Putting together nappy rash recipe

Hey all,

I'm in the process of thinking up a recipe for a more natural sudocrem/nappy rash cream alternative (or, butter/balm as I'll keep it anhydrous) and I would like to bounce a off a couple of ideas I had on here...

A quick look around on the net told me that the basic of basic ingredients would be
- zinc oxide
- coconut oil
- beeswax

And you could add some other oils/butters like grapeseed or shea plus essential oils as a bonus.

I'm planning on adding shea, walnut or almond oil and maybe lavender and ylang ylang EO as they're the only EOs I have on hand that seems gentle enough (the others in my collection are lemon, lemongrass, tea tree, orange).

For the beeswax, I was wondering if I could substitute BTMS-50 ( as I'm running low on beeswax, and I don't like the whole drag beeswax seems to give). Or is BTMS-50 strictly for creams/lotions made with water?

And the closest I can get to zinc oxide over here is calamine powder it seems, would that be okay? It seems to contain zinc oxide and zinc carbonate.


My main goal is for the balm to be soothing/calming to the skin

What do you think?
Any feedback/ideas are appreciated!

I don't know if I would risk making something like this for baby use.

At all? Or because of certain ingredients used?

I probably should have mentioned it in the previous post, but it's not for baby use.
It's for an adult who's close to me who gets itchy/irritated skin every now and then. I read that some people have great results with nappy cream, so I figured I'd try to make something similar (and give it a nicer name while I'm at it ).

The Efficacious Gentleman said:

I don't know if I would risk making something like this for baby use.

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Just out of curiosity, as this is not my thread/question, but why? Zinc oxide is in most diaper rash ointments. I would probably not go the route of adding butters, but beeswax and coconut oil should not be a problem unless I am missing information. Diaper rash creams are full of petroleum products and chemical preservatives and as they are used on and around mucous membranes, aren't those products more easily or likely to be absorbed into baby's body? I know when my kids were babies, one was actually allergic to something in a big brand diaper rash ointment and it made the rash worse and more painful.
I guess best and safest bet would be to ask the baby's pediatrician, and now that I think about it, is coconut oil a "nut oil" as far as allergies are concerned? That would be an important question to ask Dr.

If it is for a friend I would do it. For personal use I would do it. To sell, no way. To much liability risk IMHO. Even better would be teaching your friend to make the cream. This way they would not be dependent on you to provide it.

As for the btms. I would use it for a portion of the beeswax but not all of it. Maybe 25 percent.

The powder you want to use instead of zinc oxide looks fine but you may have to play with the percentages.

Lavender is suitable for a mild cream, I know lemongrass is also as long as they are not allergic.

powderpink said:

I probably should have mentioned it in the previous post, but it's not for baby use.
It's for an adult who's close to me who gets itchy/irritated skin every now and then.

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It depends on what the cause of the itchy/irritated skin is, as well as the location on the body.(PM me if you need to.)

If the cause of the itchy/irritated skin is low humidity, wind burns, etc, then what you are describing will be fine. I would not even worry about the calamine powder.

If the itch/irritation is in the "diaper" area, then this becomes much more complex. The causes of itch in this area are wide and varied, and indeed, needs an MD diagnosis and suggestion for treatment.

Having said that, though, the rule of thumb my training and my children's pediatrician gave for treatment of issues in the diaper area is this, "If it is damp, dry it. If it is dry, moisten it." This means, if the area is staying too moist, your friend would be better served with some corn starch powder to absorb that moisture. If it is dry skin, then you start looking for something like you describe above.

WickedlyNatural said:

Just out of curiosity, as this is not my thread/question, but why? Zinc oxide is in most diaper rash ointments. I would probably not go the route of adding butters, but beeswax and coconut oil should not be a problem unless I am missing information. Diaper rash creams are full of petroleum products and chemical preservatives and as they are used on and around mucous membranes, aren't those products more easily or likely to be absorbed into baby's body? I know when my kids were babies, one was actually allergic to something in a big brand diaper rash ointment and it made the rash worse and more painful.
I guess best and safest bet would be to ask the baby's pediatrician, and now that I think about it, is coconut oil a "nut oil" as far as allergies are concerned? That would be an important question to ask Dr.

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Mainly for the EOs and the inevitable testing that would need to be done - while Sudocrem (I LOVE that stuff!) has zinc oxide, the amounts involved as well as how well it is integrated in to the cream might well be different than a home made product. Uneven distribution leading to irritation on the areas of a bambino that we are trying to protect would be a counter productive affair.

I would not use any EOs if that is being used in the diaper area. It just gets too warm, stays damp, and the skin there is very thin.

Craig-we have this stuff called Boudreax's Butt Paste that is simply the best thing, ever, for babies' rears. I used tubes and tubs of the stuff when my children were in diapers. Then, when my mother was dying, I used it on her rear also. Works a treat!

