The Dreaded Diaper Rash!

The dreaded diaper rash... You will face it, regardless of the amount of care you take diapering your baby.

Diapers do not cause diaper rash. It is wet nappies and soiled diapers that do. So stop blaming diapers for diaper rashes. Now a days diapers are softer and even help babies sleep better. My little one wakes up so frequently while wearing cloth nappies, but sleeps like a log while wearing diapers. And I sleep much better knowing my baby is sleeping comfortably and I also get to sleep longer- waking up only to feed her.

Every time your baby poops frequently, or more importantly, stays in a wet/soiled diaper, your little one is going to develop diaper rashes.

It goes from a redness, you might not notice, to angry red spots along with an angrier red background in the bum area.

This is why it is extremely important to check for rash at every nappy or diaper change.

And this is also why you need air time to your baby's bum.

As expected, my baby also developed diaper rash, and would cry so miserably every time we tried to clean her bum (it's very very heart-breaking to have your little kid crying their lungs out the first time).

And though that first time was over, I was scared of rashes developing again. So after a lot of research and some great advice from 'the baby book' gifted to me by a senior, I found ways to reduce the occurrence and severity of rashes in my baby.

Mind you, I cannot prevent diaper rashes from happening, but I did successfully reduce the severity and frequency of rashes. Now even if my baby has a diaper rash I don't have to stop travelling/ stop using diapers completely, and my baby does not become uncomfortable through the duration of diaper rash.

You just have to manage better. And prevention is better than cure. And yet, even after all your preventive strategies and planning, the baby will end up having a rash.

It's normal. It's a part of being a baby.

Pathology of a diaper rash:

• Baby poops
• Baby pees
• Bacteria from poo breaks down urine to give ammonia
• Ammonia attacks baby's sensitive bum skin to cause redness
• That is why anything that keeps the skin protected is good for prevention of a rash- like a film of vaseline or ointment
• And obviously, if the causative agents- pee and poo are not in contact with the skin, the issue will not arise!

Preventing a diaper rash:

• Change your baby's diaper every 2-4   hours, regardless of your assumption about the amount of poo or pee in it, especially in very young babies
• Clean the baby
• Remember to air the diaper region/ let it dry every time you change the diaper
• As much as possible, let your baby wear cloth nappies between diaper changes
• I do this twice a day with my kid
• Apply Desitin/ Sebaderm/ Vaseline petroleum jelly to your baby's bum after every diaper change
• I use vaseline when there's no rash and desitin when there is even the slightest rash

Managing a diaper rash:

Yeah, so this is the tough part

• When your baby does develop a diaper rash- STAY CALM
• It is going to be alright. Yes, your baby will cry and squeal
• Do not blame yourself, and do not feel hurt when others blame you for your baby developing a diaper rash (it's not your fault!)
• AVOID DIAPERS/ WET CLOTH NAPPIES as much as possible
• I use diapers when my baby has rashes only while she is sleeping and when we have to travel- and only and only for that duration
• Use cloth nappies the whole day - you will see improvement by the end of the day
• Apply ointments specific for diaper rash on and off- one nappy no ointment, next nappy no creams at all
• And definitely change wet nappies as soon as possible, remove the wet cloth or mat underneath the baby too
• Any wetness is going to cause rashes. Wetness = rashes!!

Last of all- stay calm. A diaper rash should not take away your ability to play with your baby, carry on routine activity or cause you to worry endlessly. Its a rash- and like most rashes- it is manageable.

Happy Diapering!

Cloth napies and their management!

Cloth nappies, a bane and a boon for all of us. Boon- because they help prevent diaper rashes and a bane for all the cleaning up we have to do after using a cloth nappy!

As I have mentioned in my blog about diapers, I use cloth nappies in the following situations:

• 2-4 nappy consecutive nappy changes in the morning and 1-3 consecutive nappy changes in the evening on a regular basis- that comes to a few hours in the morning and the same in the evening.
• When my poor baby has diaper rash- just using cloth nappies and immediately changing them when they are soiled helps.
• When there is not much time between a diaper change and her bath or if I have to travel with her, and there's still time left before we leave.

Cloth nappies- we got a set off the net, there were 24, and I received another 6 as a part of a gift set. I assumed this was the most useless product as she was comfortably using diapers constantly for the first 3 weeks- without diaper rashes- because she soiled her diapers so frequently that we had to change them frequently- just like cloth nappies.

