Newborn diaper rash- please help!

wrightpalomo · September 2014

Hi ladies! I'm struggling with diaper rash on my 13-day-old. We had 5 days of CD success after coming home from the hospital. Then, on Tuesday the weather was warm (70ish) and humid and he developed some redness on his butt. I had been being careful to dry him off with a cloth wipe during changes. My mom was here and suggested we switch to disposables until the rash went down. We treated with Waxelene. The disposables are awful at holding in anything. Constant leaks and my husband got totally covered in poo that first day. But the rash went away in less than 24 hours and we went back to cloth on Wednesday night.

The weather had cooled down a bit but was still a bit muggy. The redness came back in a day and after trying flats with no covers for a night we went back to disposables on Friday morning. The rash is gone and we've been keeping his bum covered in Waxelene as a preventative and using the disposables. We've pretty much burned through the free disposables from the hospital and I would really rather be using our cloth. Should I be keeping him out of the covers when we're at home? This is kind of messy and I burn through all of his bassinet sheets in a day as well as several shirts for myself. If that's the way to go then I guess I'll adjust and get some more shirts and sheets but I can't imagine that's the only way. Should I be using the Waxelene at every change as a preventative?

Details below for your expert analysis:

We are BFing. I've been eating like a drunk college student for the last two weeks because I live with a newborn (minus the booze)- do I need to lay off the Siracha and Chinese take-out?

Diapers are OsoCozy flats with a variety of NB covers

I have a Haier apartment-sized washer.

Wash cycle:

Washing every day because he uses SO MANY DIAPERS and my machine is small.

cold quick wash

hot normal wash with 2 tsp Nellie's

cold quick wash

line dry indoors

I noticed a swampy smell in the diapers after washing (but only while wet, once dry the smell went away) around the time of the rash and have upped the Nellie's to 1 TBS... swampy smell has resolved with the additional detergent.

CLLDLL · September 2014

It sounds like you got the wash routine figures out. Any funny smells right when he pees? If not, I'm guessing wetness sensitivity. Try using fleece liners abd/or waxelene as a wetness barrier at every change.

If you don't have any fleece liners you can make some by cutting up one of those million receiving blankets you probably got as gifts. Use a thin fleece one. They won't unravel so you don't have to do any sewing.

wrightpalomo · September 2014

CLLDLL said:

It sounds like you got the wash routine figures out. Any funny smells right when he pees? If not, I'm guessing wetness sensitivity. Try using fleece liners abd/or waxelene as a wetness barrier at every change. If you don't have any fleece liners you can make some by cutting up one of those million receiving blankets you probably got as gifts. Use a thin fleece one. They won't unravel so you don't have to do any sewing.

I only got flannel receiving blankets... I can go buy some fleece from JoAnns but what should I buy? Micro-fleece? I know there is a difference between that and Micro-fiber and I don't want to get the wrong one!

ETA: no funny pee smell since last Friday. He was in the NICU and had IV antibiotics for 2 days and his pee stunk from that.

CLLDLL · September 2014

Yes you want microfleece, not microfiber.

unaveragejane · September 2014

To piggy back on what @CLLDLL, microfleece is the really thin fleece like some baby pajamas are made from. I think my JoAnns carries it near the minky fabrics rather than in the racks with the thick fleece. The thicker stuff like arctic fleece tends to repel and will be annoying as liners.

Also, Waxelene is cloth safe, so you can use it all the time.

Unknown · September 2014

This content has been removed.

wrightpalomo · September 2014

@theultimatesak there were no bumps just a red 1-inch patch all around his anus

It looked so uncomfortable. I think you all are right with the wetness sensitivity. My mom was sure it was from the heat of the covers- but she is very anti- "plastic pants" and really thinks he should be left without a cover most of the day.

As far as the micro-fleece liners, I can just toss them in the wash with the diapers and covers, correct? They won't need any special treatment?

Rrrrrachel · September 2014

It definitely could be wetness sensitivity. I don't like the sound of a smell when they're wet. I don't think they should smell out of the washer. I'm also a pusher of warm rinses.

Brandiewine11 · September 2014

Just wash liners as normal. It could also be just from nb poop. We had the same thing and it cleared right up with a day of grandma el's. Then use your waxelene or some cjs as a barrier. The cover isn't likely to be causing this problem. My DS was born in June and we don't have central air. He was fine. Besides, heat rash looks different than you are describing.

TJ1979 · September 2014

Wait, I thought a bright red rash around the anus was from acidic poo?

mrshudson618 · September 2014

wrightpalomo said:

@theultimatesak there were no bumps just a red 1-inch patch all around his anus It looked so uncomfortable. I think you all are right with the wetness sensitivity. My mom was sure it was from the heat of the covers- but she is very anti- "plastic pants" and really thinks he should be left without a cover most of the day.

As far as the micro-fleece liners, I can just toss them in the wash with the diapers and covers, correct? They won't need any special treatment?

Modern covers are very different than the "plastic pants" your mom is probably thinking of. THose were vinyl, and not breathable at all.

freezorburn · September 2014

Lots of good responses above, the only thing I will add is that you might look at how acidic your diet is. DS definitely did not do well when I had a glass of orange juice. Besides the obvious foods, a lot of the fruits that are in season now are also acidic. We don't tend to think of them that way because the sweetness tends to mask the acidity. But you can pretty much look up the pH of any food you eat.

Rrrrrachel · September 2014

I thought acidic poo from around the anus, too, but that wouldn't go away with disposables would it?

freezorburn · September 2014

Rrrrrachel said:

I thought acidic poo from around the anus, too, but that wouldn't go away with disposables would it?

Yes you are probably right about that.

wrightpalomo · September 2014

Thanks for all the great advice!

I will look into my diet, I've been eating crap so I wouldn't be surprised if that was the cause. I'll also try the micro-fleece liners.

I didn't start the Waxelene until I switched to disposables but I will keep it up if it helps keep this away. I've had him back in cloth today and keeping up with the Waxelene but no liners yet. It seems to be looking good as of my last diaper change!

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Newborn diaper rash- please help!

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