Diaper Rash

[Guest BERNESES]

Hi Everyone- My niece who is 2 1/2 was tested for Celiac's (just blood work) about 9 months ago (I have Celiac's but my sister and I were both adopted so my niece does not share my genes). It came back negative but she was lactose intolerant and had reflux as an infant. She still has funky poops.

But she has had a HIDEOUS rash on her little bum for about a month now. She says it really hurts and it looks like very painful red pimples. My sis has been to the doc numerous times and they've tried a bunch of creams including antifungal but nothing eases it. She's going back to the doctor this week and I told her to ask about it potentially being DH. Hhas anyone had an infant or toddler with a diaper rash like this?

Also, is DH always itchy?

Thanks, Beverly

[momothree]

Beverly

Hi there. That sounds so much like my daughter. She is almost 19 months old, and has had a similar sounding rash, on and off, for about 6 months. It looks painful and like little pimples with white heads. Sometimes they kind of burst and blister. She also has some wierd poops (constipation, or loose etc.). We think the rash is DH as well even though her blood work was negative. It sounds like very young childrens' blood results can be inaccurate (from what I have heard/read). We are trying to get her in to see a dermatologist to have a look at it. Right now, we have her on a gluten free diet, but will take her off so that we can get accurate results. Since she has been on a gluten-free diet though, her previously bloated tummy is starting to look more normal. It's confusing what to do--get testing done, or just put her on a gluten-free diet to look for improvement there. We are constantly swinging back and forth (my husband and I) on which way to go.

My 12 year old son is in the diagnosis stages of celiac and we are waiting for the biopsy results. However, his blood test was positive (very high), and, although the diagnosis isn't official, we are pretty confident (as are his doctors) that it is celiac. My wee one's chances are pretty good at having it too. My middle child (10 yr old girl) has no symptoms at all , but her height is in the 50th percentile, and her weight isn't even on the charts. Sooner or later, we will all get tested.

It's really tough when they are so young and can't really articulate when something is bothering them. My baby can tend to be quite irritable at times, and we are always reading into it. Is her rash (or tummy or ??) bothering her, or is just normal baby/toddler stuff. Who knows.

Raegan

[Kasey'sMom]

Hi Beverly,

The first symptoms we saw with my dd was the re-occurant diaper rash. The rash worsened when she was 2 1/2. We took her to 3 dermatologist including a ped. derma Dr. She was on numerious steroid creams and anti-fungals. We also did the candida diet for awhile. Unfortunatly, the creams would ease the pain for a couple of days and then the rash would return worse than ever. She also continued to have cradle cap and now has psoriasis on her scalp.

I did keeep a journal on what she ate each day. I also put any changes in tempermant, weather, location, and symptoms etc. The journal was insturmental in our many Dr. appointments and investigating the cause of the rash. We did noticed her symptoms got much worse when she ate wheat. After she tested neg. for IgE wheat allergy, her allergist recommended we test for celiac disease. I have a distant relative that has celiac disease and that also sent up a red flag. While my dd does have digestive symptoms, reflux, tempermant changes and other classic celiac disease symptoms....the first thing we noticed was the diaper rash. The rash was very painful and it was especially difficult with potty training. Now that she's been gluten-free for almost a year the rash is so much better. She does have other food allergies and suffers with eczema. However, gluten was the biggest culprit.

Since my dd was tested I got tested several months later. My dd only had high antibody levels. But, I ended up testing positive with EMA and Ttg. I've have had classic symptoms since I was a child. I also started getting a few blisters on my hands over the last year. I got them on my fingers and they we're painful to touch and would sometimes itch. As long as I'm not accidently glutend I don't have them.

I'll say a prayer that you folks can find out what's causing her pain. Feel free to PM me anytime.