I just looked it up to link it, and they have an all natural paste now!

http://www.buttpaste.com/products/all-natural-butt-paste

The recipe looks pretty good, there - also no EOs, which is a good thing. 16% ZnO is interesting - I can't remember off the top of my head how much is in Sudocrem, but I think it's lower.

They did not have an all natural formula when my children were small, so I used the stuff in the yellow tubs. It was amazing! And, speaking as a nurse who has seen some horrible cases of diaper rash that was really difficult to treat, that is really saying something. Nothing worked as well as this stuff. If I had babies to try this stuff on, I would be trying to duplicate that all natural formula.(Not to sell, that would be wrong, just to use.)

I checked the Sudocrem (well, it said it on wikip, which is fine, right? ) and it is 15.25%. Do you know, I am starting to come around to this idea. That said, we do have a giant tub of sudocrem waiting for The Little Efficacious Gentleman, but if we start to run through that too quickly, I might well try this out.

Or as well as.

Susie said:

I would not use any EOs if that is being used in the diaper area. It just gets too warm, stays damp, and the skin there is very thin.

Craig-we have this stuff called Boudreax's Butt Paste that is simply the best thing, ever, for babies' rears. I used tubes and tubs of the stuff when my children were in diapers. Then, when my mother was dying, I used it on her rear also. Works a treat!

I just looked it up to link it, and they have an all natural paste now!

http://www.buttpaste.com/products/all-natural-butt-paste

Click to expand...

Thanks for all the helpful information Susie (I sent you a PM as well, hope you don't mind). because of what you and the efficacious gentleman wrote, I will definitely leave out any essential oils (and save them to scent a nice bath soak to add as a gift along with the cream ).

Dorymae said:

If it is for a friend I would do it. For personal use I would do it. To sell, no way. To much liability risk IMHO. Even better would be teaching your friend to make the cream. This way they would not be dependent on you to provide it.

As for the btms. I would use it for a portion of the beeswax but not all of it. Maybe 25 percent.

The powder you want to use instead of zinc oxide looks fine but you may have to play with the percentages.

Lavender is suitable for a mild cream, I know lemongrass is also as long as they are not allergic.

Click to expand...

oh no no no, I wouldn't even dream of selling any of the things I create.
Firstly because I don't think I'm anywhere near qualified or experienced enough to do so, and secondly because here in Europe it's almost impossible to sell as a hobby/part-time. You'd have to be very sure about it and devote your working life to it as well as be loaded ( to pay for all the testing etc.)

But thanks, I will try 25% of BTMS + the beeswax. And I'll look around the web to see if I can find more about calamine powder.

The Efficacious Gentleman said:

Mainly for the EOs and the inevitable testing that would need to be done.

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Thanks so much for elaborating. like I mentioned earlier, you have convinced me to leave out any essential oils for this cream.

And thank you for starting this thread. Whether or not The Admirable Lady will let me use a homemade cream on our wee bairn is another thing.................

My mum used to use plain zinc and castor oil cream on me as a child because the EO's in sudocrem made me itchy. I think you could definitely formulate something more containing similar base ingredients without the bits you don't like.

Susie said:

I would not use any EOs if that is being used in the diaper area. It just gets too warm, stays damp, and the skin there is very thin.

Craig-we have this stuff called Boudreax's Butt Paste that is simply the best thing, ever, for babies' rears. I used tubes and tubs of the stuff when my children were in diapers. Then, when my mother was dying, I used it on her rear also. Works a treat!

I just looked it up to link it, and they have an all natural paste now!

http://www.buttpaste.com/products/all-natural-butt-paste

Click to expand...

This was the only thing that worked on my oldest... Think incredibly sensitive red-haired skin with the booty to match anytime she went more than a few hours without being respackled. I doubled rinsed all clothing and bedding, used only fragrance free products on her, gave oatmeal baths, tried every prescription and home remedy. Nothing worked until my new pediatrician recommended the butt paste.

TEG, see of you can order some to have on hand before the wee one arrives. Trust the southern mommas on this one.

As much as I want to say we can make all of our own products that work as well/better than store bought, sometimes something works so well that I doubt it. That stuff is magic.

I know exactly what you mean, snappyllama! My oldest pretty much lived on antibiotics from 6 weeks to 6.5 months, when he was old enough to have tubes put in his ears. I was back in my home town, visiting my parents, when he got another ear infection, and the only pediatrician open was the one I used in my childhood. He is the one that told me about that stuff. Gosh, what a wonderful thing! And I had been through every OTC and prescription cream out there.

However, if they had had the all natural version back then, I really would have chosen that. And I have to tell you that I would definitely be guilty of trying to make it myself nowadays. I am thinking that sooner or later I will have grandkids...right?