Can baby food cause diaper rash

Baby Bottoms 101: Diet & Diaper Rash

Diaper rash is one of those pesky problems every mom wants to avoid, because angry red bumps or an ugly rash on your baby’s diaper area is not something mama wants to see. But despite your best efforts, diaper rash happens.

Now what? Well, you’re a mom, so you can definitely handle it. But what’s the best way?

How do you get rid of diaper rash quickly, so you can get back to funny faces, gummy grins, happy diaper changes and giggles?

Buh-bye with Boudreaux’s Butt Paste^®

When you spot diaper rash, your first line of defense is to use Boudreaux’s Butt Paste®. It eases symptoms and helps treat and protect baby’s sensitive skin. For fast results, try Maximum Strength Boudreaux’s Butt Paste^®, because it’s clinically shown to provide immediate soothing relief from rash discomfort. Moms also say they noticed visible improvements of some of the worst symptoms of diaper rash in as little as three hours.

Rethink baby’s diet

You can make changes to your baby’s diet that will help ease diaper rash. Certain types of food can aggravate her already sensitive skin and actually make diaper rash symptoms worse. Acidic foods are often to blame for making diaper rash worse. Foods high in fat and sugar can also be problematic. On the flip side, starchy foods can help ease diaper rash.

Acidic foods to avoid

If your baby had diaper rash, think about cutting these foods out of her diet until her symptoms improve:

Citrus fruits and juices
Tomatoes and tomato-based products (this includes foods like spaghetti sauce)
Strawberries
Pineapple
Grapes
Raisins

Protect against diarrhea

When your baby has diaper rash, the last thing you want to add to the equation is diarrhea or loose stools. Every baby is different, but the following foods tend to trigger diarrhea in babies, so it’s a good idea to avoid them:

Milk-based formula (cow’s milk)
Apple juice
Pear juice
Cherry juice
Apricots
Peaches
Pears
Apricots
Prunes and prune juice

Foods that are good for diaper rash

Starches are easy to digest and add bulk to the stool, so that’s why they are A-Okay for baby to eat if she’s struggling with diaper rash symptoms. Babies who are eating solid foods can eat pasta and fermented whole grains. Other foods that are easy on diaper rash are chopped up soft-boiled eggs and plain yogurt with probiatics.

Remember, baby cereal doesn’t just have to be old-school rice cereal. She can try cereal made from oats, quinoa, brown rice or other whole grains. Other starchy options for baby include the following foods:

Potatoes
Rice
Crackers
Bread or toast
Plantain
Beans or lentils

B.R.A.T. diet

If your baby has ever suffered from diarrhea, you’ve probably heard of the BRAT diet. This bland, easy-to-digest diet is used to bulk up baby’s stools. Since easing diaper rash symptoms is similar, the B.R.A.T. diet works too. Just remember to ease up on foods that bulk up her diet once her diaper rash symptoms improve, so she doesn’t get constipated.

B. = Banana

R. = Rice

A. = Applesauce

T. = Toast

Moms often refer to Boudreaux’s Butt Paste^® as a “miracle ointment” that eases diaper rash within hours. If you’ve had a “Wow, this stuff is magic!” moment with Boudreaux’s Butt Paste^®, share your story with us in the comments section on our Facebook page.

Are Food Allergies Causing Your Baby’s Diaper Rash? – Cleveland Clinic

The skin is our largest organ. When it’s irritated, it’s almost impossible to ignore.

When it’s our baby’s skin that’s irritated, it’s somehow even worse.

Diaper rash comes in many varieties and has many causes, so it often takes time and experimentation to figure out what’s bedeviling your baby’s bum. If you’ve ruled out the diaper, wipe or — in the case of cloth diapers — laundry detergent as the cause of the irritation, it may be time to look at what your kiddo’s consuming.

Diaper rash vs. allergic reaction

First things first, let’s get our vocabulary straight. In the vast majority of cases, a child’s diaper rash isn’t the result of a food allergy. It’s the result of an intolerance.

While a lot of people use the terms “allergy” and “intolerance” interchangeably, they have specific medical definitions.

If a diaper rash is the only symptom you’re seeing, it’s unlikely your child is dealing with a food allergy.

An allergic reaction occurs when your immune system perceives the food you’re eating as a threat. The resulting response can look like a lot of different things, from hives and shortness of breath to full-blown anaphylaxis.

Allergic reactions can be severe and potentially life-threatening. If you think your child has a food allergy, you should get them immediate medical attention.

