Speaker 0 00:00:01 Hello and welcome to a Wonder Care podcast. I'm Sheena Mitchell, pharmacist and mom of three. I combine healthcare and practical advice to support you on your parenting journey. This season is all about family skincare and it's proudly sponsored by real-life. Real-life. Believe your skin says how you feel, and this is so, so important as we explore family's skin care concerns. Today I'm going to be talking all about nappy care and discussing a couple of different types of nappy rash, which can occur. Over the past few episodes, I've been speaking a lot about the importance of maintaining a healthy skin barrier. This is never more important than when managing nappy care. What other area has constant exposure to irritants? The function of the skin barrier is to trap essential moisture in the skin layers. This ensures that the skin is robust and unbroken, which prevents direct access of irritants and allergens into the lower skin layers where they can cause inflammation and even infection. Speaker 0 00:00:58 Having an effective nappy care routine can help to prevent nappi rash from occurring. Nappi rash is a relatively common skin condition, which affects most children to some extent at some stage during their first year or two of life. It can be caused by so many different factors such as contact with urine or poo on the skin, antibiotic use change in diet, allergies, and even contact with chemical irritants and more. It can vary a lot from very mild irritation of the skin in the nappy area to severe inflammation of the area. Straightforward nappy rash due to irritation of the skin usually occurs all over the general nappy area. In some cases, it can develop into a fungal candida rash. This can worsen the inflammation and is generally worse in the creases of the skin or the skin falls. If the skin barrier is compromised, then a bacterial infection can occur. Speaker 0 00:01:52 Often this results in spots or rash all over the nappy area and it can be quite severe. I just want to highlight a couple of products which can be used to soothe the irritation that is already present on your baby's skin. Products containing panol and zinc are very useful in this scenario. Panol, once it's absorbed by the skin becomes biman B five. Vitamin B five plays a vital role in moisturizing, soothing, and reducing inflammation. Zinc has antibacterial properties. Two products that contain these ingredients are Rema care and cytoplast. Bam. These can be applied to help soothe your baby's skin and protect it from external irritants. I just want to pause for a second to tell you a little more about the award-winning ReLife products. ReLife understands that your skin reflects how you feel, and if you or anyone in your family live with any skin condition from acne and eczema to dry skin or hyperpigmentation, then you also understand this. Speaker 0 00:02:56 The good news is that real life is here to help with a range of dermatologically tested and scientifically proven skincare products, check out the ReLife range on Wonder care.ie. Or in your local pharmacy and learn even more by visiting relife.ie. If you suspect that there's a fungal element to your baby's NAF pre rash, due to the presence of increased irritation and inflammation in the skin folds or creases of your baby's skin, then there are two over the counter, so you don't need a prescription for antifungal creams available. The first is Canin 1% cream, and the second is dact cream. If you are unsure if the rash is fungal, then do check what your GP or pharmacist. Both of these products work by fighting fungal infection, which is causing the rash, and also by some moisturizing properties. These creams can be applied thinly twice a day and usually require treatment of a minimum of two weeks. Speaker 0 00:03:50 You should see improvement starting to occur within a few days, and if you don't, then it's important to see the doctor. If the rash however is improving, do continue to use it for up to four weeks until the rash is fully resolved. You can use Rema BabyCare as a barrier cream two to three times per day during nappy changes when you're not using Canin or Dact Tarin. This can help to relieve your child's symptoms even more. If you suspect a bacterial infection due to the presence of spots and more severe inflammation, then you do need to visit the GP right now. Back to basics. When possible, it's always best to prevent nappy rash rather than having to treat it. Nappy care is just like skincare and always starts in the bath or shower. Using a product that adds to the moisture and health of your baby's natural skin barrier is really useful. Speaker 0 00:04:38 Some fragranced and baby marketed products are not suitable for youth on delicate or sensitive skin and do nothing to promote a healthy skin barrier. For this reason, I recommend products which are dermatologically tested. Some good examples of these include REMA, hydrating cleansing bath oil, rema lipid, replenishing cleanser, lait, AP plus cream, wash, Aveno, DXA, emollient body wash. I'll