[JakeARoosMommy]

I have been using an over-the-counter cream called Eurcin (I hope I am spelling it right. pretty sure that is correct). Nothing else seemed to work. The doctor was constantly giving us creams, steroids, and anti-fungal, but this was all that I found to work. My son's rashs were like chemical burns. It burned on contact with his bowel. The Eurcin is safe to use on a baby. It is not in the baby aisle. I have found it in the health and beauty creams. They also sell an anti-aging cream (not what I am referring to). It is in a white plastic cylinder-like container (similar to Noxzema). It is a thick white cold cream. Another one of my friends, with three boys, swears by it. Give it a shot. I hope that your neice gets results with it. We've been there and I know how painful this can be.

[Guest BERNESES]

Yes- Eucerin. My sister has been using Aquaphor which is made by Eeucerin but that's not helping either.

[JakeARoosMommy]

I wonder if they tested her for diabetes? Diabetes often causes stubborn yeast infections that caused bad diaper rashes in Jake. Diabetes has also been known to cause irregular bowels. There are also allergies to certain types of diapers (I now use seventh generation that is chlorine-free) and butt wipes. You could also be looking at other food allergies, since she is still having irregular bowels. If she is lactose intolerant that means cow's milk and cheese (I used to forget about the cheese). I feel sorry for the little gal. That is just so painful! Jake's would blister and bleed. I hope that they are doing stool samples on her. We have had our rounds with that stuff. Best of luck to your little neice.

[Guest BERNESES]

Poor Jake- that's horrible! So the little guy has celiac and diabetes? Oh baby! My sister saw the pediatrician last night but I haven't heard from her. i'll let you know what I found out. Olivia (my niece) tested negative for Celiac's but they told my sis she was lactose intolerant and had baby IBS and reflux (which sounds fishy to me). Thanks for all your responses! B

[Suzie-GFfamily]

  Kasey said:

.. She also continued to have cradle cap and now has psoriasis on her scalp. <snip>

Hi there,

Our family is in the diagnostic stages, my mother was diagnosed last month (+ve tTG and +ve biopsy). Myself and my 2 oldest children have had positive tTg blood tests and we're trying to decide whether to have further testing done before we start our gluten-free diet.

I'm curious about your cradle cap comment. Have many parents noticed a lot of cradle cap in the celiac children? My oldest child, now age 8, had really think cradle cap by 1 yr of age and he still seems to have flaky residue on his scalp that might still be cradle cap.

[JakeARoosMommy]

  Suzie_GFfamily said:

Hi there,

Our family is in the diagnostic stages, my mother was diagnosed last month (+ve tTG and +ve biopsy). Myself and my 2 oldest children have had positive tTg blood tests and we're trying to decide whether to have further testing done before we start our gluten-free diet.

I'm curious about your cradle cap comment. Have many parents noticed a lot of cradle cap in the celiac children? My oldest child, now age 8, had really think cradle cap by 1 yr of age and he still seems to have flaky residue on his scalp that might still be cradle cap.

I understand that psorasis or dermatitis (probably a misspell) is one of the many symptoms to autoimmune diseases such as Celiac, Diabetes and Hypothyroidism. Jake, my toddler son, had very bad cradle cap. I haven't noticed anything lately though, outside of that awful diaper rash.

[Guest BERNESES]

I talked to my brother-in-law last night and he said it was a yeast infection so she is on antintibiotics?

[Guest nini]

gosh, that diaper rash sounds just like what my daughter used to get, I would feel soooooo bad for her, her poor little bottom was always so raw and blistered, even with those pimply like bumps that would blister and pop... I tried EVERYTHING, we used prescriptions, antifungals, so on... powders just irritated it more, what seemed to work the best was a mixture of monostat and neosporin with vaseline... sometimes just the neosporin... but it never ever completely went away, not until we got gluten out of her diet. It did make potty training especially difficult and I know it was sooooo painful for her. What really upset me is that the Dr.s were so unconcerned about this. They just dismissed it as all babies get diaper rash and that I needed to let her "air dry" we tried that too, but with her constant diarrhea that was a TERRIBLE idea!

[shai76]

CVS sells medicated tar ointment. It's stinky and messy but it helps with my rashes better then anything that i available by presecription, even more then those steroid ointments. It might help until you can figure out what is causing the rash. It could even be food allergies (along with celiacs). Who knows? My son gets it from allergies.