Diaper rash in cloth?

[TenderLovingWillow]

I have DS2 with almost a chronic diaper rash since we switched to cloth.

DS1 is fine. I did strip the diapers once, and other than my BG free time diapers, I don't have stink issues..

Is there anything I can do with DS2's rash? Its pretty bad, with raised blisters, and though none have actually bled yet, they look like they could at anytime. :(

:help

[breezy]

DD1 had a persistant rash caused that finally went away when i stripped my diapers. DS had a wicked yeast rash just after he developed thrush; it was ugly!

[Hannah Elise]

I don't have any tips, per se, except to say that it could be a yeast infection, which typical diaper creams don't really help. We switched detergents a while back (from homemade to Rockin Green) and it gave ds an irritant diaper rash, which opened the door for it to turn into a yeast/fungal infection. I tried a couple of creams (Weleda, as well as an herbal salve) and nothing would kick it completely - he had what it soudns like your son does - bright red, blistery, etc. It was mainly on his buttocks / inner thigh. I was trying to home-treat (even tried the home remedy of room temperature yogurt applied at each diaper change, once I realized it might be yeast - which I was clued in to because I read that sometimes yeast/candida can make them gassy, and he had been mysteriously gassy lately)... but then he got a sore on the tip of his penis and I was worried that he was going to end up with a UTI or something - plus by that point he was very uncomfortable - pulling at the front of his diaper, crying, irritable - so I gave up and went to the doctor.

He took one look and confirmed that it definitely looked like a fungal infection, with the possibility of a secondary bacterial infection, and put him on both an antibiotic (cephalexin) and an antifungal topical cream for ten days. Now, I am not one to run to antibiotics and such, I think we way overuse them in our culture, but in this case I agreed with the doctor - he needed them. He said he was glad that I had brought him in, as he has seen lesions in that area (tip of the penis) turn REALLY nasty before, into UTIs, etc.

SO. All that to say, if the sores really start to look bad and/or he gets them in that area, I would definitely recommend at least having it checked out.

We put him in disposables during the course of the antifungal, because I didn't want that getting on his cloth diapers (I wasn't sure how well it would wash off and didn't want him getting residual meds down the line). I ran all of his cloth diapers through HOT HOT cycles with some dawn dish detergent (to cut any ammonia), a little bleach (to kill off yeasties), and am now washing them in Tide Original powder, as I have had some cloth diapering friends recommend it as the only thing that prevents ammonia buildup n their hard water (which we have), and so far the rash hasn't come back. Here's hoping! I have also heard of boiling dipes instead of using bleach, to kill off yeast, but we didn't have anything that would fit more than, like, three diapers at a time, so I opted to use a little bit of bleach instead.

Pardon the typos - this was sent via Tapatalk on my cell phone!

[TenderLovingWillow]

I don't have any tips, per se, except to say that it could be a yeast infection, which typical diaper creams don't really help. We switched detergents a while back (from homemade to Rockin Green) and it gave ds an irritant diaper rash, which opened the door for it to turn into a yeast/fungal infection. I tried a couple of creams (Weleda, as well as an herbal salve) and nothing would kick it completely - he had what it soudns like your son does - bright red, blistery, etc. It was mainly on his buttocks / inner thigh. I was trying to home-treat (even tried the home remedy of room temperature yogurt applied at each diaper change, once I realized it might be yeast - which I was clued in to because I read that sometimes yeast/candida can make them gassy, and he had been mysteriously gassy lately)... but then he got a sore on the tip of his penis and I was worried that he was going to end up with a UTI or something - plus by that point he was very uncomfortable - pulling at the front of his diaper, crying, irritable - so I gave up and went to the doctor.

He took one look and confirmed that it definitely looked like a fungal infection, with the possibility of a secondary bacterial infection, and put him on both an antibiotic (cephalexin) and an antifungal topical cream for ten days. Now, I am not one to run to antibiotics and such, I think we way overuse them in our culture, but in this case I agreed with the doctor - he needed them. He said he was glad that I had brought him in, as he has seen lesions in that area (tip of the penis) turn REALLY nasty before, into UTIs, etc.

SO. All that to say, if the sores really start to look bad and/or he gets them in that area, I would definitely recommend at least having it checked out.

We put him in disposables during the course of the antifungal, because I didn't want that getting on his cloth diapers (I wasn't sure how well it would wash off and didn't want him getting residual meds down the line). I ran all of his cloth diapers through HOT HOT cycles with some dawn dish detergent (to cut any ammonia), a little bleach (to kill off yeasties), and am now washing them in Tide Original powder, as I have had some cloth diapering friends recommend it as the only thing that prevents ammonia buildup n their hard water (which we have), and so far the rash hasn't come back. Here's hoping! I have also heard of boiling dipes instead of using bleach, to kill off yeast, but we didn't have anything that would fit more than, like, three diapers at a time, so I opted to use a little bit of bleach instead.

Pardon the typos - this was sent via Tapatalk on my cell phone!

I didn't even think about this kind of thing. Thanks!!

And Welcome to GCM!! Good to have you here!

[Hannah Elise]

Glad to help. And being new, I don't know if this falls under the "not posting about other forum discussions / blogs / etc" or not... I'm thinking -not-, since I'm not linking to a specific discussion or a controversial topic or anything (y'all can correct me if I'm wrong) but a GREAT place for cloth diaper troubleshooting is the DiaperSwappers forum. I joined because of their buy/sell/trade subforums, but they have a couple of subforums dedicated to cloth diapering questions and chatter, and they've been a great help to me since we started cloth diapering a year ago... there's a lot of experience there. They're even great for "hey, my kid has skinny thighs / short torso / heavy wetter / whatever combo - who else has a kid like that and what brand of diapers worked well for them" etc type questions. :)

I don't know how "deep" the cloth diapering population is here on GCM, but I figured it was worth mentioning in case you ever have some troubleshooting that you can't solve here, since that forum is entirely centered around cloth diapering, versus being a subforum. If that makes sense. :D

Pardon the typos - this was sent via Tapatalk on my cell phone!

[TenderLovingWillow]

I should join there, people have been telling me that for years.

[blondie]

How's he doing now ?

O always got an awful rash like that after she had cow's milk....but I know he doesn't get cow's milk. (Just helping you brainstorm)

[TenderLovingWillow]

Still has the spots, but its not as angry now as what it was.. Im still at a loss..