Diaper Rash with Cloth Diapers

Hi T. I would suggest a double rinse when you wash the diapers. She may be reacting to the laundry soap.

Since cloth diapers do not pull the moisture away from your baby's bottom, you will need to change the diaper immediately if she has wet also. Most babies at 8 months go through 8 - 10 cloth diapers a day. Also, make sure she is completely dry before rediapering. Thus, if you have used a baby wipe to clean her off, pat her down with a dry cloth before applying a new diaper.

GL!

Tiffany,

We are using cloth as well and the pedi suggested vaseline since it will coat. A good rash cream is A & D it seems to work really well. I don't know if you are using the all in one diapers or regular ones, but if you are using the regualr ones you may want to try the thicker ones Babies R Us sells them.

Hope this helps.

Kim
-Mother of two girls 2 1/2 and 5 months.

T.,

I have a skin care, health and wellness company. We have an excellent baby line that has a wonderful diaper rash cream. The diaper rash cream is also good for bug bites, hives, anything itchy.

Our products are botanically based and we do a lot of testing to make sure they are beneficial.

Please let me know if you'd like further information.

Thanks and God bless!

Hi... I asked the same question a few weeks ago. We've used cloth diapers on my 19 month old since her birth and she's always had a rash no matter what we did (sometimes a really bad rash). I thought I had tried everything, but mamapedia gave me some great new tips. I wrote about what I did that FINALLY worked at www.UrbanSuburbanFamily.squarespace.com. It was a whole combination of changes including adding boiling water to strip the diapers, changing detergents, and (what I think was key) adding GSE to the rinse cycle and washing her bottom with it. Good luck!

With a cloth diaper, you need to change the baby more often than every 2-3 hours. The cloth diapers don't absorb the urine away from the skin like disposables do, so you can't let the baby sit around in the diaper even if it's just a little damp. I would say to try changing every 1-2 hours MAX (or sooner if you notice the baby is really wet) and you should see an improvement.

We had a cloth diaper service, so I don't know how they washed them. But we didn't really have any rash issues. If we did, we used either Bag Balm (available in the pharmacy - they use it on cows) or Vaseline.

I'm wondering about the diaper cover as well...those we had ourselves and laundered in dreft. If you have skin issues skip the fabric softener and dryer sheets. I'm not sure what diaper cover brand we used...we purchased thru the diaper service. I do know that there are choices in that too - which might affect the way the diapers are worn, etc.

Keep the diapers dry - if she wets more frequently than two-three hours I'd change more often. Luckily as she gets older that will spread out more!

Good luck!!

Your daughter might be alergic to the cloth diaper. Try washing them in Ivory clothing detergent. Use Boudreaux's Butt Paste (Wal-Mart) for the rash.

Good luck.

I would try and make sure they are getting rinsed out well. Do an extra rinse before washing and only use 1/4 of soap needed when you wash them. Make sure you are using a mild soap. I make my own with grated Zote soap and powdered Borax from Walmart. There is no detergent in this recipe so there are not suds but plenty of cleaning. It only takes a tablespoon a load and cost less then a penny a load to boot. I even hang my diapers stuff on the line to air dry. It disinfects them in the sun and they smell great!
Don't give up yet!
For the rash I use a product called Resinol cream that I got at Walgreens. This stuff works on any rash and quick. You'll need to ask the pharmacy for it if you go looking for it.
C.

Jodi D is right. Disposable diapers have very absorbant liners that draw the moisture away from your baby's skin. You have to check a lot more frequently and change her if she is wet.

First off, what type of cloth diapers are you using?

If you're using the gerber diapers that you can buy at walmart, you're going to have rash issues.

If you're using fuzzi bunz or other microfleece lined diapers, it could be that she's allergic to the fleece.

If you're using hemp diapers - could be allergic to the hemp.

We went through a few different brands b/4 we found what worked for us. My ds was allergic to the hemp diapers, so we could not use those. I ended up making him fitteds w/ hemp, but w/ a microfleece or microsuede liner so that was the only part that touched his skin.

Also - it could be a reaction to the detergent. When you are washing, only use 1/4 of the amount of laundry soap you normally use. Only fill the washer halfway with diapers, but run a full load so there is plenty of room for the diapers to agitate, and do a second rinse to make sure all the detergent is rinsed out. Depending on how long you've been diapering, you could also have detergent buildup on the diapers so you may need to strip them by running them in a hot wash, warm rinse until all the detergent is out of them.

If you typically use a lot of detergent, then you'll have to strip them more often.

We had the best luck w/ Charlies soap, you can get it from http://www.sunshinediapers.com
w/ free shipping and (30% off each additional bag). The bag is small, but you use very little - I've got a family of 7 w/ laundry for 7, a bag of charlies soap lasts us a long time! It's also a natural detergent so skin reactions are unlikely.

Also, what kind of covers are you using? If you're using those cheapo gerber pull-on covers, then what your dd may be getting is a heat rash b/c those do not allow for air flow. I recommend Mother-ease air-flow covers, bumpkins, bummis, any fleece cover, green earth wraps, or any other breathable cover (I personally don't like wool covers but know many who do)

I hope you figure out the issue, we cloth diapered our last 2 children and it felt so good knowing we weren't sending tons of diapers to the landfill like we did with our older children!

Here's a great site for cloth diapering advice:
http://boards.babycenter.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?webtag=bcus...

I no longer visit that board since my "baby" will be 4 in September, but it was a great source of advice while I was cloth diapering!

Good luck to you and God Bless!

I used cloth diapers and you need to make sure you are getting them rinsed out good. And use a good baby soap

Are you rinsing your diapers after the wash cycle? I usually rinse, wash, full cycle rinse with no soap. You may not be getting all the soap out and your daughter could be having a reaction to it. Maybe try taking your clean diapers and run them through a cycle of just water and see if there is any soap left in them. We use Country Save with no problems though I have seen were some kids do have reactions to Nellies. Also you can use rash cream on your daughter in cloth, you just need to put a cloth, a piece of fleece or small washcloth between her bottom and the diaper to help keep the cream off the diaper. I am not sure what kind of diaper you are using. If it is not wicking the moisture away from your baby's bottom you may need to change more often. We use BumGenius and the suedecloth seem to help wick the moisture some, but we definitely change more often if we are in a fitted diaper.

Try washing the diapers in either Ivory Snow liquid or Dreft and then run them through two rinse cycles. Worked like a charm for us.

My younger daughter would get a horrible rash quickly that looked like she had been scalded. We eventually switched to disposables because of it.

The diapers that we used at the time were hand-me-downs from a nephew that had also been used by our older daughter. They were cloth with an absorbent strip down the center.

I have to agree that thorough washing is the key with a final rinse. Another trick we learned from our babysitter, who was an older woman from the hills, was to take some flour and scorch it in a frying pan until it was browned. After it cooled, we used that to dust the baby's bottom. It worked well.

At that time, it was advised to use corn starch based powders rather than talc based powders. They're more absorbent and less irritating.

I would suggest using Melapower laundry detergent. It doesn't have any toxins in it at all and is great to use on the most sensitive of skin. And for the diaper rash I would use Renew lotion! It is great for diaper rash, eczema, dry skin, etc. If you would like to learn more let me know. I would be glad to teach you the importance of getting harmful chemicals out of our home. You may be very surprised to learn that many popular baby lines use carcinogens,cancer causing, chemicals. If you would like to learn more let me know.

H. M.