Unresponsive and Unexplained Rash

Updated on April 19, 2008
L.H. asks from Austin, TX
13 answers

I've tried ALL the "typical" remedies for the rash that my 9 mo. old boy-charge (I'm his nanny) has along with his parents who have repeatedly taken him to his pediatrician. The only thing, so far that he responds to a LITTLE BIT is cloth diapering with a diapering system that keeps the moisture away like disposables do. Still, the rash is pretty bad and I wonder what NON-CONVENTIONAL REMEDIES some of you may have had some success with under these type of circumstances.
Thanks so much.
L.

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S.D.

answers from Houston on

As stated by another Mommy, ARBONNE's baby line works wonders!
The line consists of a wash, lotion, DIAPER RASH CREAM, and two other products.
My son has exema and I use the lotion and diaper rash cream when he has a flare-up and within a days time he is back to normal. Nothing else I have ever tried has worked as efficiently as this line. Also, it is recommended by many pediatricians. Take a look at arbonne.com when you get a chance to research.

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M.R.

answers from Austin on

Could be a yeast infection (yes boys can get it after an antibiotic). He needs to see a Dr.

2 moms found this helpful

S.D.

answers from Dallas on

OK, you asked for unconventional. Here it goes....
1. my lil guy was on antibiotics a lot and got a yeast infection. I didnt realize that boys could get it. Now i know! I'm sure the doc would have said something about that if they thought that was what it was.

2. You're going to think i'm crazy, but this stuff is a God-send! Corona. You can find it at a pharmacy or farm and home supply store. Its completely safe, but has much thicker consistency than desitin, buttpaste, etc. I'm sure this sounds crazy...i thought so too, but when you're desperate you'll try anything, right?! AND IT WORKED WONDERS!!! It worked better than any prescription i got from a doc!

2 moms found this helpful
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K.K.

answers from Killeen on

boy do I have bad rash experience!!! ALL 3 of my children have super sensitive skin and I have to be especially careful what I use on their clothing, in their baths, and their bottoms.

With regards to getting rid of the existing rash...STOP using any diaper wipes on this child. Use only warm water and a gentle, non-alcohol, fragrance free soap only. Incase of urine only simply allow the child to air dry, then put on a clean dry diaper.

Then, each night give the child a bath with baking soda mixed in to the water. This will help alleviate any pain/itching associated with the rash.

Then, while it is expensive, I HIGHLY suggest using Aveeno brand product for the rash. Aveena has several product specialized for rashes, sensitive skin, and exzema and it has worked every time for my little ones. IT will still take 3 to 5 days to get rid of all of the rash. but this should alleviate the pain, and redness and prevent it from getting any worse.

Depending on how bad the rash is, and if the baby is susceptible to drying out from bathing or not, you can bath him twice a day with the baking soda.

I would pay close attention when purchasing ANY baby product for this child in making sure that it is alcohol and fragrance free.

While Luvs and Pampers are both popular brands for diapers and offer a cloth-like diaper with absorbancy of disposables, the BOTH have a fragrance in them. My children brak out every time they wear them.

I have to purchase special newborn, fragrance free hypoallergenic baby wipes in order to use wipes at all, otherwise it's the air dry method for urine only and the wash cloth method for poopy diapers. And I can tell within a couple of hours if anyone has used something not approved, wipes or diapers.

The above may not be how this child got his rash, but it is likely to work in getting rid of it...If the rash is from an unknown source I suggest, once getting rid of the rash, you experiment with baby wipes and diapers until you discover what one or combination caused it.

You may also need to change the child the minute he wets/poops until you can get rid of the rash.

I hope this helped you and his parents in some way. ;-)

1 mom found this helpful

A.R.

answers from Houston on

ARBONNE Baby Care line works great! It does not have all the harsh chemicals that other products have. It is designed for babies and people with extremely
sensative skin.
Go to
www.arbonne.com
#10408107
Check it out and le me know if you would like me to have the company send it right to your door. You can have it on the babies skin in 3-5 days.
Peace,
A.
____@____.com

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M.T.

answers from Austin on

gold bond baby powder my daughter is very prone to diaper rash and its the only thing that has worked

1 mom found this helpful
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R.C.

answers from San Angelo on

I've had more luck with Blue Star Ointment for everything from athlete's foot to fever blisters on the lips. Inexpensive, and it seems to work where others fail.

Good luck!

1 mom found this helpful
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S.L.

answers from Houston on

One thing that an older aged pharmacist told me a long time ago with my first daughter, and, it works like a miracle (even for yeast infections), is the following mixture.

Tinactin (foot fungus) cream & hydrocortisone cream, mix equally & spread generously. Its a miracle mixture if you ask me, and, clears away withing a few diaper changes. Over the counter, a little pricey for the tinactin cream, but, worth it for your baby's relief!

1 mom found this helpful
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R.M.

answers from Houston on

I will apologize upfront for the length of this, but unfortunately I have alot of experience in this area!

Corona cream (find at feed stores or online). You've heard this already, but here's more info on it. It's an animal ointment, but don't let that scare you off. Here's why...my close friend had a toddler in Tx. Children's undergoing chemo treatments for leukemia. They could not give him anything that was not approved by his doctors. When nothing prescribed worked for his chemo-induced rashes, the doctors agreed to have the pharmacist test the Corona. The pharmacist approved it, saying that it was far superior to anything he could prescribe. It kills bacteria and fungus.

