So for the first few weeks of her life, we used disposable diapers. We splurged and bought the most expensive Huggies organic cotton diapers thinking that they'd be the friendliest to her sensitive little butt. Her bottom got red. We switched and tried Pampers Dry Max. Her bottom looked like we had sat her in lye. (Check out this other Pampers test.) Since the most expensive disposable diapers we could buy were bothering Harper's butt, we tried Luvs. Her bottom would be perfect, then within 10 minutes of having a diaper on, it would be red.
We broke down and bought cloth diapers. We decided on prefolds and a mix of Thirsties and Bummis covers.
And we loved them.
Seriously, have you ever seen a cuter little butt?
Harper's butt was perfect. The cloth diapers were so much cuter (and cheaper) than disposables. They take all of 5 extra minutes a week to wash and haven't made any impact on our water or electric bills. For three months, we went about our business and Harper's rear was as cute as ever.
Until this month. Harper had a rash, and not just a my-butt's-red-from-the-diaper-rash. We followed all the advice google could offer. Harper started spending hours naked so her butt could air out. I washed her diapers with superhot water. We slathered her little bum with ointments, but it made no difference. We put her back into the absolutely cheapest disposables we could find so we wouldn't ruin her cloth diapers with Desitin.
Harper's rash before treatment.
We finally took her to the doctor's and we were informed it was a yeast rash and given an antifungal. She said she hadn't seen a baby in the last two weeks without a yeast rash just because it was so hot and humid. She assured us that we were doing nothing wrong and that after a couple days with the medicine, Harper's butt would be as good as new.
I went back to the internet and looked up all I could about cloth diapers and yeast. The consensus was that I would have to boil the diapers then rinse them with vinegar so any yeast would be killed. Obviously, I didn't want to reinfect her while we were trying to get rid of her rash. We continued to use the $4/pack diapers while I sanitized every cloth diaper we had. After a few days, her rash went away. We happily put her newly cleaned cloth diapers back on her. But two days later, the rash is back.
Harper's rash as of last night.
I don't know if it's because of the cloth diapers or because we spent the day outside in the heat and humidity.
I really hope it's not the cloth diapers. I love cloth diapering. I could try to reboil/rewash all of her diapers and wipes and see if that helps, but I don't know what boiling them a second time will do if it didn't help the first time. She's never had a problem with the cloth before. I don't know why she would be sensitive to it now. She was back in cloth a couple days before the rash reappeared. Could it be that her diapers are fine, but what remained of her rash flared back up as soon as her butt hit the humidity?
Do you guys have any tips for a yeast diaper rash? How do you wash your diapers?
i washed with All, and washed them twice. yeast hates the sun as well, do you have the option to line dry? stick her in the sun as well.
ReplyDeletealso eliminate sugar from your diet because yeast can come from breastmilk (i forget if you're bf'ing)
@Mommymichael - We line dry, at least on days it's not threatening to pour.
ReplyDeleteEliminate sugar from my diet? Aaaaacccckkk! But I like sugar! (Yep, she's exclusively breastfeed.)
That looks similar to my son's little rash spots -- though his did that after I oh-so-brilliantly thought that maybe lip-balm would do in a pinch when I couldn't find the magic stick.
ReplyDeleteOh no, it will not.
I've been cloth diapering since November, and I love it, but I've always had some mild rash problems. I hope you get this solved! =D
Wash your diapers in hot water. A vinegar rinse helps. Your main problem isn't with the cloth diaper, it's just that those covers keep her skin too warm and moist. She needs diapers without a cover. Only use moisture proof covers when socially required.
ReplyDeleteI have 5 children, all of whom wore cloth diapers pretty much exclusively.
Hello! I recently just began my own cloth diapering company. I came across your blog and I'm really curious as to how your little girl is doing! That rash looks painful! My 2 year old boy experienced yeast infections with pull ups before we switched to cloth. It helped him tremendously. Did you try putting a stay dry liner in the diaper? And make sure you're eating your yogurt of course if your Bf'ing :)Hope she's doing better!
ReplyDelete