The problem started when she first got diaper rash. And her bum was an angry red with red splotches! It was horrible to have her crying and screaming every time we cleaned  her. But then, after I spoke to a friend who is a paediatrician, I used cloth nappies along with a suitable diaper rash ointment and in a day it had settled to just a visible rash without the baby being too uncomfortable.

Yes, cloth nappies are a blessing! And they are very useful, especially the ones I bought online- they are neat, and easy to handle.

But how do we use cloth nappies such that we don't soil the bed/ mattress, our own clothes and the babies clothes.

Steps in managing a cloth nappy-

• Cloth nappies are quite obvious, they have the tying strings and loops to hold the strings over the closed nappy.
• I place a plastic mat, and a folded old dupatta/ folded towel/ cut and folded pieces of bedsheets/ pillow covers/ or 'godadis' over the mat
• The reason for using folded cloth pieces is for easy absorption of pee (due to all the layers) and also once the cloth is wet, just unfold the cloth, wash it in water, wring it, and hang it as spread out as possible on a clothes line! I collect all such clothes in the morning and wash them with detergent the next day, all set to be used for the next cycle- which i call nappy program!
• 'Godadi' is a special type of a very thin mattress, although the term is not specific to this. My mum in law got 6-7 of these made by a tailor friend of hers. Its just layers of soft old clothes and covered with another soft cloth. You can use it as a little bed you can keep the baby in while handling the baby. Especially when the baby is sleeping or is in the arms of guests etc. I leave the wet godadi hanging by its edges on a clothes line, these absorb much better, but take a little longer to dry. And the best part is you can wash these like any other cloth. So along with the cloth pieces, this too is washed with detergent!

 

• Coming to the nappy!
• Nappies are worn the same way taped diapers are. They are just a little loose!
• Sometimes, when it is a little colder, i just tie a folded cloth piece round and round her, like a lungi!
• once the nappy and underlying cloth are soiled (my baby starts wailing if she dirties the nappy even a little bit), I simply discard them into a small bucket. It is in this bucket that I collect the next few nappies and collectively manage them as follows.
• A nappy soiled only with pee, is dunked into water, wringed and hung to dry, and washed with the other clothes from the nappy program the next day
• A nappy that has even the littlest bit of poo on it, is washed in cold water (apparently cold water removes poo stains better) and i have a small hard plastic brush for washing clothes that I use exclusively for washing off poo from any cloth. This nappy, with its stain but not actual poo, is left hanging till the time to wash it comes. Along with the other nappies, these stained nappies are also washed (mostly the next day morning or the same day evening)
• I have noticed that leaving these nappies in the sun after the detergent wash, completely removes the stain! And even if a stain does remain, I just wash it again with the next load. Repeated washing will take care of even the worst stain.
• The point here is to reduce your work load as much as possible. Once you set a routine or a protocol for managing such things, nappy change, which seemed cumbersome to me earlier, feels like a piece of cake. OMG, that sounds gross. Ok, not a piece of cake, but certainly not tiresome!

Sometimes I feel all my neighbours must know when my baby has rashes... There's a series of 20-25 nappies drying in the sun on those days!

On the days that i have to travel and my baby has worn a diaper for a longer time, I just let her wear cloth nappy in between diaper changes, so she gets the airtime she gets everyday, atlast after we come home.

Just this doesn't prevent diaper rashes for my kid. But it has reduced the frequency. Now she gets a rash only when she poops much more frequently or when, obviously, she has stayed in a soiled diaper much longer. The latter I can control!

  

Changing diapers and keeping your baby's bum rash free!

Diapers!!

I had no idea this, of all things, would cause me the most confusion!

At the hospital, when my baby was a tiny mewling bundle of joy, that kept sleeping, 'Teddyy' diapers were used. They were the smallest size and were provided by the hospital. These were taped diapers. More on that below....

But once I got home and the stock I had brought with me from the hospital was over I had to get new ones.

So I called the local pharmacy for new born diapers. And by a stroke of luck they did not have 'Teddyy' diapers, but they did have 'Pampers New baby' diapers.

Here's something you should know, till my baby was about a month old, I preferred taped diapers.

Taped diapers are better in the early stages because we, as new parents are more comfortable handling these diapers as compared to diaper pants. You know, with all the delicate little hands and legs! 

