Most often, parents notice a red anus in a baby if something prevented the baby from washing the day before. The smallest residues of feces will irritate the epidermis, as a result, the skin will redden, itch and pinch. If the mother is sure that it is good to wash the baby the day before, another reason must be sought.
Baby in a diaper
The anal ring is the area that covers the intestinal lumen from the outside world. The skin around it has many folds in which loose stools can remain. If a child has diarrhea due to an intestinal infection, constant irritation of the large intestine due to its high acidity leads to immediate skin irritation.
Causes of redness around the anal passage
In addition to diarrhea and poor hygiene, redness of the anus in a child can also form for other reasons, including:
- helminths;
- gastrointestinal diseases;
- infections;
- allergic reaction;
- overheat.
Attention! At the first manifestations of a violation of the skin under a diaper, you need to take immediate action, because due to the use of non-breathing underwear, harmless irritation will instantly turn into ulcers and cracks.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
Irritable bowel syndrome often occurs on a nervous basis. This diagnosis is mainly given to schoolchildren who are worried about exams and adults suffering from depression.
Irritable bowel syndrome symptoms are:
- no deviations in the test results;
- pain syndrome bothers only during the day, does not affect sleep;
- mushy stools;
- after emptying the intestines, a feeling of heaviness remains;
- pain can change its location from one part of the abdomen to another, mainly under the navel.
Pain in the intestines can cause stool retention or, conversely, frequent emptying. Due to the fact that the child experiences constant abdominal pain, he may involuntarily push, which is why the acidic intestinal juice in small quantities comes out on the skin and causes itching irritation.
Stool disorder due to IBS
Candidiasis
Fungal damage to the skin is not uncommon. At first glance, a clean and sterile baby already has bacteria and fungi in its microflora, which can cause various diseases when immunity is weakened. Passing through the birth canal of the mother, the baby takes over all her microflora. If the child's condition is disturbed, or he is in uncomfortable conditions, where it is hot and dry, microbes can begin to multiply and affect well-being.
Candidiasis is accompanied by itching, skin lesions in the form of one large red spot, along the edge of which there may be a white rim. As a rule, the spot is irregular in shape, with uneven borders.
Enterobiasis
Pinworm infection is the most common cause of redness on the bottom of the baby near the hole. Itching especially begins to disturb in the dark. This is due to the way of life of pinworms. Once in the esophagus, the adult lives in the intestines, at night, when a person sleeps, crawls through the anus and lays eggs in the folds around the anal ring. She lubricates her masonry with a special secret that causes itching. When combing the anus, the baby damages the thin skin, which leads to the formation of sores and cracks.
Diagnostics and treatment
As soon as the mother noticed that the child has problems with the skin under the diaper, it is necessary to visit a dermatologist. It's wiser to spend one day going to the clinic than guessing for a week how to smear your skin. Children's agony from pain between the buttocks will only intensify, while the mother herself tries to heal without a diagnosis.
Specialists, seeing only clinical manifestations on the skin, will not prescribe treatment. They can give recommendations on how to alleviate the baby's condition until a diagnosis is made. To identify the pathogen, you will need to pass:
- stool analysis;
- Analysis of urine;
- clinical blood test;
- smear for enterobiasis;
- scraping to identify a fungal disease.
Important! If the mother can confidently tell about how the child is being washed away, what new products have been introduced into his diet, what accompanying symptoms are of concern, the doctor will be able to diagnose with a high degree of probability from the clinical picture. But even the most experienced specialist will send you for testing to confirm it.
Analyzes will help with the diagnosis
Medication method
In case of detection of helminthic infestations in a baby, the whole family needs to be treated, because helminth eggs have spread throughout the apartment during the clarification of the circumstances. The specialist will have to prescribe treatment for all family members and recommend a thorough wet cleaning of the room. Particular attention should be paid to baby diapers, toys, crib and parental couch if the baby likes to spend time on it.
