Diaper rash is a common type of skin fungal infection. It looks like bright red patches of skin on your baby’s bottom.
Diaper rash is often caused by wet diapers, not changing them often enough, sensitive skin, and rubbing. It usually happens to babies, but anyone who regularly wears a diaper can get it.
Even if you are very careful, your baby will probably get diaper rash at some point. Most babies do. You can have a blood culture test to identify the infection in the bloodstream that can infect your whole body. Rashes from diapers can worry parents and bother babies and parents ask questions like what to do for diaper rash?.
Here is an answer, it usually goes away with simple treatments at home, like letting the baby air dry, changing the diaper more often, and using ointment that can help with the problem, and there are ways to change a baby’s diaper that can help stop the problem before it starts.
So, make plans. Find out how to treat diaper rash and keep it from coming back. The bottom of your baby will thank you.
Here are a few home remedies that can help you to take care of your child such as.
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Home Remedies For Diaper Rash
Most of the time, you can treat a diaper rash successfully at home by doing these things:
Keeping The Diaper Area Dry And Clean
The best way to keep the area around your baby’s diaper clean and dry is to change the diaper as soon as it gets wet or dirty. Until the rash gets better, you might have to get up in the middle of the night to change the baby’s diaper.
Apply a cream, paste, or ointment after gently cleaning and drying the skin. Some things, like zinc oxide and petroleum jelly, work well to keep water away from the skin. At the next diaper change, don’t try to scrub off this protective layer completely, because that could hurt the skin more. If you do want to get rid of it, use a cotton ball soaked in mineral oil.
Getting Air To Circulate
Do what you can to get more air to the area around the diaper to help the rash heal. These tips might be useful:
- Let your baby’s skin breathe by taking off the diaper and ointment for short periods of time, maybe three times a day for 10 minutes each time, like during naps.
- Avoid plastic diaper covers and pants that don’t let air in.
- Use bigger diapers than normal until the rash is gone.
Frequently Change Diapers
You must be asking yourself, “what to do for diaper rash”. So you should understand that the diaper should be changed as soon as possible. A small amount of trapped moisture is all it takes to irritate the skin and cause a rash. Because of this, even slightly wet diapers should be changed right away, especially if your child has an active diaper rash.
Putting On A Cream, Paste, Ointment, Or Lotion
There are many over-the-counter medicines that can help with diaper rash. You can get specific advice from your doctor or pharmacist. A+D, Balmex, Desitin, Triple Paste, and Lotrimin are all well-known over-the-counter products.
One study reveals that inorganic zinc oxide is the main ingredient in many products that treat diaper rash. Most of the time, you put them on your baby’s skin throughout the day to soothe and protect it. Not much is needed—just a thin layer will do. When needed, the product can be put on top of medicated creams, such as an antifungal or steroid. You could also put petroleum jelly on top. This keeps the diaper from sticking to the cream.
Lotions may be more irritating than ointments, pastes, or creams. But ointments and pastes make a barrier on the skin that keeps air from getting in. When creams dry on the skin, they let air in. Talk to your doctor about what kind of product will help your child’s rash the most.
Stick to things that are made for babies as a general rule. Avoid things that have baking soda, boric acid, camphor, phenol, benzocaine, diphenhydramine, or salicylates in them. These things can be dangerous for babies. One study reveals that the effects of boric acid are harmful to all children as well as adults. It causes poisoning and many other serious health problems.
Switch To Disposable Diapers
There are some good things about cloth diapers, but if your child has a diaper rash, they might not be the best choice. It can help to switch to disposable diapers that soak up a lot of liquid until the diaper rash goes away. They’ll keep your child dry and may help him or her heal faster.
Inspect To See What Size Diaper Your Child Needs
When a baby wears a diaper that is the wrong size, it can make diaper rash more likely and make it take longer for an active rash to heal. If a diaper is too tight, it can hold in more moisture and make rashes grow faster. Too-big diapers can rub and cause friction, which can make rashes worse.
Check what size diaper your child is wearing now. Getting a different size might help.
These were the home remedies for diaper rash that you can use at home. But there are a few things that you should understand in order to prevent diaper rashes such as
Don’t Buy These Things
Less is more when it comes to preventing and getting rid of diaper rash. Fabric softeners and dryer sheets that have a strong smell should be avoided. Hypoallergenic and scent-free clothes are much less likely to bother babies.
You shouldn’t use baby powder on your child either. Babies shouldn’t use it because they can breathe it in, which can hurt their lungs.
Cornstarch is another remedy that shouldn’t be used on kids because they can breathe in the powder, which can hurt their lungs. Diaper rashes caused by the fungus Candida can also be made worse by cornstarch.
Things You Should Consider
Even though diaper rashes can look painful and irritated, they usually won’t bother your child. The only time this isn’t true is when the rash gets infected. If your baby has infected symptoms such as fever, redness, swelling, and pus, talk to your nearest child specialist to find out what’s wrong. If your doctor thinks your baby has a fungal diaper rash, he or she may give you an antifungal cream to use.
