Tips for Fighting a Yeast Diaper Rash
Yeast diaper rashes are NO JOKE and were definitely something I'd never heard of until I had a newborn whose diaper area was covered with an angry rash that didn't respond to the myriad diaper creams we began collecting. The telltale signs of yeast in our case were "satellite spots" - bumps that strayed beyond the border of the main rash - and failure to respond to any other treatment.
Our pediatrician confirmed that it was yeast and we began our all-out yeast battle. Because we tried so many things, I can't point to specifically what worked, but here is our complete plan - try some of it or all of it and leave a comment to let us know what works for you.
Yeast Diaper Rash Treatment Plan
(Operation No Yeasties)
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Frequent diaper changes: Oh my - I think I changed a diaper at LEAST every waking hour for a few weeks. It was exhausting but keeping baby dry and clean definitely helped.
Disposable diapers: We had to stop our cloth diaper service for a few days due to the creams and ointments used to treat the yeast. Every time I tried to put him back in cloth, Rowan would flare back up with yeast. So we went from eco-friendly to Huggies-loving pretty quickly. Nothing against cloth - I'd love to switch back soon - but if you're fighting yeast you might need to take a break until things have calmed down.
Naked time: At least twice a day, I let our newborn play naked for 10 or more minutes - usually until he used the bathroom. Not only did it air dry his skin, if I waited until he used the bathroom, I felt confident that he'd be dry in his next diaper for a longer period of time. Read this post for tips for doing naked time without a mess!
Sunshine time: Yeast hates sunlight and luckily I had a summer baby in the South. On sunny days, he got 4-6 minutes of naked time in the sunshine (with his upper body and face shaded).
Hair dryer: After every diaper change, we dried baby's bottom with a hair dryer on low and COOL (important - don't use a hot hair dryer!!).
Nystatin & Hydrocortisone: These were from our doctor. We applied each one 2-3 times per day.
Coconut Oil: On diaper changes between applications of medicine, we slathered our boy's bum with coconut oil {affiliate link} - which has natural antifungul properties.
Probiotic: I started on this probiotic {affiliate link} the suggestion of our pediatrician. It didn't save me from getting a yeast infection on my nipples but I credit it for keeping our little one from getting thrush.
Bleach: I washed everything that came into contact with baby's naked tush in a diluted bleach solution with an extra rinse cycle to get rid of the harsh chemicals. Washcloths, towels, changing pad - all got a nice new shade of bleached out color but came out of the wash yeast-free!
If you have the unfortunate experience of staring down a persistant, "beefy" diaper rash that doesn't respond to the usual creams - you might be facing a case of the yeasties. Consult your child's pediatrician to confirm and best of luck in your yeast battle!
And if you want to stick with cloth diapers, here's a great post on ridding your diaper stash of yeast from Slightly Steady