Every mother, not matter how careful they are, no matter how immaculate she keeps her baby, will deal with diaper rash eventually. It can be caused by many things: infrequent diaper changes, allergies, illness, or seemingly for no reason at all.
As a day care provider in my youth, a mother of ten, and a foster mother of more than fifty children, I’ve seen my share of diaper rashes over the years. I’ve learned a few tricks for healing them, and for making them less painful for baby in the meantime.
First and foremost, keep baby as dry as possible. No matter what kind of diaper you use, cloth or disposable, expensive or cheap, keeping the baby’s skin clean is the first priority in diaper rash prevention. If baby seems to keep getting a rash, try changing diaper brands first, and then soap brands. Hang the diapers on a clothes line for a bit to let the sunshine disinfect them (you may want to run them through the dryer for a few minutes too, to soften them up either before or after) Put vinegar or tea tree oil in the diaper pail to kill germs, and baking soda to cut the smell.
But when all this fails, and it will, and you are faced with a red, chapped or even bleeding baby bottom, and a wailing infant from the pain, here are a few things to try.
First, don’t use the store bought baby wipes. Most of them have alcohol, and will burn when you touch them to the rash. Instead use a washcloth or paper towels, the softer the better.
You can put a squirt of baby oil, olive oil, jojoba oil or some other kind of oil onto baby’s bottom first, and then wash him. This will not only make it more soothing to the baby and help with the cleaning, but it will also coat his bottom and create a barrier to keep the ammonia or bowel movement off his fanny. Vaseline is another good ointment to coat the skin with to help protect it.
If the baby is really young, hold them over the sink and wash them with mild soap or plain water, maybe even just letting the water run over their skin. The less wiping you have to do on a sore bottom, the better.
If you have an older toddler, don’t wipe at all. Put them in the tub, without the stopper at first and just let the water run while they play in it until they are fairly clean. Then put the stopper in, and put a good sized glug of apple cider vinegar and a handful of Epsom salts in the bathwater. Let the baby play for a while as he sits in this water. It will clean him, sooth the diaper rash, and help it begin to heal. You can do this several times a day. A toddler can never have too many baths!
You can also consider letting baby sleep without a diaper. My favorite way to do this is to layer the bed first. Depending on the baby’s age, and what you feel comfortable with is safe for baby, you can use several crib blankets, bath towels, or even smaller hand towels. Then, during the night, check the bed once in a while, and remove the wettest layer, leaving the drier blanket or towel under baby. As messy as it is, this is one of the best things you can do to help heal the diaper rash.
Remember if diarrhea is the cause of the rash, to hold off giving the baby milk (except for breast milk) and citrus juices until the baby is well. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to withhold these things anyway, even if baby doesn’t have diarrhea, because they are often the cause of the rash.
If all these remedies fail, a trip to the doctor is probably in order, but that is rarely necessary. You can also buy many different store bought diaper rash remedies, but I’ve seen over the years that these tips usually work well, and are much less expensive!
