Why do babies get diaper rash?

Diaper rash is something that parents hate to see on their child, however common it may be, and even for parents who remember having it themselves (less common now, but in the not-too-distant past variations of diaper rash could occur even into late infancy) it is something that no-one wants to see on their newborn child. The reasons for it are quite simple and entirely commonplace, but it is preventable and treatable. If your child does develop a diaper rash, quick treatment is advisable. And prevention is a matter of following some simple rules and showing diligence at key points which might lead to infection.

The major cause of diaper rash is wetness. This is no big surprise. The reason that it does not occur with any regularity in adults, after all, is that we are able to perform our bathroom rituals ourselves and know what needs to be done – essentially, what feels right and what we have learned. Babies, however, urinate quite often and will sometimes be in a dirty diaper for a while before changing. In addition to this, their stools are generally quite loose and their bowel movements are more frequent than those of adults. Unless they are changed with a regularity bordering on the obsessive, there is a chance of infection. Even then a baby with sensitive skin can become infected.

In an older baby, a time of sickness which is treated with antibiotics can be a risky time, as they are prone to diarrhea and the higher risk of diaper rash that that can bring. In short, even the best parents can have a case to deal with, and it is how they respond that is important.

Bathing Your Baby

How often should you bathe your baby? It is a question that a lot of new parents ask themselves and others when they have their first child. There are two separate questions in this. Firstly, how often is often enough, and second, how often is too often? While there is some belief that you can never be too clean, the fact is that your skin – and your baby’s – provides natural protection through bodily oils, which prevent infection and irritation being caused by clothing and everyday dirt. Bathing overly often will strip those oils and lead to increased irritation, and is therefore a bad thing.

Some people think that a daily bath is necessary, but for a child this is not really the case. In fact, cleansers and water can damage your baby’s skin if used too frequently. If you must bathe the baby daily, then you must use a gentle cleanser like a mild soap designed specifically for babies to avoid the aforementioned stripping of oils. The parts of a baby that will get dirty quickest are its face, from feeding and general baby activity, and the diaper area. Regularly washing your baby’s face, cleaning up at the time of a diaper change, and cleaning up in case of any other obvious soiling will be more than enough.

There is no stipulated time frame for how often you absolutely must bath your baby. Every other day is really frequently enough as long as you ensure that the baby is generally clean. Babies do seem to enjoy a bath, and find warm water soothing. Even if you like a good hot bath, remember that your baby’s skin is more sensitive, and just above tepid will more than suffice.

Be Prepared

If you are out and about on the move with your baby, there is every chance that you will need to change their diaper at some point – it is not ideal, as anyone will tell you, to change a diaper in a setting that is outside your home, but sometimes it is simply unavoidable. In this respect, you will need to be prepared. Any trip that you make out of doors with your child will need to be planned with a good deal of awareness of what it takes. The first thing to be aware of is that you will need to take quite a few things, but they need to be easily portable – so taking just the right amount is crucial.

Firstly, you will obviously need a clean diaper. Ideally, before going out you will have changed your baby to put on a disposable diaper. The reason for this is one of disposal, as throwing away a soiled cloth diaper means you have one less in your rotation, but carrying it around is of course less than desirable. Also for disposal, you may want to carry a bag – not indispensable, but nicer for whoever has to empty the garbage pail in which you dispose of the diaper. As well as this, some moist wipes will help with cleaning your baby’s affected area. A change of clothes is also advisable, in case the old diaper has leaked and soiled the outer clothing. The change should, of course, take place in a public washroom for reasons of privacy and practicality.

Disposable Diapers or Cloth?

There is a quite fierce debate between parents – both long-term ones and new ones – over which type of diaper is better for babies. The two main types of diaper are disposable ones and cloth ones, and both types inevitably have their plus sides and their minus sides. In truth, neither kind is better per se than the other. But depending on your personal outlook on such things, you are likely to lean one way or the other, and make your decision based on that instinct. It then comes down to whether you feel comfortable with your choice after a month or two of putting it into practice.

Disposable diapers have in their favor that they are disposable (obviously). On changing the diaper, you will simply have to put it in the trash and say no more about it. However, as any parent will tell you, children are very productive sources of waste matter, so keeping them in clean diapers can add up to a lot of expense. Cloth diapers are invariably cheaper – although clearly you need to have quite a few if you don’t want to be washing them almost constantly. They also mess up the environment a lot less.

It is up to you to decide which kind of diaper is the best for your purposes and for your purse. Either way, there is work involved and there is expense to take into account. The health of your baby’s skin plays a major part in considerations as well, but at the final analysis you and your baby will be fine as long as you keep on top of things – and if you go with cloth diapers, it is worth still having some disposables around in case of emergencies or when you are on the go.

How often do you change your baby’s diaper?

The question of when to change a baby’s diaper is one that will give a lot of parents pause for thought. If you are to change a diaper every time a baby goes to the toilet in it, the simple fact is that you will end up spending so much on diapers that you will have little left to spend on anything else. Leave it too long, however, and the results are more harrowing than any impact to your bank balance. There is no gentle way to say this, but the bacteria in faeces, when combined with urine, will cause diaper rash – and this is something that anyone who has seen it will do their best to avoid.

For starters, it is important to change your baby’s diaper whenever he or she defecates. This is important for hygiene and comfort, as your baby will be in some discomfort if he or she is made to sit in a dirty diaper. When your baby defecates – and you will know when this has happened – you must change their diaper as promptly as possible. Although urine poses less of a problem, it is still not desirable to leave a child in a diaper that is too wet, even a highly absorbent disposable one.

On average, babies will urinate every one to three hours and defecate several times a day. At regular intervals you must therefore change the diaper. It will save money if you use cloth diapers, however it is important to have several diapers and a washing rotation so that there is always a clean diaper around – so it really is a question of expense versus work.

As your baby grows…

Initially, your baby will want to feed between eight and twelve times a day. This is because it has a very small stomach and can only eat a small amount at a time and – as you will become aware very quickly – it will process the food very quickly into its diaper. As he or she grows, however, so will their stomach and the time between meals will become longer. As a parent, the most welcome effect of this is that they will begin to wake less often in the night wishing to be fed. However, real life is never so simple, so you may have a few false starts before you eventually reach the stage where your child is not waking you most nights.

Part of this process is weaning your child. There will inevitably be some resistance from the baby in this respect. They have become attuned to being fed at a certain time each night, and a change in this routine will be an unwelcome one – they are babies after all, and the concept of change is in a lot of respects a completely alien one for them. Sooner or later it has to happen, and the best way to ensure it is a success is to schedule things so that they are fed shortly before you go to bed for the night – thus hopefully encouraging them to sleep through to the morning.

As your baby grows, you will find that they can eat more at one sitting, so take advantage of this by making each meal time more thorough and letting them eat their fill each time.