welcome back this week we are going to dive into a topic that most new parents at some
point are going to have to deal with as we have ourselves we're talking about diaper
rash why some babies get them and then five simple steps to prevent and treat these rashes
just in case you haven't met us before i'm kurt i'm a board certified pediatrician
and new dad i'm sarah i am a board certified ob gyn and new mama and we are the doctors bjorkman
as you know we have both been in medicine taking care of patients for years and only recently made
the plunge into pregnancy and parenthood ourselves so over the past year we have been sharing that
journey to help you learn from our medical expertise as well as our in real life experiences
yeah and one of these personal experiences has been having a baby with diaper rash and first
we need to say that diaper rashes are very common having a baby with a diaper rash doesn't make you
a bad parent but there are most certainly some things that you can do to decrease the chances
your baby will have a rash and then limit the length of time that rash exists when they get one
maybe you could start by talking about what the causes of some of the
common diaper rashes are and then if parents should be worried about them
yeah so the three most common types of diaper rashes that babies get are first in irritant
diaper dermatitis or irritant diaper rash then there's a candidal diaper rash or like a yeast
rash and then an allergic contact dermatitis allergic rash and when it comes to these
diaper rashes the major factors at play are moisture friction and then an increased ph
and higher enzymatic activity the good news is um they're usually pretty easy to treat and
hopefully prevent and we're going to share five ways to do that with all of you one quick thing
to note before we go any further is that common diaper rashes are usually easily treatable and
should get better quickly with some of the basic therapies we're going to talk about today if your
baby's rash isn't getting better with these simple steps it's a good idea to go see your pediatrician
as there are some other causes of rashes in babies that may need to be evaluated in person
when it comes to things that cause diaper rash the number one factor is usually moisture yeah
and so the modern diaper is pretty amazing its ability to hold up to 80 times its weight
in moisture and then also pull that moisture away from baby's skin however when the diaper gets full
all that moisture is there and that diaper is often occlusive holding that moisture in
it can hold that against the skin which can cause some issues so there have been studies that have
been done looking at if there's a benefit of cloth diapers versus disposable diapers and no
significant difference has been found so no matter what type of diaper you are using the keys to
preventing diaper rash seem to be frequent diaper changes to keep their bottom dry and diaper free
time again to kind of air out their bottom to make sure that there is not moisture there
yeah and since sarah mentioned diaper type specifically there are certain times where
your baby may have a sensitivity to a certain material or chemical that's in a diaper and
so if you notice your baby's got a rash that doesn't seem to be moisture related maybe try
a different brand or different type of diaper for a couple days to see if that makes a difference
why does moisture matter so much and then what about the other factors that are at play here
yeah yeah so the major things with moisture really kind of come down to two things so first
having a lot of kind of moisture against the skin in the diaper held there creates this warm moist
environment that is perfect for the growth of bacteria and yeast that can cause those rashes the
other thing is when the kid the skin is kept moist and unable to breathe um it becomes more sensitive
to things like friction abrasion and breakdown that then makes the skin less good at resisting
things like bacteria or more sensitive to other kind of allergens and kind of chemicals like that
too got it so that prolonged exposure to wetness actually keeps the skin from working effectively
exactly and the other thing is that urine and poop themselves can be pretty harsh against the skin
when left on too long poop especially is actually pretty basic basic meaning the opposite of acidic
yeah exactly and basic solutions are often more harmful to the skin than acidic solutions
themselves the other thing that happens is when urine and stool kind of mix together they kind
of have this synergistic effect that makes them even more basic or have a higher ph that then
can activate some enzymes like lipase and protease that can do further damage to the skin so to recap
the moisture itself makes the skin more sensitive and kind of fragile um to friction and that urine
and poop mixture kind of becomes more basic and is really harsh that kind of is just this spiral
effect that makes the diaper rash worse yeah this is why it makes more sense that babies are more
likely to have a diaper rash if they have frequent diarrhea or if they've been on antibiotics that
then has caused a change in their poops themselves gotcha interestingly enough also it's been shown
