Is diaper rash a symptom of something else?

SavedByLove

DS was upset and fussy today when we got home.  He cried out when a held him and also wouldn't sit flat on his bum.  Turns out his bum is all red (and I'm assuming sore).  I think it's diaper rash and smeared A&D ointment on it.

But I'm curious, is diaper rash a symptom of illnesses?  A side effect of teething?  He's gotten them occasionally before but usually only after a bout of diarrhea,  Just curious if I should be bracing myself for an illness!

april262011

Its hard to cure a really bad diaper rash.  Sometimes they can spiral out of control but I don't think they are always indicative of illness.  Just a note, A and D ointment can often make it worse, depending on the child.  Are you sure it is not yeast?  If it is yeast nystatin cream will clear it up.  You need a prescription for that.  

My son had a bad diaper rash resulting from medicines he was on and it took a long time to cure.  I had to change his diaper every hour during the day to keep the area dry.  An anti fungal cream that the dr gave me helped.  Bordeaux buttpaste did Nothing for him it was so bad.  

Hope you find the solution.  I would def have the pedi look at it.

CLL1001

DD usually gets a mild diaper rash when she's teething...nothing usually too bad but A & D ointment always helps her.

berrybuzz

we had what i thought was a really bad diaper rash cuz we fought them so often and they would be red, open and bleeding. however this one wasnt a diaper wash it was impetigo which is a staph infection, oral antibiotics for 10 days and a topical for 5 days it was gone. 

 so sometimes a rash that persists can be more but most the time its not. 

ladybugpjb

The only times DS has had extra-bad rash, it was caused by introducing new foods.

A&D ointment does nothing for ds. Boudreaux's Butt Paste and Desitin seem to work better for some reason. One time I also got prescriptions for zinc oxide cream and something else from the pedi...I can't remember...something like Neosporin? He had some blisters, so there was concern about infection.

 

SusieBW

DD had a really bad diaper rash when she had hand foot & mouth.  And she was fussy and miserable like that.  About a day after we noticed the bad diaper rash was when she started getting spots everywhere else.

We've found that aquaphor works wonders for diaper rash.

GL, I hope it's only a diaper rash and not something else!

Cwhitaker27

DS never had diaper rash until recently when he was having several bouts of diarrhea which we connected to teething! We love ButtPaste! It works great but can def. be pricey. Drying his bottom with a cool hair dryer after every changing has also helped a lot. If it looks really angry and red it's also possible that it's yeast like a pp said. Hope it passes quickly

SavedByLove

Thanks all.  Still not gone and I'm still not sure.  I'll just have to monitor it for a few days.  Thanks again!

SavedByLove

So mommy intuition was right, haha.  Woke up yesterday with TERRIBLE cold and fever.  Luckily it appears to have been a 24 hour thing for the most part.. I need to start trusting my gut more, haha.