Yeast/Prefolds/Newbie...

[AfricanQueen99]

My little newbie has had a constant battle with a killer rash the majority of his three short weeks. I'm pretty sure it's yeast and that he got it from me during his birth.

We used the remaining Swaddlers from the hospital and then switched over the prefolds/prowraps - the rash went insane at this point. So I went out and bought more disposable dipes thinking it would wick away the moisture to help the rash. It did and is *almost* completely gone.

Now I want to go back to the prefolds so I bleached the stash (prefolds, some covers, wipes) to get rid of the yeast (believe me when I say this about killed me to use bleach!).

He is also getting nakey time to air out the whole area. He's not sitting for obscene amounts of time in wet/dirty dipes. Every time a disposable wipe has even looked his way the rash flares up again - I think he just can't tolerate chemicals - which is why I wanted to use cloth in the first place!

Can you think of anything I'm missing? I'm just using water on wipes - should I add an essential oil to help his little butt? Is there anything else I can do to verify the yeast is out of the dipes? Only a few of the covers made it into the bleach wash - should I redo the whole thing with all of them? Could this have anything to do with our laundry soap brand or how much I'm using?

[JTA Mom]

There are a few things that could be going on.

1) Yeast is a persistent bugger. You might need a topical anti-fungal to get rid of it off of his skin.

if he's still rashy, then

2) Yeast, being a persistent bugger, needs a good long bleach soak to tell it to leave. I'd soak your prefolds/inserts overnight in a good amount of bleach. The covers I wouldn't soak for longer than 15 minutes, especially since prowraps are just PUL.

if the rash is still there, then

3) With some babies, wetness against skin leads to rash. Solution? Cut a rectangle of fleece (no need to sew up edges, it won't unravel) and place it between you babe's bottom and the prefold.

4) Chemical sensitivities. My ds cannot tolerate any commercial wipes. At all. Unless I want each diaper change to include vast amounts of Desitin. I make wipes with the select-a-size paper towels and water. Nothing else. Johnson and Johnson baby shampoo also gives him rashes. As does having any residue in the prefold. I use a good amount of detergent to clean the diapers, then run a full wash cycle without anything to make sure all traces are gone. If I can still smell detergent, in it goes for another cycle.

5) Really acidic poo/pee. Ds breaks out into a rash if he even sits for 5 minutes in poop. EBF poop was worse. As soon as he did it, I had to rip the diaper off or he'd be red. I find putting a bit of a barrier with cream or powder helped. I'd use petroleum jelly. To keep the prefolds safe, I'd just put in a fleece liner and wash those separately.

and finally:

6) Heat. Some babies break out if there's any heat build up. I find that whenever ds has a rash, letting him go cover-less or in recycled wool covers works beautifully.

I think I've hit most of them. What is your diapering routine, including washing?

Ami

[AfricanQueen99]

Wow, Ami, thank you for your very informative post! I'm going to just start at the top and work my way down so I can get this kid back in cloth dipes.

As for my routine:
I primarily trifold a prefold and stick it in a prowrap. Since he was still pooping pretty much every ten minutes we went through a ton of dipes - I really focused on changing him as soon as I could. Wipes are just moistened with a bit of water (generally cold) from the peri bottle. Just an FYI, the vast majority of the dipes/wipes/covers were used - which is why I opted to bleach everything so quickly as I have no idea the care they received before my kid showed up.

Everything is tossed in the bag (I have two and they're both Leslie's...if that makes a difference). Washed 2-3 times a week. I try to remember to turn the covers and the bag inside out so I'm washing the dirtiest part.

I have a front loader and wash on Hot/Cold with an extra wash and an extra rinse. I use half the amount of detergent of a "normal" load - Costco's "Environmentally Friendly" brand, but I'm not married to it and will happily buy something else. About half the time I put vinegar in for the rinse. No idea if I have soft or hard water.

Even when I was changing him right away I could see where the diaper was on his naked body - almost like every place the diaper touched his body was red, but not rashy.

Thoughts? I'm literally open to any comment on my routine.

Eta: when you mention the overnight bleach solution - can you give me an idea of the water to bleach ratio you would suggest? I know that yeast is hard to get out of dipes so I want to make sure I kill it all now so we don't have long-term issues on my little guy's butt.

[JTA Mom]

Hmmm, the fact that you said you could see where the diaper was on his body due to redness--I think it's more likely to be detergent issues. If it were his poop/pee, you'd only see red where the diaper was wet/dirty.

Whenever that happens to ds, it's because I used a bit too much detergent and/or didn't rinse enough. Even when washing in my mom's top loader, I run a full 'empty' warm cycle to rinse my diapers clean. My son is just *that* sensitive to chemicals. It sounds like your little one is similar, in which case I'd suggest adding a full empty wash cycle as well. It's a pain, but better than a red bottom! My diaper detergent is homemade too (equal parts oxiclean, washing soda and borax), so there's nothing 'nasty' in it. But he's just got really sensitive skin.


As for the bleach, I use about 1/4 c for a full load if I want to soak. If I want a bleach soak in the frontloader I have, I put the diapers in first, fill with water. Then I add 1/4c bleach to an old milk gallon container, fill the rest of the way with water and add to the full machine load through the detergent dispenser, after it has stopped adding water and started agitating. This dilutes it enough that it doesn't damage the fabric. My front loader is also incredibly stingy with water, so I add up to 3 gallons of extra water per load. So, if I'm using bleach, I only add 2 more gallons. If I'm not using the bleach, I add 3. As long as the total is 3 gallons, it's safe and fine to do. This increased water level really helps rinse everything away. Then I just let it sit overnight.