link these in the show notes for cleansing in between baths. Use cotton woo and water to remove irritants from your baby's skin. A favorite product of mine, if you want to use something nicer than water at the top or tail stage or at the nappy changing stage is UGE first cleansing water. This smells absolutely amazing and is pediatrically tested and gently removes impurities while also protecting your baby's delicate skin. It now comes with a really practical pump, and I can tell you that once someone starts using this, they tend not to stop because they're so hooked on the smell <laugh>. Speaker 0 00:05:37 You don't need to rinse it off. Just use cotton wall and gently clans and then let the area dry. The most important step in nappy care in my view is the next step. You need to use a product which is safe for sensitive skin, but also provides a really protective and soothing layer to prevent urine or poo causing irritation. Rema BabyCare is perfect for this. It's dermatologically tested and it can be applied at each snappy change. It's easy to use and spread, and its barrier effect helps to prevent the threatening and burning sensation. It contains zinc, toine, and panol. So mother, good barriers include Mustela 1 23 Vitamin Barrier Cream P Suda cream, which I usually just reserve for times where I need a thicker barrier because I really don't like the feel of it or the way it stays on my hands, so thickly afterwards and takes a scrub to get it off. Speaker 0 00:06:27 And also syla, bam and potanin are good options. Now, some tips which are supportive of good nappy care. The first thing I'd say is to keep the nappy loose enough that air can circulate but tight enough to prevent leakage. <laugh>, it's difficult. Using the inner folds on a nappy can really help to prevent leakage, and I think it wasn't until my first baby was about three months of age that I noticed them. So have a look. There is two layers inside a nappy to pull out to help prevent leakage. Do try to let your baby have some nappy free time every day. It is really tricky, obviously, but a large towel underneath them can help reduce the risk of nappy free pee. Try to change your baby's nappy as soon as it becomes wet. Removing the irritant is the best way to remove the irritation for girls. Speaker 0 00:07:16 Always remember to wipe from front to back. I found my husband needed to be told this as obviously he wasn't used to cleaning lady bits. Try to allow the nappy area to dry before putting on the nappy. If you're in a rush, just pat it gently rather than rubbing it to prevent irritation. Don't use any TA or powder products on your baby's genitalia. I'm going to answer a couple of the queries that I got in through the Instagram page now. So a lot of them I've already covered. The first one is what ointments or creams are best for small babies in around the six week category? So for this group, if they're not suffering from any form of nappi rash, then I would use the Rema baby care. It's suitable for any age and it is dermatologically tested so you can rest assured that it's suitable for sensitive skin. Speaker 0 00:08:04 I will just add something that I included in a recent episode about newborn care, and that was that the product that I recommend putting on your little baby's bum the minute they're born <laugh>. So before the first nappy goes on is actually plain old Vaseline. And this is because a Tela Vaseline on your very newborn baby's bum can help to make the first poo, which is known as a meconium poo, which is very sticky and dark and it's almost like a tire like substance. And having Vaseline on before that first poo comes out can really, really help to make it easier to get off. So that is priceless knowledge, which is definitely worth remembering. So put that in with your baby's first nappy and first baby. Grow in a little Ziploc bag in your bag so that whoever is dressing them for the first time will know to pop the Vaseline on someone else asking if they can use their canin thrush cream on nappy rash. Speaker 0 00:09:04 And no is the answer because the thrush cream that you get for treatment of yourself in the case of vaginal thrush is a 2% cream, and that's not what's recommended for nappy care. So for the treatment of fungal nappi rash, it's the Canon 1% cream that is recommended. Okay, I hope you have found all of that really helpful. I would be much obliged if you could give the podcast a little follow or subscribe, and if you have time, a little review on Apple Podcasts will be fabulous. Share this podcast with anyone you know who is always Googling for parenting health information because I will be continuing to bring you weekly episodes over the coming months. And yes, some other new exciting types of episodes to do with healthcare news as well. So do give us a little follow and have a look back. There's I think 60 episodes up now covering so many different topics. It's been a very, very, very busy year and a really exciting one. So thank you so much for tuning in and I'll talk to you again next week. Bye.