Taped diapers are easier to put on, and take off and they provide a snug fit- which diaper pants may not considering the very variable size of new borns.

So here's how I used diapers for my baby in the first 2-3 months.

• 0-30 days: Pampers new baby diapers 
• 30-50 days: Huggies pants size small
• >50 days: Pampers diaper pants size small
• >4 months: Huggies pants size medium

Once the huggies small size diapers started leaking or leaving red marks (the same as ours if we wear a tight clothing for a long time- where the elastic causes red imprints due to it being tight), I thought of changing to huggies medium. But- that would have been a bit too large for my baby. So we tried changing brands. And because we had tried Pampers before, it was the obvious choice. It was a perfect fit! 

What i intend to say is, sometimes, instead of waiting for a baby to fit into the next level of the diaper, try switching brands. The sizes of different diapers differ from brand to brand. Though not much, but enough to be used in the transition from one size to the next.

Once my baby turned 3 months, she would only pee regularly, she poops once in 5-8 days- which is normal. I just wonder why there is only input and no output sometimes!
My friends have told me that once she starts taking liquids and semi solids and not just breast milk, she will poop like a normal human being ;)

Coming to changing a diaper!

This is how I change my little one's diapers.

Follow these steps and in no time you'll be changing diapers like a pro!

No, seriously, it should be a calm and peaceful process. I will tell you why-

Steps for a diaper change:

• Place a plastic mat on an even surface (Eg. The bed, the back seat of your car, the grassy ground in a garden, an even surface on the way to the mountain top or wherever it is that you are!)
• Place a folded cloth covering the bottom half of the mat (This is how I make a changing area, I am not sure the diaper changing table is a huge trend where I live) So in case your baby does pee or poo, while changing diapers, you just need to take care of the folded cloth piece!

• Lay your baby on the mat, with the lower back and bum on the cloth
• Remove soiled diaper (Taped diapers- just open the tapes and open it, pant diapers- tear the seams at both sides and open it)
• Do not immediately remove the diaper, use a wipe to clear any major poop you see, discard the wipe in the diaper and gently remove he diaper while lifting your baby's bum by holding his/her legs (Be careful if you're changing after a feed, lifting a baby's bum too high or folding it over the abdomen can cause baby to throw up a bit)
• Take a fresh wipe and gently clean the entire area, including the folds (Poo often gets stuck in the folds, even if you cant see it)
• Clean from the back as well, taking special care to wipe off the lower back, the natal cleft and the region around the anus
• Check for redness, rashes and any new poo the baby might have done after you're done cleaning
• Let the area dry, completely. It takes a minute or to- just cover your baby for a bit and play with them (in case i am running late, or i dab the area with a soft paper tissue, but only if I am in a hurry)
• Apply a good amount of vaseline petroleum jelly/ or whatever cream you are using for the baby to take care of rashes) in the entire bum region
• In case of taped diapers: Carefully place the diaper below the baby's bum, close it over the front and pull each end and tape it shut for a snug fit

[Images are from Pampers]

• In case of pant diapers: Slide the diaper over the babies legs, as if making him/her wear knickers or shorts, pull up from the slides, lift the baby's bum and pull up the diaper from behind, finally check from the front and back to see that diaper is worn well
• See to it that the frill at the sides is not poking your baby, and should be comfortably snug, not too close, not too loose, so gently pull the diaper outwards once you've finished putting it on the baby

Chances are, if your baby is sleeping, there is not going to be much pee or poo during the nap. This holds true particularly for babies well into the second month. in the first one to one and half months, the baby is going to pee and poo much more frequently, regardless of sleep. My baby who has recently started sleeping a little longer (5-6 hours or good days) does not soil her diaper too much while she sleeps- I don't need to wake her up to change her diaper every 4 hours in such a situation.

Diapers are preferable when traveling or when the baby has to sleep a longer time (3-4 hours)

For my baby, I let her wear cloth nappies for a couple of hours in the morning and then again for a few hours in the evening, and I change her diaper once every 1.5-2 hours, if she is active and, once she is done feeding and burping after a nap.

Don't worry though, you will find your own schedule when it comes to diaper changes. Cloth nappies are going to cause you grief if you try to get your baby to sleep while wearing a cloth nappy - it will get wet- and it will most certainly lead to disturbed sleep- and that is going to leave you with a very cranky baby!

Happy Diapering!

My next post will be about how I manage cloth nappies!