Diaper Rash in Kids - What You Should Know

Diaper rashes are a common ailment for children in diapers—we cause them by diapering our children and having their skin be in contact with irritants and enzymes in stool and urine. A diaper rash is a rash on skin covered by the diaper.
Keeping the child as dry as possible and airing out the skin whenever possible are good preventative measures. Ointments and creams are usually not needed if no rash is present, and plain water washing is preferable to commercially made wipes if the skin is starting to develop a rash.
Diaper rash creams are helpful when rashes start to appear, especially barrier creams to keep the skin from contacting irritating substances in the diaper.
If your child's diaper rash is not seeming to respond to the usual treatment, and has been present more than 3 days you can assume there is yeast involvement. This is especially true if the skin is bright red or has small red bumps in clustered groupings.
Lotrimin cream is the treatment of choice for yeast diaper rash, and it is available without a prescription, used 4 times a day. If the diaper rash does not seem to be improving at all by day 3 of Lotrimin, the child should be seen by the doctor.
If your child has diarrhea, he/she is likely to get a diaper rash. Start using Vaseline/A&D/Aquaphor to protect if diarrhea starts. The thicker white pastes often need more scrubbing, so with frequent stooling they don't help as much.

Call your child's doctor or have your child seen if: