CD for about a week and a half...RASH on boy

[periwinkle37]

I've been CD for a week and a half/two weeks. Up until yesterday, we had noticed a mild rash with prefolds only, and ONLY in the area below his belly button and above his penis. (Basically where a snappi goes.) I stopped using snappis and it helped only slightly.

When using Bumgenius, no rash, at least until yesterday or so. Now the rash won't go away when we use a BG. It's pretty red, but def confined to that spot.

Any suggestions? DH was a hard sell, I don't want to lose our CD experience so soon!

PW

[Bokonon]

What kind of detergent are you using? Have you tried doing an extra rinse after washing?

[periwinkle37]

I've been doing Country Save (rec. by BG and purchased at Sprouts.) My wash routine is:

cold full wash cycle with 1/2 manufact. rec. amount of detergent
hot full wash cycle with 1/2 manufact. rec amount of detergent
extra rinse cycle on cold

[periwinkle37]

Oh, that would be a 1/2 scoop of powdered Country Save. I do plan to switch to All Free and Clear Military as soon as my dad can take me to the commissary.

[Michigan Mama]

I like Country Save, but I don't think you need to add it twice. I put about 1/3 scoop in with my cold rinse and that's it. Then I do my hot wash, then an extra hot rinse.

I think rinsing with hot makes a big difference in making sure the detergent is fully rinsed out.

try giving your babe a little nakey bum time - that usually clears up red for us fairly quickly.

[cristeen]

Don't put the detergent in the second wash. You could also add a splash of vinegar to the second wash cycle, it helps neutralize the detergent.

And how often are you changing the dipes? I know my little guy gets a rash there if I leave him in a wet dipe too long. 5 minutes of nekkid time between dipes, and changing every hour for a day or so usually clears it up.

[brightonwoman]

I find that frequent changes helps.
I agree with not using detergent twice. I do a cold rinse, then hot wash (w/ detergent), and two cold rinses. I'd do a hot/warm rinse and then a cold rinse but my washer doesn't have that option so I just do two cold.

Once you've ruled out detergent buildup/reaction, here's one other thing to consider.
I have found that my sensitive skinned kiddo gets red if he feels wet like with a pf (though it goes away with nakey time) and that he gets heat rash (little red dots) from synthetic fabrics because his skin can't breathe. He gets the heat rash all over, not just on his bum (on the side of his head/face if he takes a nap on a fleece blanket for example). Anyway, I had almost all diapers with microfleece inners and he was breaking out over and over until I figured it out. I ended up putting in cotton velour liners (cotton breathes, velour has the height of the fuzz to feel pretty dry). His rash cleared up within a couple of days of making the switch and he's been good so long as I keep him in natural fibers and terry or velour.