It is very simple to spread numerous pinworm eggs around the apartment - it is enough to scratch the anus once at night, distributing most of the masonry under the nails. In the afternoon, when everyone wakes up, a child's pen with eggs under his nails, touching his toys, diapers and furniture, will quickly spread the source of infection.
Attention! In the absence of proper treatment, enterobiasis can cause acute appendicitis.
As a rule, the drug Pirantel easily copes with familial enterobiasis. It is prescribed with a dosage reservation, for both adults and children.
Treatment of candidiasis is most often done with local remedies. After confirming the disease from the laboratory, the doctor will prescribe an ointment, which will need to treat the baby's skin after each washing. If the doctor sees that the extent of the lesion is too extensive, rectal suppositories may be prescribed.
Local treatment with ointment
In case of skin lesions as a result of allergic dermatitis or untimely hygiene, good baby soap and zinc-based ointment will help. Sudocrem is popular with dermatologists. It simultaneously moisturizes the skin after drying with soap, and protects against contact with urine and loose stools.
Council. Sometimes parents are advised to reconsider their preferences for disposable diapers or to pay attention to the frequency of their replacement. Often it is low-quality absorbent briefs that cause redness.
Traditional methods
Our ancestors, not having modern methods of diagnosis and treatment, noticing a red anus in a child, inserted a cotton swab moistened with vegetable oil into the anus. They did this for 40 days to cure the child of worms. Modern pediatricians give this the following explanation: the method is really effective, albeit a long one. This treatment is justified by the fact that the pinworm individual lives no longer than 40 days. If during this time she will never be able to leave the anus and lay eggs, her genus will be interrupted, she will die inside the human gastrointestinal tract and come out with feces.
Treatment of helminthic infestations by eating pumpkin seeds is also recognized by medicine as an effective method, but parents should know that a single dose of eaten seeds should be at least 300 grams. It is clear that neither a newborn nor a 5-year-old child is able to eat this amount of seeds.
Interesting! Teeth grinding during sleep is not a symptom of enterobiasis.
You can get rid of candidiasis in the early stages with the help of lotions. Regular baking soda is prescribed by doctors as a therapy for thrush in the mouth of an infant and for redness in the groin. The baby can be bathed in a solution of soda, and also with a gauze swab dipped in it to wipe the affected skin.
Prevention
As a prevention of irritation around the anus in infants due to enterobiasis, doctors call the following measures:
- regular hand washing;
- timely change of bed linen;
- regular replacement of diapers and underwear;
- nail clipping.
Teaching a child from an early age to hygiene rules will avoid not only helminthic invasions, but also intestinal infections.
Hand washing
The kid will never know what thrush (fungal infection) is if his buttocks are always dry. This is facilitated by a high-quality disposable diaper, its timely replacement and skin treatment with a baby cream with zinc. As soon as the child develops diaper rash near the anal ring, it immediately becomes a favorable environment for the reproduction of fungi.
In hot weather, it is better to leave the baby completely without clothes. Having placed an absorbent diaper under the baby, you can put it among the toys and let the body breathe, then the baby is unlikely to have red skin around the anality.
Do not rush into complementary foods. Mom should know that babies under 6 months should only eat breast milk or formula. Complementary foods should be administered carefully, with the products recommended by the pediatrician. Any stool disturbance should be the reason for the product withdrawal. It is important to monitor the temperature maintained by the refrigerator. In the refrigerator compartment, it should not be higher than + 5˚C, and in the freezer - not higher than -18˚C. The finished dish should not be stored in the refrigerator for more than 2 days, on the table - for more than an hour, otherwise it turns into a resort for bacteria that cause intestinal poisoning, which is the most common cause of a red anus in an infant.
It is always easier to prevent a problem than to solve it. Instilling hygiene rules from infancy, bringing the procedure for washing hands and fruits to automatism will help protect yourself and children from unpleasant intestinal disorders and serious poisoning. Once the mother has noticed the first appearance of skin irritation, she should not wait for the dermatitis to turn into eczema or ulcers. A timely diagnosis will accelerate recovery and eliminate all possible complications.
