Hello Everyone! I wrote about my daughter contracting the Adenovirus at 8 months, which you can read here! Unfortunately, a few weeks later, we have encountered another nasty surprise; Diaper rash!

Diaper rash in Japanese is called "Omutsu Kabure". I'm sure most parents, infant childcare workers, or someone around babies has heard of it before, and I had too, but since we had been diaper rash free for 9 months, I naïvely thought we could escape it. Unfortunately, diaper rash just became one more milestone on our checklist, so read below to find out how we got rid of it in just TWO days!

For a more comprehensive article on diaper rash, the Mayoclinic has a really great article, so I recommend reading it here.

As for our situation, there were several things that went into play before we really understood what was going on. 

SYMPTOMS

• Redness (rash)
• Crying and discomfort during diaper changes.

Our daughter has to be one of the most nonchalant babies when it comes to diaper changes. She isn't the type to cry when her diaper is wet or when she poos, so it is often up to my, and my husband's, sense of smell or hearing to figure it out. Fortunately, with both of being home for the first five months of her life, we changed her diaper frequently. However, when she started daycare at six months, her diaper was being changed less than usual, and finally, one day, we noticed some redness down there. I thought perhaps she was wiped a little too hard or something, and I ended up dabbing some Vaseline on it. Despite that, our daughter started crying a lot more, like screaming, when we would change her diaper. I hadn't put two and two together, but finally after a bath and drying her off, I noticed some broken skin and that's when I thought, "Oh, it's finally the infamous diaper rash!".

CAUSES

• prolonged exposure to urine/stool
• sensitivity to new foods
• humid/hot weather
• ill fitting/tight diaper

As mentioned above, there were several contributing factors to our daughter's diaper rash. The summer heat and humidity, weaning of new foods, ill fitting diaper, and daycare turned out to be the perfect storm! Once she started daycare, they changed her diaper way less, and also since our daughter sleeps through the night, she sometimes ends up sleeping in a wet diaper for 10+ hours. 

We've also been introducing some new foods, which has been messing with her stomach and causing her stool to loosen. Plus, we were trying to finish up the last of the size small diapers before sizing up, so her diaper was a bit too tight for the hot and humid weather. 

TREATMENT

• properly sized diaper
• dry area with fan after baths
• use diaper rash ointment

I knew that I needed to keep the area clean and protected. Therefore, I began by putting some powder on the skin near the hip joints and then dabbing Vaseline around the sensitive bits. It helped some but since daycare can't put anything on her, the diaper rash would return at night. So, finally after two days, we took her to the doctor, and the doctor confirmed it was diaper rash but did not want to prescribe a steroid ointment. Therefore, he prescribed a more mild, plant based, gel that is a bit more effective than Vaseline. He said, you can put it on every morning and every night and that we don't need to worry about daycare. Well, within one night, the diaper rash cleared up 50% and by the next day, it was 100% gone! We also decided to fan her after her bath and not immediately put her diaper back on. We also sized up her diaper as well!

The diaper rash ointment is called Azunol or アズノール. It is a scentless, blueish gel. It's oily, but not sticky. You can read more about it here