Quote:
Originally Posted by springbride  Hi! I have been cloth diapering (and loving it!) for 2-3 weeks now and have accumulated a few questions:
* What makes a rash cream CD safe or not safe? Is burts bees ok?
* How do you decide what a rash is caused by?
* How often should I strip my diapers?
* Is it better to snappi on a prefold and then cover? or just fold & cover?
* How do you decide what detergent to use?
TIA!
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Glad you're enjoyong cd'ing so far!!
Here are some answeras that I hope you find helpful.
1.) Rash cream that is safe for cd's is lanolin-based. Lanolin washes away in hot water, so it doesn't coat the diaper and leave behind a residue. I don't know about Burts Bee's, but the ones I use regularly on my kids are California Baby Diaper Cream and Weleda Calendula Diaper Cream. They're both lanolin-based. There are lots of others but I'm not familiar with them, as they're not available where I live. You can also use pure lanolin, like the kind for nursing moms.
2.) Rashes--they can be really tricky. I'm not much help here. But here's what I go by. I know that if the child is allergic to something, like a particular detergent, the rash wil look like welts or hives. Heat rash and urine-exposure rash looks like tiny little red dots, at least in my kids that's how it looks. Yeast rashes usually have red satellite dots, like there will be a red rash, and then individual bumps scattered around the main rash.
3.)You should strip your diapers if the begin to repel liquid (if you drip some water on a clean, dry diaper it should soak it right up--if it beads up on the diaper you need to strip). You should also strip if the diapers stink immediately after being urinated on. A little bit of urine smell os ok, but if the really stink as soon as they become wet you have a build-up of detergent and/or ammonia.
4.) Whether or not you fasten your diaper under the cover is all about preference. Fastening it can help contain poo which may help the cover (and baby's clothes) stay clean. It can also keep the diaper from drooping on a mobile baby. I choose to pin because that just works best for us.
5.) Detergents are another hot issue. It depends on your preference and budget. You want to avoid enzymes, softeners, perfumes, dyes and optical brighteners (which are dyes that bend light to make fabric appear brighter and thus cleaner--they are very hard to avoid in most store-bought detergents, and they don't bother many people). There are a lot of good diaper-friendly detergents (Charlies, Nellies, Country Save, Allens, etc)that aren't readily available in many areas so they need to be ordered and shipped. They usually need to be the only detergent used in the machine, so you have to wash all of your laundry with it. And they're expensive. That's a huge turn-off for me, so I use what I can buy in local stores. I use Purex Free and Clear. I've also used Arm and Hammer for Senstive Skin and Arm and Hammer Essentials with good results. There's a good list here that you should check out, it's very informative:
http://www.pinstripesandpolkadots.co...entchoices.htm
Hope this helps!
DH prefered laying in a wrap and never touched the pin/snappi.. and i relented during wiggily changes..