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A food intolerance isn’t exactly a barrel of monkeys either, but it also isn’t nearly as serious. “Intolerance” means your digestive system — or in this case, your wee one’s digestive system — can’t properly break a food item down.

Because food intolerances are purely a digestive issue, so, too, are the symptoms. Think diarrhea. It’s not pleasant, but — provided your baby isn’t dehydrated — it’s not an emergency either.

And the transition from breast (or chest) milk (or formula) to solid food is a big one. A few bumps in the road are to be expected, especially if your baby’s an adventurous eater.

According to pediatric allergist Sandra Hong, MD, “If a child has a food intolerance that causes frequent loose bowel movements, it will cause their buttocks to become red and sore, primarily because of the constant cleaning and irritation from frequent diaper changes.”

In addition to monitoring their bowel movements, look out for redness and irritation around your little one’s mouth and anus. That could be a sign that they aren’t quite ready for the newest addition to their menu.

Foods that cause diaper rash

Acidic foods can be particularly rough on tiny tummies. Among the most common culprits are:

Berries, like strawberries and blueberries.
Tomatoes and tomato-based foods.
Citrus fruits, like oranges, lemons and limes.
Tart fruits, like pineapples, plums and peaches.

In other words: If it gives you heartburn, it could give your baby butt burn.

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That doesn’t mean fruit is off the menu. Apples, bananas, papayas and melons of all types are still fair game.

Tips to avoid diaper rash

If you’ve dealt with traditional diaper rash before, you’re probably already familiar with the basics of treatment and prevention. Dr. Hong reminds us that, whatever the cause of the diaper rash, “good barrier technique and a diaper cream high in zinc can be helpful.”

But how do you prevent diaper rash provoked by a food sensitivity?

You cut the offending food — or foods — from your baby’s diet.

Keep in mind, you’re not robbing your child of pineapple salsa for life. You’re just giving their little bodies time to adjust to solid foods before routinizing items they find particularly challenging.

Of course, if your child has a diagnosed food intolerance — like lactose intolerance or gluten sensitivity — you need to feed them accordingly to avoid diarrhea-induced diaper rash.

The bottom line

If your baby’s bum has seen better days, it’s possible that their diet is to blame. Food intolerances are common during the transition to solid food. Try cutting back — or cutting out — high-acid fruits. You’ll be able to reintroduce them as their digestive system adjusts.

Diaper rash

The skin of babies has a special structure: it is thin, delicate, easily injured, because the blood vessels are located close to the surface. Babies "breathe" with their skin, any overheating causes intense evaporation of the liquid.

Most often, diaper rash develops in children who have been in wet underwear or diapers for a long time. Particularly prone to the appearance of diaper rash are children who suffer from allergies, babies with blond hair and skin - this is due to the structural features of their skin, as well as overweight babies who have endocrine or metabolic processes disrupted. The cause of diaper rash can be overheating, when the mother dresses the baby too warmly and he sweats, as well as a rare change of diapers. In addition, despite their obvious convenience, you should not keep your baby in them all the time - during the day, try to take a break for 1-2 hours.

If redness occurs along the line of the diaper, this indicates the development of diaper or contact dermatitis. Diaper rash in this case is a skin reaction to one of the diaper materials, so try changing the diaper manufacturer. Quite often, fungi that are contained in the external environment get on diaper rash, resulting in fungal infections. Most often they occur in children with allergies. A symptom of infection is the appearance on the skin of reddish oval or round spots with fringed edges or a rash with white pustules (other microbes join the fungus). The fact that the child's body is affected by a fungus indicates a decrease in immunity, which is why the disease requires special treatment. Along with the chosen therapy, the baby should receive good nutrition, vitamins in order to increase and strengthen the body's natural defenses. Fungal infections against the background of diaper rash are most often weakened children, whose condition is the result of an unfavorable course of pregnancy, intrauterine infection, birth trauma, and prolonged medication.

What to do?

Avoid overheating.
Replace synthetic underwear with cotton.
Regularly change the diaper, wash the baby after each stool.
Take air baths several times a day.
Creams, ointments with anti-inflammatory action (based on panthenol, for example) for external use.
Antifungal creams (eg clotrimazole).
It is possible to reconsider the nutrition of the child with persistent diaper rash or change the brand of diapers.

