Epsom Salts for Bum Rash! | Green Mom Tips

Sam's rash has been up and down. It gets a bit better, a week goes by, it gets worse again. Thankfully every recurrence seems to be less severe. This past week we ran into the problem that Sam reacted to the detergent we were using for our diapers (it turns out I was using too much and build up had occurred in the diapers….blush). As a result, Sam had an angry, red, scalded appearance everywhere that diaper touched skin. He even had a few blisters from the reaction. I was pretty frustrated. [She didn't mention that the detergent maker didn't say on the packaging that you need to use significantly less with a high efficiency front loading washing machine.  #fail.  -Green Dad]

It just so happened that we also had to see the nurse practitioner because Sam's rash had gotten worse again, and the time had come to try something more drastic than diaper creams. After 4 months of battling this rash, Sam was put on oral antibiotics for the next ten days. The NP was really great and gave us several tips to help with potential reactions to the antibiotics (i.e. diarrhea, rashes). One of her suggestions was to soak his bum in a bath of epsom salts to help soothe the irritation from the diaper and to help heal his rash. Well wouldn't you know, after only ONE bath Sam's scalded skin looked significantly better. His rash was also less red and raised. After 3 days of Epsom Salt baths, his scalded bum looks great! Not completely healed, but a far cry from what it was. I have used Epsom salts for aching muscles or sprains, but had never heard of using it to help soothe irritated skin! Here is what we did:

Fill bath tub ~1/3 full with warm water (the water level needs to be above your baby's bottom when they sit in it) Add ~1/2 cup epsom salts (I do a couple healthy handfuls) Put your child in the bath, play with them, try to get them to soak the affected area for at least 15 minutes Next time your baby (or you!) have irritated skin, give this a try! Let me know how it works for you.