If I really want to 'strengthen' the bleach, I also add 1/4 c of vinegar to the wash water. An acidic, cool environment lets the bleach work to its fullest. It's important to do this in a closed washing machine, because it does intensify the bleach. I can't stand the smell, so making it stronger with vinegar makes it even more icky to me. Closed washing machine=no smell.

Since these are used prefolds, maybe there's still some left over detergent from previous people in there? Have you tried just washing them in hot/warm water and looking for suds? With front loaders, it's incredibly easy to get build up because there just isn't much water there. They weren't made for really dirty loads, like diapers. Most Americans are office workers, so not much 'grime' to clean, kwim?

You know you have hard water when you have scale build up around faucets/showerheads. It can be white, gray, blue, red, depending on the minerals in the water.

Right now, I'd try a bleach soak, then do LOTS of warm rinses, looking for suds. If you really want to strip everything out of the prefolds, get RLR. It's in the laundry aisle and it comes in little 'pantyhose' balls. Sometimes it's in those hanging displays. I've used it once on my prefolds and you wouldn't believe what was coming out of them! And I've only used my homemade, clean rinsing detergent on them!

After that, I'd trial CDs for a day. If the redness is back, move on to the other possibilities.

I'm sorry you are dealing with CD issues. They are a pain to trouble shoot. Sometimes it feels like once I fix one problem, another crops up!

Ami

[AfricanQueen99]

I think you're right about detergent build-up, but I know this kid has yeast, too. The rash is undeniable. The cries from butt wiping were heartbreaking.

[JTA Mom]

Originally Posted by AfricanQueen99

I think you're right about detergent build-up, but I know this kid has yeast, too. The rash is undeniable. The cries from butt wiping were heartbreaking.

I am sorry. Those are the worst. I remember those. And this sometimes still happens if he's sick and has diarrhea. Only now he's big and strong enough to fight back while crying. Have you thought of putting on a thick barrier cream until the yeast goes away? Now that ds can verbalize, he's told me that Desitin really does make the angriest of rashes feel better. In fact, it's what I have him hold while I wipe him. Seems to help him get through the worst of it if there's relief in site.

Ami

[Hey Mama!]

For yeast I have used monistat,lotrimin, nystatin, or vaseline with tea tree oil mixed in it. Then, I put a protective layer of desitin or A&D ointment over the medicated cream. I personally would use sposies until the rash is cleared up. I'd also try to strip the diapers of build-up but it's been so long I'm not sure how to do that anymore-I think a lot of washing on hot until you see clear water. If you see suds there is still detergent buildup in the diapers.

[NSmomtobe]

Does a vinegar rinse help kill yeast?

[chase_mommy]

Haven't read OP post but here is what I do to battle yeast. DD deals with yeast on a lot. She, like me (got it from me, who got it from her father) is an extremely yeasty person, its just how it is for us.

Anywho here I go.

I don't recommend bleach. Its just not good for the cloth diaper and if you can use other things that work and are cloth diaper compatible, why go there.

First off, if DC has a yeast rash then a probiotic is needed. This will help battle it internally. If the yeast is coming out externally then there is defiantly and internal issue as well. I didn't know about probiotics and yeast when DD was an infant. Since we have started probiotics we haven't had any yeast issues except for long periods between probiotics.

Here is my diaper stripping routine with clean diapers.

Wash/rinse Diapers in the hottest water possible. We use soap nuts as our detergent. Its biodegradable, natural and leaves our diapers clean, fresh and soft. Also no chemical build up is possible with these. I add about 1/4 cup baking soda, tea tree oil, and soap nuts to wash. I put white vinegar into fabric softer thingy (can't think of whats its called now). Then I wash/rinse again in hot hot water. This time I add GSE (grapefruit seed extract), about 45 drops and I also do a vinegar rinse. Sometimes I use lavender EO just to make it smell a bit better but not necessary.

Then I dry. Once again as hot as you can. Then I run it through a 60 min hot cycle 2 or 3 times. **You may not want to dry your covers this much, some don't recommend it, I do and my covers are fine**

If I omit any of this I get yeast back super quick. I also have to make sure to do ALL diapers,cover, wipes and wet bags. Also make sure to clean out diaper pail really good with vinegar or bleach with this.

For baby. I use a splash of white vinegar, a drop of tea tree and lavender eo in wipe solution... I usually use water but for yeast time I make up a batch. I also mix some GSE in distilled water and put into a sprayer and spray on babys booty at each diaper change and let air dry before putting diaper on. This helps tremendously!! I also add a splash of white vinegar to babys bath (at the end) and let her sit there and play for about 5 minutes. This also is a huge help!

I also use Weleda Calendula diaper care cream on her rash to help sooth, it seems to help and we like it. I have never used any other cream on her. Calendula is great for healing the skin.

If I do ALL of this (which seems like a lot) it works and we are yeast free (at least externally) within 2 or 3 days. Tea tree oil, vinegar, GSE and extreme heat kills yeast, using them all together is a great way to get rid of it!

Good luck and I hope this was some help to ya!

[AfricanQueen99]

Originally Posted by NSmomtobe

Does a vinegar rinse help kill yeast?

It wasn't killing it before I went back to disposable dipes.

Thank you everybody for all the food for thought. I'm still working on this and will get to the bottom of it - between dealing with all the other stuff and trying fit a nap in there to not go insane!