The Diaper Rash Dilemma
A few weeks ago, we had to deal with diaper rash for the first time. Since Delilah’s birth she hasn’t had really bad case of diaper rash. It doesn’t seem like she’s inherited my sensitive skin, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed. We’ve never had to deal with anything more than some slight redness, and that was always resolved by the next diaper change.
Recently, however, she got a pretty tough case of diaper rash and it was actually pretty strange when we noticed it. I got home from work and as usual, I picked up Delilah and gave her a big hug. I noticed when I was holding her that she was still a little fussy and wiggling around so I began making her a bottle. While I was making the bottle, I started to wonder if she needed a change. Her last change was about 30 minutes before I got home, according to my mom and my husband. I did the signature mom smell test and sure enough, she needed a fresh diaper.
When I was changing Delilah, I noticed that her bottom and legs were extremely red and some spots on her legs almost looked blistered. I was instantly furious, and started shouting for someone to bring me the diaper rash cream. I actually thought for a second that they weren’t being truthful about how long it had been since they changed her. I also felt immense guilt because I was away at work and even started to think that it wouldn’t have happened if I wasn’t at work. It was really hard because even after her diaper was changed, she was still really upset and crying. Her bottle calmed her down for a bit, but as soon as she peed she started crying and pulling at her diaper.
I was really upset because we had never had to deal with this and I didn’t know how to help her. For a while I even left her diaper off so she could have some time without her diaper making the skin more irritated. Sometimes getting peed on is just part of the job! I wanted to give her a bath, but I was afraid that the warm water might irritate her more. Eventually we were able to get her to nap with just a loose diaper on.
While she was napping, I was able to calm down a bit and I started thinking about how quickly the diaper rash seemed to come on. I began to wonder if the cause wasn’t from being in a soiled diaper too long, but possibly from an emerging food sensitivity. I asked my mom and my husband what she had eaten earlier in the day before I got home from work and it all seemed pretty normal – scrambled eggs and peaches for breakfast and a mixed fruit cup, which contained pineapple. I have read that pineapple is a common cause of diaper rash with babies, but on top of that I have a sensitivity to pineapple and wondered if Delilah would as well. We have given her baby food blends with pineapple before and she’s never had an issue but it may have been such a small amount that it didn’t bother her.
My own reaction to pineapple includes my mouth getting blistered and irritated, so I figured it was a safe bet that the pineapple was to blame. For the next few days we made sure not to give her any citrus or any other commonly irritating foods. We also stayed diligent with the diaper rash cream and soon enough she started clearing up. After that first day she didn’t seem as bothered by it, which let me breathe a little easier. Putting her in the bath also seemed to help a lot so in those first day or so we gave her a bath after lunch and at bedtime. Delilah absolutely adores baths so she didn’t mind a bit!
Throughout this whole ordeal we ended up trying a few different diaper rash creams to see which would help her the most. We still had a bunch of different kinds from our baby shower, so at least we had them on hand to try out. Before this rash we used Burt’s Bees Diaper Cream, which always seemed to work well. I wasn’t able to test it on this more severe case of diaper rash because we were out when this incident happened.
When we first noticed the diaper rash we used Desitin, which seemed to work just fine until it was misplaced. When we couldn’t find the Desitin (which we eventually found in Delilah’s sock drawer!) we tried Boudreaux’s Butt Paste and Aquaphor Healing Balm. I wasn’t a fan of either of these, I personally couldn’t deal with the smell of the butt paste and I didn’t think Aquaphor worked as well as others on Delilah. However, these are just my experiences with these creams and I encourage others to try a variety of brands to see what works best for their baby.
After trying those brands and before finding the long lost Desitin, we followed the recommendation from my mom and got some A&D Ointment, which is now one of my top 3 for diaper rash creams. We used it to get the rest of the diaper rash cleared up and I found the smell to be more pleasant than any other brand I tried.