A parental post about red butts. And other skin ailments. Welcome.
My kids have sensitive skin. L had diaper rash in varying degrees, had decently bad eczema in spots for her first two years, and still requires a nightly dose of grease after her bath. William had Landon's same diaper rash issue, and I'm hoping that is it. Here's what I learned about diaper rash from my kids & some products that I love.
When we brought home Landon my diaper routine was about corn starch baby powder, pampers sensitive diapers and pampers sensitive wipes. Right off the bat, she got red on her bottom and I didn't know why. We were changing her every time the line turned any shade of another color. Someone suggested that the baby powder could be creating a paste with the moisture and sticking to her skin, so we stopped powdering. Someone suggested a post diaper change air dry and we did that. Then we started trying out every diaper cream known to man. One stood out from the rest, but as soon as she cleared up and we stopped using it, the rash was back. This was when I had a big discovery... The sensitive wipes were apparently not sensitive enough. We switched to a non chlorine wipe and the only diaper rash we encountered after that was during teething.
Along came William, followed by the diaper rash. Right away I switched wipes and it was gone again. Now I've switched diapers as well and could not be happier. Here are the baby skin and bottom half products we love:
First the red butt changing wipes. Naty by Nature Babycare. These took a bit of getting used to but I can sometimes use just one wipe to clean up a #2. That's a big deal.
Seventh Generation Diapers are my new favorite. They are kind of a khaki color, which was weird for a couple of days, but besides the fact that they are awesome for baby skin and better for the environment, you also don't have to look at a huge elmo every time you see your baby's back side. Nothing against Elmo, I just like a plain diaper. As far as absorbency I have had zero leaks and zero blow outs.
If you do end up with a diaper rash issue from teething or food sensitivity, I have not found ANYTHING that works as well and as fast as Dr Smith's diaper rash ointment. I know it's a lot more fun to say "I use Boudreax's Butt Paste" than "I love Dr Smith's Ointment" but I can't say enough good things about this product.
Every night for over two years I have shellacked Aquaphor on my oldest child after her bath. It's greasy and has no smell (I love a good baby smelling product), but every time I stop using it, her eczema starts to come back. This is also great for pretty much every skin ailment and can be used for diaper rash.
Welcome to the California Baby section of this post. I love all of their products. The California Baby Super Sensitive Cream is my number one after bath cream, used with our youngest and keeps him moisturized for 24 full hours.
California Baby Super Sensitive Shampoo and Body Wash is the only body wash that we can use every day without skin issues.
We have mosquito issues on the Gulf Coast and California Baby Bug Repellent Spray is amazing for tiny babies and sensitive skin kids. That being said, if you are walking outside and being swarmed, you will need something stronger. This does the trick, but not when things are REALLY bad. During those times I would rather deal with a one day rash from mosquito spray than a week of mosquito bites healing.
And my guilty pleasure that has nothing to do with sensitive skin: Johnson's Baby Shampoo. The smell of this shampoo just makes me happy. Everything else with a smell causes skin issues, but three times a week we wash hair with this and it's enough to keep me smell happy.