Consult your doctor, he will tell you which diapers you should use, which diet to choose, determine whether dry mixes are correctly selected, and whether they cause allergies. It is very helpful to keep a food diary. Enter there what foods you have consumed yourself (if you are breastfeeding) and what foods you gave the baby as complementary foods, after which you evaluate and record the condition of the baby's skin.

Sometimes babies with digestive disorders (bloating, frequent flatus, small portions of "sour" stools) also develop persistent diaper rash around the anus. At the same time, the child has a normal temperature and he is safely gaining weight. In this case, it is necessary to exclude enzymatic deficiency, in which there is a deficiency of the lactose enzyme that breaks down milk sugar. This state of the body requires a revision of the regimen and composition of nutrition.

When the baby begins to walk independently, there is a risk of infection with worms. The disease has the following symptoms: persistent diaper rash, itching and scratching around the anus. The culprits for this condition are usually pinworms (a type of worm).

In any case, you can consult a specialist doctor for timely treatment.

Diaper rash in a child - treatment in Moscow

Diaper rash in children is one of the most common problems faced by parents of a newborn. They cause discomfort to the child, lead to violations of the diet, sleep, tearfulness, irritability. If you do not respond in time and do not cope with diaper rash, it is possible to attach secondary microflora and develop bacterial skin lesions - streptoderma, staphyloderma, fungal infections.

Knowing the causes, symptoms, methods of prevention and treatment of diaper rash in children will help parents avoid the protracted course and complications of this disease.

Features of children's skin

The smaller the child, the more his skin differs from the skin of an adult:

It is thin, delicate, especially the upper stratum corneum.
The lipid barrier on the surface of the skin is still immature, it weakly protects the epidermis from microbes and other damaging factors.
The skin is well supplied with blood.
Easily injured - rub it roughly with a hard towel to form a superficial skin defect.
Her condition directly depends on nutrition. The slightest deviations in the diet, dysfunction of the gastrointestinal tract lead to skin reactions.

Where does diaper rash usually form? Under a diaper?

Most often, diaper rash occurs in a child on the buttocks, in the inguinal region and natural skin folds - elbows, knees, near the hand, foot, behind the ears, on the neck. Favorable conditions are created here - high humidity, which, with little friction or malnutrition, leads to damage to the epidermis.

Given that the child cannot control the natural physiological functions, the area of the perineum is most exposed to wetting. If we add to this the possibility of rubbing the skin with a diaper, it is clear where redness first appears and the skin peels off.

Diaper rash and similar skin manifestations may appear not only in childhood. Among adults, they primarily disturb obese people on the inner surface of the thighs, in the groin, under the breasts, and under the armpits. In infancy, up to 75-80% of children at least once encounter this pathological phenomenon.

Are diaper rash and diaper rash in newborns the same thing?

High humidity always contributes to skin damage. With prickly heat, there is a general overheating of the child, increased sweating and a skin reaction in the form of redness, itching, and peeling. The skin is covered with vesicles and pustules. Typical localization - in the folds of the skin on the neck, armpits, under the knees, on the back.

Diaper rash is more associated with improper care of delicate baby skin. They appear with a rare change of diapers, a rare or improper bathing of a child, if the baby spends all the time in a diaper and his skin does not breathe.

Causes

The main causes of diaper rash are the characteristics of children's skin and high humidity. Diaper rash in children is caused by:

overheating of the child and increased sweating;
poor hygiene, infrequent diaper changes;
mechanical irritation of the skin with a diaper (inappropriate size, poor quality material), synthetic fabrics, rough seams on clothes;
allergic reactions to certain products (food allergy) or soaps, detergents, creams (contact allergy).

Increase the likelihood of diaper rash:

insufficiently thorough wiping of the skin after water procedures;
unsuitable hygiene products;
temperature fluctuations;
concomitant pathology in a child - overweight, metabolic disorders, lactose intolerance, tendency to diarrhea, diathesis;
also more vulnerable are formula-fed babies, premature babies, after birth trauma.

At the initial stages of the disease, it is enough to eliminate the causative factors; in case of severe diaper rash, the appointment of therapeutic ointments, baths, and oral preparations is required.

