So, I decided to try Earth's Best Shampoo and Body Wash on Ben about a week ago. At first, we just used the shampoo, and it seemed fine. After we used it, he wasn't scratching his head until it bled, so it seemed like a success. But, then, yesterday, we used it as a shampoo and body wash. It had been a while since Ben had had a bath. I'm not sure why we had waited so long. Even though many people now believe that daily baths can help inflamed skin, sometimes they can dry out Ben's skin, especially his head.
Yesterday, his skin was looking somewhat red and inflamed, especially on the sides of his face where his cheeks meet his neck. Those seem to be the worst spots, along with the back of his head and behind his knees, but the difference is the scabs in those spots are really hard to heel since they are so easy for drool to hit and Ben to scratch.
Now that Ben is eating fruits and veggies pureed, his poop has changed texture. This has led to sore bum and led us to try and figure out which diaper rash cream is best.
The rash around the line of his diaper is gone. I believe that the Stage 3 Pamper's Cruisers were causing it. We switched to Earth's Best, but that didn't help. What we didn't realize at the time is that they are made with wheat. We switched to Seventh Generation. Although the rash around his diaper line cleared up, some of the rest of him got red. Maybe that was even the partial cause of his sore bum? Also, the diapers aren't absorbent enough for at night. Two nights in a row, they leaked. So, we switched to Stage 3 Pampers for Sensitive Skin. These seem to be working well in terms of absorbency and not causing a rash along the diaper line.
In the meantime, to try to clear up the sore bum, we have tried: Balmex, Desitin, Bordeau's Butt Paste and Badger Balm. Badger Balm didn't seem to work at all for Ben. In fact, when we applied it to behind his knees, they seemed to get worse. In the past, Desitin has always worked, but I stopped using it and switched to Balmex to try to get rid of the diaper line rash. I don't think now that that was the cause of it. Butt Paste seems to work better than Balmex, but the rash is still there.
I don't think that there is one remedy that is going to work for every baby because every baby's skin is different. In the meantime, I ordered three new shampoos on Amazon for Ben. The ingredients in Badger Balm Baby Balm are: *Extra Virgin Olive Oil, *Golden Yellow Beeswax, *Castor Oil, *Calendula Extract and Essential Oil of *Roman Chamomile. Does anyone have any idea about which one of these ingredients could be irritating him? I don't think it's calendula, since that is in the Disney's Gentle Naturals that we use on his head. As for the Earth's Best Shampoo and Body Wash, I wonder if the lavender could be irritating him. Why don't they just make it fragrance free? The reason why we tried it is that none of the fragrance free things we tried worked either including Dove for Sensitive Skin as a Shampoo. Thanks a lot, Mr. Overcharging Dermatologist. But, still, Ben's skin looks a lot better today, so it's back to more frequent baths. Also, the Zyrtec seems to be helping even though we had to use generic yesterday until we can get some of a non-recalled batch.
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Jason Tandon
3 years ago
The diaper rash could also be an allergic reaction. We figured out Gabriel was allergic to the milk protein in formula because he got a horrible diaper rash, one with open sores that just wouldn't go away no matter what we did. As soon as we switched formulas to one that contains no milk or soy, the rash went away completely.
ReplyDeleteCrissa,
ReplyDeleteI think that the diaper rash was a reaction to the diaper. Once we switched away from Pamper's Cruisers and Earth's Best to Seventh Generation and Pamper's Size Three Swaddlers for Sensitive Skin, it cleared up. That rash was on his back near the edge of his diaper.
His bum did seem to be sore though after that, but that was around where he was pooping. Where was Gabriel's rash?
Desitin seems to work best for us in terms of minor diaper rash. Did anything end up working for you? Ben was tested for soy and milk allergies, along with a whole bunch of other things, and he's not allergic to milk or soy. Is Gabriel allergic to both? Which formula do you use? We use Similac Alimentium.
We'll see in a few days if the rash stays cleared up or not if I was right about the causes.
His rash was also around where he was pooping. The pediatrician recommended oatmeal baths and just soaking in the tub, but nothing worked. He was on Nutramigen (Enfamil's version of Alimentium) but it still has milk proteins in it. His GI doctor agreed to let us try Elecare, a prescription formula that has absolutely no milk protein in it. The rash cleared up almost immediatel.
ReplyDeleteHe had an allergy test about a month and a half ago that showed absolutely no allergies, so we tried to reintroduce regular formula. Within 48 hours his diaper rash started coming back and he started crying while we were feeding him. So either the test was wrong, or he has an intolerance to milk protein -- something manifested internally with stomach issues, rather than externally. He never had an eczema problem, just the diaper rash.
We did try soy formula for about a day, it constipated him and made him throw up. The GI doc says 30 percent or so of kids who have milk protein allergies also can't tolerate soy, so we're staying away from it for now.
Hmm. Interesting, Crissa. Ben's diaper rash seems to have cleared up with new diapers, so I think it was just the diapers. I wish we could figure out what was making the one side of his face itch so much though. We might ask about milk proteins, just in case. I'm pretty sure that they didn't cause the diaper rash, but he still does get an inflamed neck and eczema flareups, even with Zrytec. He's on the generic now, though, because of the recall.
ReplyDelete