that babies who are breastfed are less likely to have diaper rashes or have them less frequently
the first tip is to change the diaper frequently don't let your baby sit and poop as we talked
about that combination of moisture the pee and poop can be very very harsh and abrasive to baby's
skin so the key is to keep clean diapers now overnight it is probably okay to not change pee
only diapers but if your baby has a rash it is a good idea to just change those diapers frequently
to keep their little bottoms dry number two is to give your baby some diaper free time this is extra
important if baby has an active rash as it allows that moisture to get out and then allows the skin
to do the job that it needs to to heal the other big thing here too is to make sure the baby's butt
is dry all the way before putting a new diaper on so for us it's often i'm taking the new diaper and
i'm waving it in front of baby cecilia's bottom to make sure that all the moisture is gone before i
put a new one on of course the risk of waving the new diaper is that you could have a pee accident
and then change of outfit but we're trading things off here we'd rather have no rash for us
tip number three is to get and use a good barrier cream or ointment so the trick with these is that
they are a physical barrier to those irritants from peer poop and they also keep moisture away
from the skin and prevent friction now you don't have to use these every time or with every diaper
change but they have two really good roles in that if your baby is having frequent diarrhea
it's good to put them on to help prevent some of that rash and then also if they have an active
rash it can really help speed that healing process two of our favorites are butt paste and then also
desitin the purple one both of these have 40 zinc oxide which can help speed that healing process
so we've had two different bouts of diaper rash during the first couple months both of those were
in the first like six weeks and both associated with long car trips the first was a time we'd
unknowingly let her kind of sit in poop and pee and then of course got that irritant diaper rash
but then fortunately it got better pretty quickly as we did frequent diaper changes and then lots of
diaper free time to let that little bottom air out with some good uh desitin uh barrier cream to help
that heal the other one we actually did have a very mild case of a yeast rash too that was again
another long car trip she ended up sitting in some moisture with a wet diaper that time for a while
that one we ended up using some nystatin just to make sure we got rid of it again help from
pediatrician to make sure we caught that early before it turned into something big tip number
four is to limit aggressive cleaning there's kind of two parts to this so the first is limit
the scents dyes and alcohol in the wipes that you are using on baby's bottom so scent free dye free
wipes are great also just a regular cotton soft cloth with warm water on it can also be great yeah
and then the other piece is if your baby has an active rash it can be really helpful to use just a
thick layer of barrier cream and you can even put vaseline over the top of that so that when you're
changing baby roots diaper you don't have to wipe all of that off and irritate the skin further you
can just kind of take off the top layer of dirty apply a little bit more and then put the diaper
back on without rubbing the skin extra tip number five is knowing when to go see your pediatrician
yep and so for this if your baby's rashes persisting and not getting better after three
days they may benefit from some sort of topical treatment this could be something as simple as
a mild steroid cream that can really help kind of calm down some of that irritation and inflammation
however before starting a steroid cream you really want to make sure it's not a yeast rash
or candidiasis is adding steroid cream to that can really cause it to bloom or get much much worse
and so for yeast rashes there are other medications like nice statin or something
with chloremizol that can help kill that yeast if it hasn't gotten better it's also
a good idea to have your baby's doctor make sure that it isn't something more concerning
the most common causes are irritant um yeast and allergic dermatitis but there can be other
things that cause a rash in the diaper area yep there could be a secondary bacterial infection or
there could be other medical causes that present as a rash things like impetigo psoriasis scabies
nutritional deficiencies or even an immune deficiency and the important thing here is
that these are rashes that aren't getting better with those first-line therapies that we've talked
about today so those are the five tips we have for preventing and treating diaper rash we hope
that they help you instituting these things have certainly helped us and sweet ceases little bottom
if you have any questions tips please leave them in the comments below
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new videos we hope you have a great week bye guys
we're doctors but not your doctors anything we've said in this video
is for education or entertainment purposes only it is not medical
advice any specific medical questions you have should be directed to your provider