Classification of diaper rash in a child

Diaper rash in a child may differ in course, etiology, localization, the presence of a microbial component:

Diaper dermatitis is a classic diaper rash, prolonged contact of the delicate integument of the body with fecal enzymes and urine salts leads to skin irritation. Localization - intergluteal folds, inguinal-femoral, lower abdomen.
Allergic dermatitis is associated with exposure to a specific allergen. Most often, an allergic skin reaction occurs with the introduction of a new complementary food product or with errors in the diet of a nursing mother. An allergic disease may occur during antibiotic treatment.
Microbial dermatitis - candidiasis when affected by fungi, the rash affects mainly the genital area.
Impetigo with penetration of streptococci and staphylococci. Characterized by rashes of the type of bubbles, a temperature reaction is possible, the formation of pustules. The gluteal region is most commonly affected.
Seborrheic eczema is caused by dysfunction of the sebaceous glands. On the priest and in the groin area, hyperemia with clear boundaries is formed, the tissues are swollen, have a greasy sheen.
Intertrigo - accumulation of moisture in the folds with the appearance of redness. For treatment, it is enough to eliminate the factors leading to increased skin moisture.

Diaper rash is more severe in children with reduced immunity and concomitant diseases.

Grades and symptoms

There are three degrees of diaper rash in a child:

Slight redness on the folds of the skin, the general condition is not disturbed, there are no skin defects.
Redness intensifies, there are small rashes along the folds. The child painfully reacts to changing clothes, changing diapers, washing, wiping. If he reaches the place of diaper rash with his hands, he can comb it.
The area of the affected skin area increases. Cracks, ulcers, inflammatory and purulent elements are visible on a red background. The child is capricious, eats poorly, sleeps restlessly, the temperature may rise.

When should I see a doctor?

If the redness increases, cracks, erosion appear, they cause anxiety in the child, affect his sleep, appetite, you need to see a doctor. It is not necessary to treat the second, third degree of diaper rash on your own. If parents are faced with the occurrence of such a disease for the first time, it is better to show the child to the pediatrician immediately. The specialist will quickly and accurately identify the cause, help to establish nutrition and care for the baby.

Diagnosis

The doctor asks the parents how often they change the diaper, wash the child's perineum, what they feed him. On examination, the specialist assesses the degree of development of the subcutaneous tissue, draws attention to the redness of the skin in the folds, its intensity, size. It looks exactly where the integrity of the skin is broken, how deep the wounds are.

He also assesses the development of the child - neuro-emotional, physical. Additional tests help rule out other skin diseases:

scraping from the affected area of the skin to detect microflora.
allergy test to determine the cause of an allergic reaction.
analyzes of urine, blood, feces.

According to the indications, a consultation is held with a pediatric allergist, nutritionist, dermatologist, gastroenterologist.

Treatment

For treatment, the doctor:

will adjust the diet of the mother and child;
will select ointments and medicines, tell you how to treat diaper rash in a child;
will teach you how to properly care for the crotch area.

The most commonly prescribed medicines are:

Products with zinc, talc, tannin have an anti-inflammatory effect, accelerate wound healing. They are prescribed for the second degree of diaper rash.
Panthenol, cetrimide, benzalkonium accelerate the regeneration of the epidermis and the closure of skin defects.
Bathing a baby in decoctions of herbs with a drying effect helps to remove weeping and heal erosion. Recommended sequence, oak bark, chamomile.
If the allergic nature of diaper rash is detected, the diet is limited, in more severe cases, desensitizing agents are prescribed, ointments with glucocorticoids are used topically. Such drugs should not be used on their own, they can lead to serious side effects.
If inflammation has joined in places with a skin defect, local use of antibacterial ointments, synthomycin emulsion, silver nitrate, zinc preparations is indicated.

The doctor sometimes prescribes UVR to the affected area. Ultraviolet has an antimicrobial effect and improves the functioning of the immune system.

Prevention

Diaper rash can be avoided by following these recommendations:

Examine the baby's skin every time you change clothes and diapers, immediately pay attention to redness.
With slight redness, powder, powder, oils, baby cream will help. You need to apply them on clean skin, after washing under running warm water with baby soap and gently blotting the skin.
Change diaper frequently. After a bowel movement, diapers should be changed immediately. There are products that are applied to the skin before putting on a diaper, they reduce skin contact with a humid environment.
Bathe the child every day in a bath with decoctions of medicinal herbs or a weak solution of potassium permanganate. It helps to wash away the products of skin secretion of sweat and sebaceous glands. Otherwise, they cause irritation and the formation of diaper rash. If it is not possible to bathe the baby or he is sick, wash the folds with warm boiled water once a day and blot dry.
Prevent overheating of the child. The room should be ventilated, maintain a comfortable air temperature (18–20 degrees), dress the child according to the weather, take change of clothes, take off warm clothes indoors.
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