I used it on my baby, and it was a lifesaver. No more fire-red, bloody rashes. Instant soother.

My baby had problems with rashes and allergies after I stopped breast-feeding him at 8 mos. old. I, too, went to cloth diapers (Fuzzi Bunz are what I use). They helped tremendously! I use cloth baby wipes, with a natural cleaning solution containing tea tree oil and lavender. I found both at www.nurturedfamily.com.

My son is now 2 years old. He appeared to me to get rashes and/or congestion every time I fed him particular foods. The rash would start off as dots on his skin, from the diaper area and sometimes all the way up to his neck, and then worsen to the red skin with dots in the diaper area, which is typical of a yeast infection. I believed the entire rash cycle was starting with food allergies. So, I had him tested for allergies, using NAET, an alternative approach. You can google it to learn about it. We had great success treating his allergies(which were just about everything he ate, chemicals, airborne allergies, etc) with NAET. It sounds very weird, my husband thought I was nuts, but it worked and now my hubby thinks I'm a weird genius.

Since using the cloth diapers, Corona, and doing the NAET, I have tried disposable diapers on a few occasions when I forgot to wash diapers. Here's what I found: non-chlorine diapers are fine for my child. I find them at Whole Food and online. Any regular disposable diaper other than non-chlorinated turns his bottom fire-engine red in an hour or less. What's worse than the diapers, though, are the baby wipes. He screams within a minute of a conventional baby wipe touching his skin. The disposable wipes that I can use on him are the 1st Generation non-chlorine wipes, and Lansinoh brand wipes for breast-fed babies.

A few words of caution about cloth diapers and any cream you put on the skin: Do not use cream and then place a cloth diaper directly on it. Use a liner that will touch the cream instead of the diaper touching the cream. Wash the liners completely separate from the diapers. Not using the liners, or washing them together w/ the diapers forms a shield on the diaper that causes them to wick the moisture away, therefore making the diaper leak instead of absorb the fluid. Also, if you use fabric softener, either liquid in the wash or sheets in the dryer, you will get a coating on the dryer which will then be transferred onto the diapers, which will form a film on the diaper that causes the moisture to wick away from the diaper, therefore causing leaking.

Next, colloidal silver. Get at Whole Foods, or other health food stores. Get a minimum of 50ppm (the strength), and be sure it is in a dark glass bottle. If there is bacterial infection, this will clear it up, without harmful antibiotics that will just increase the yeast infection rash. Yeast and bacterial infections in a rash often go together. Just use a cotton ball, pouring the colloidal silver on the cotton ball and dabbing lightly on the skin.
Give lots of probiotics, like acidopholus and bi-fidopholus. Again, find at Whole Foods or other health food stores. Be sure they are refrigerated, as this helps them to last longer and be higher in number. You can find them in liquid, powder, or capsules. Easy to put in a bottle, applesauce, yogurt, etc. Probiotics are beneficial bacteria that are naturally present in the digestive system. When they are killed off by antibiotics, the fungal (yeast) growth gets out of control and you see yeast infections. Yeast infections show up in your typical yeast problems in females, but also in diaper rash, itchy ears, thrush in the mouth, "heat" rashes, etc. They can literally go super-crazy causing unbelievable issues like infertility in the long-term.

If you don't have complete success with the above, look into all-natural, organic body products for bath soap/gel, shampoo, lotion, etc. Whole Foods carries several brands. For us, the brand that I like the best is California Baby. They carry everything from a great shampoo/body wash, to sunscreen, bug spray, etc. It it more expensive than what you can buy at Target or WalMart, but if you're still having any issues with rashes, the parents won't care about the higher price for skin products! Whatever you do, check www.cosmeticdatabase.com to find info. on the toxicity of the ingredients for each product. California Baby products rate extremely well!

Best of luck to you all! I wish you the best, and hope you find a solution quickly.

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A.T.

answers from Houston on

There is also a cream called Dr. Smiths. It was the only thing that worked on my son. He is very allergic to everything. I cannot even bath him with a wash cloth because it can carry bacteria and cause a rash. We use Aveeno everything. With the bottom I live by the Dr. Smith's. It did wonders where no other one that I tried even came close.

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L.G.

answers from Houston on

my 8 month baby developed a rash last month, at first I thought it was a diaper rash, but I did some research on line and found out it was (thrush) is a type of yeast infection. Before I found out it was a yeast infection I tried every over the counter medication with no luck, you have to take the baby to the pediatrician. Check if he has white spot in his mouth.

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M.P.

answers from Corpus Christi on

Both of my boys have had a yeast infection and if it is not doing anything different with the typical things, it could be just that. My doctor also recommended a tinactin cream - diluted with baby lotion. It worked great - he also recommended lots of air but you know how that gets with a baby...

Sometimes the yeast infection looks like diaper rash and it is hard to tell - google for pictures to compare, that's a good start...my sister in law knew what it was the second she saw it.

Good luck!!!!!

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G.F.

answers from Houston on

Stop using baby wipes. We used paper towels with water and it cleared up my daughter's rashes. Boudreaux's Butt Paste is amazing! Our pediatrician told us not to use Desitin because it makes some rashes worse. He said the medicine is so strong that the baby's skin can't handle it. After changes I put vaseline on my baby's bottom to help keep her dry. Good luck with the rash.

1 mom found this helpful
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