I have ever used.
A.

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S.M.

answers from Indianapolis on

Yes it is very painful. The diaper material rubs on it as they move. The acids in the fecal matter really burn the open red skin. The urine is usually quickly absorbed by most diapers, but the stool just sits on them untill it is changed. That is why she is crying. The best thing to use is balmex. It heals very quickly. Good luck

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K.G.

answers from Fort Wayne on

The one thing I didn't see anyone mention that my mom told me about is Neosporin.

My daughter has trouble with diaper rashes that would start to improve and then get worse again. I had been fighting one for a week or two, and my mom told me that when my sister was a baby the Dr. recommended Neosporin for her diaper rashes that wouldn't go away. It worked GREAT! I had tried A&D ointment, Butt Paste, generic zinc oxide ointment, Johnson's zinc oxide ointment, powder, petroleum jelly, and just about every imaginable combination. Nothing was working. Within 24 hours of using the neosporin, the rash was gone, and the sores were healing.

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S.V.

answers from Lafayette on

Sure it can. If the diaper rash is bad it can be very painful. If she is waking up crying with a messy diaper it is probably because the poop is getting into her rash and irritating it. If the rash persists you may want to talk to a dr since it may be a yeast infection too. I don't kno how long she has had the rash or if it is getting better at all but I know my kids had more yeast infections than regular rashes when they were babies. Just something to keep in mind. Hope this helps.
S. Vaughan
Avon Unit Leader
Start your own business for only $10, ask me how!

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K.W.

answers from Louisville on

I am so sorry to hear that! When my son was a baby, we ran into that a few times. My ped ended up telling me to put Vaseline on his bottom instead of diaper cream, which keeps the poop from making contact with the skin and further irritating it. A lot of diaper creams just made him scream when his bottom was already red and chafed. Anyway, maybe slather a good bit on vaseline before bed so if she poops at night, it won't stick to the skin and will be much easier to wipe off, so no further irritation from lots of wiping.

Good luck!

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S.M.

answers from Indianapolis on

The poopy can really irritate the diaper rash, for that's what causes it anyway. Make sure you change her immediately after she has a poopy. Try to keep it dry, let her run around naked for awhile (I know it's dangerous :)). Also, watch what she eats. That could also cause diaper rash... blueberries, citrus fruits, etc.

I use A & D ointment first, then rub Balmex over the A & D. The A & D heals the rash, the Balmex prevents any urine/stool from touching the rash.

Oh, and make sure you aren't dealing with a yeast infection which is very common in girls.

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A.C.

answers from Evansville on

If my son's bottom is raw, he will wake up early crying from his nap because the urine burned him. I always change his diaper right before nap and put on plenty of oinment to help.

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L.C.

answers from Terre Haute on

yes diaper rash can be irritated from the stool in the diaper. Ideally it's best to leave your diaper loose and let air help heal the diaper rash faster. Diaper rash is from heat and sweat in the diaper and add stool to it, it begins the breakdown of skin. Since air is not getting to the skin, your baby feels uncomfortable. Try loosing the diaper, or changing the baby more often, adding medicated powder to the bottom after using a warm washcloth (instead of a wet wipe) instead of regular baby powder. The wet wipe has chemicals in it that can break the skin our more and make her rash worse. My daughter gets rashes around her ostomy stoma and her gtube and I treat it just like I would treat a bottom rash. Good luck and I pray it helps you as it does me.

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M.S.

answers from Bloomington on

You don't mention how old your babe is... but have you introduced solids recently? Sometimes new food will do that, in which case you have to figure out which food is causing that rash and eliminate it, temporarily. If it's not solids, it could also be teething- many teething babies end up with mysterious diaper rash.

Definitely use a good diaper cream, lay her on a towel so her bottom gets some air, give her a gentle bath with plain water.

Good luck!

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D.V.

answers from Bloomington on

ABSOLUTELY! Oh my gosh are they painful! It is also connected to the poop. If she is waking up with a poopy diaper you need to try to keep her up until she poops and you can change her diaper before she goes to sleep. That's about 20 minutes after she eats. So you might try feeding her a little earlier so you can keep nap time on the same schedule. It is essential that you keep her bottom dry and clean. Change her diaper more than you think you need to. Let her go bare bottom as well for a few minutes at every change and after her bath. She may cut loose on a towel but that cleans up. Strait Zinc oxide ointment is the BEST before they get going in a bad way. I've also found that Butt Paste is EXCELLENT for seepy bloody rashes.
Lastly, I haven't read the other posts here about this but, if her poo smells like burnt rubber, change her formula right away to a gluten free formula and ask the Doctor to check her for Celiac Disease.

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S.M.

answers from Charleston on

L., I pray your baby will not go through what my son did when he was about 2. Everything we were doing to help him was worsening his rash, which became scary to look at! Turns out, he had a FUNGUS that is encouraged by diaper creams, and so much else that everyone (including doctor's offices by phone) were advising us to use.

Here's the only thing that immediately gave him relief AND cleared it up lightening quick: Loop Pharmacy (where my husband works) makes something called FANNIE CREAM or something like that. Bill McFarland (pharmacist/owner) created this stuff, and I swear it should be marketed better. It has zinc in it, which I think is the active healing ingredient. But sweetheart, it is AWESOME. I used it later for any other kind of skin problem that any of us has had and most of the time with great success.

Loop's number is ###-###-####.

Let me know what happens. Wanting comfort for your baby!

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D.N.

answers from Fort Wayne on

Have you talked to your dr about it? it might be something more then a diaper rash. my daughter would get what i thought was daiper rash but then the dr gave me some cream to put on her beause she was having a recation to diaper rash cream. i know its old school but the only thing that would not break her out is corn starch. after i started using that she never got a rash again and she is 16 months old now. sometimes we need to think outside the box. lol

hope this helps

L.B.

answers from Dallas on

Aww! Poor baby! How old is your baby? She could be teething which is causing the diaper rash and sleeplessness. Its a vicious cycle! Try putting orajel on her gums, give her some Tylonal before naptime and pour on the cornstarch (pure cornstarch from the baking section, not the Johnson's powder with cornstarch)! Good luck! I hope this helps! It worked like a dream for us!

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