Best Tips to Prevent Diaper Rash

My wife's friend recently told her that their baby has a really bad case of diaper rash. Their baby is about 3 months older than our daughter, who is about 7 weeks old now. Our daughter hasn't had a case of diaper rash yet, and I'd like to keep it that way. So that got me thinking, how can we prevent diaper rash in the first place? Here's a tip...how about using a blow dryer? Let me explain

If you've done any research on this you probably already know some of the common recommendations for preventing diaper rash. For instance:

Change diapers often. You want to get the wet and dirty diaper away from your baby's skin as soon as possible.

Clean your baby's bottom at each diaper change. These days most parents use baby wipes to do this. Make sure the baby wipes don't have alchohol. And it's probably best not to use fragranced ones either.

Don't overtighten diapers. Diapers that are too tight won't allow airflow, causing a moist environment that can lead to diaper rash.

Give your baby's bottom some air. Let your baby go without a diaper for periods of time. If you're worried about this getting messy, you can place a towel under your baby. (I have to admit, this seems a bit impractical to me. I mean, what if our baby crawls or moves around a lot?)

Did you notice that most of the recommendations above basically deal with keeping you baby's bottom clean and dry? To clean our baby's bottom, we use baby wipes like most other parents do. But what I realized was that we just put on the new diaper right after we wipe her bottom, which means that her bottom is still wet. So why not use a blow dryer to dry your baby's bottom after each diaper change? Sure you can air dry and just sit and wait for a while before putting on the new diaper. But as busy parents, we found it quicker and easier to keep a blow dryer handy next to her changing station!

Just keep in mind a couple of suggestions. First, hold the blow dryer at least 18 inches or so away from the baby. Second, make sure the air coming out isn't too hot. Some dryers have a "cool" setting, which I would recommend you use.

And here's an added bonus...for some reason babies like the sound of the blow dryer, which seems to have a calming effect. I wrote about this in a previous article:

Unique tips to calm and soothe a crying baby

Happy diaper changing!

If you have any comments about preventing diaper rash, please share them below.