Update-Still Need Help -Nighttime Cloth for 3.5 year old - Rash

[CarricksMom]

My 3.5 year old very rarely has accidents during the day and has been this way for a little over a year. We went thru a few months that he was dry at night about half the time, but now he (and his clothes and our bed) is wet every morning. The worse part is that he gets a very red rash on his penis and a few times it has become what I think is a yeast rash. (may be 2 different things) At this point I switch to sposies for a few nites and it clears up. I don't want to go to sposies, but I also hate him hurting (he sometimes wakes up complaining that it hurts and when I get the diaper off and he pees he says it feels better, but it is still red for a while.)

We use large Fuzzi Bunz stuffed with a hemp and microfleece liner. It always leaks, but I don't think it leaks because it is full, it just escapes out of the legs and around the waist.

Anyone else have this problem? Is it normal for a 3.5 yr old to still need a diaper at night? My theory is as long as he is nursing all night, he will need to pee a lot, and he is. Also, any diapering ideas would be great!

[chely7425]

My younger son gets a rash from FB... any fleece lined pocket really. What about 2 premium prefolds with a wool cover? We can't use wool but I most of my friends swear by this combo!!

[CarricksMom]

Thanks chely7425 - I was thinking that using a fleece lined diaper would keep moisture away and keep the rash away. Is your son allergic to fleece? Just trying to figure out if the fleece is our problem as well. I just always thought that the wetness from a prefold all night would definitely cause a rash.

I have a wool cover that I never used. It may be too small, but I'm going to look for it.

[jennmiller]

I second the all natural fiber option. It was impossible for us to get rid of yeast from our FB and BG. We switched to all cotton/hemp dipes with wool covers and haven't had a problem since. Our night time solution was a sandy's diaper (I can't remember what size) with a Joeybunz hemparoo hemp insert or two and an aristocrats cover. It was a bit bulky, but DD slept great and didn't have problems with rashes. The other thing that really helped was adding a really powerful probiotic to her diet. Check out www.vsl3.com.

[chely7425]

Yes, my son is allergic to the fleece and microsuede inner linings. He can be ok in one for an hour or 2 but any longer than that and he is all red. We also have a TON of trouble getting synthetics really clean, so the all natural fibers work much better for us. My sons both sleep 12+ hours at night in a double up prefold and we have never had a rash issue. One night in a pocket on my younger one and he is all read. I would definitely try it!! Plus... prefolds are cheep and have tons of other uses to it can't hurt to try

[CarricksMom]

jennmiller - was this the Sandy's diaper you are talking about? http://nickisdiapers.com/catalog.php?category=1619 I think i have one, but it is a little snug. I'm going to try it and then get a bigger size if it works. I have several hemp inserts, too. I guess I've just been putting them in the wrong kind of diaper!

chely 7425- Thanks for sharing the info about the synthetics, I had not thought of that. I have a couple of large size organic prefolds I'm going to try. I think my wool cover is too small though, going to try to find a good deal on another one.

[chely7425]

Sounds like a good plan!! Until you figure out how much absorbency your kiddo needs I would err on the side of too much... my 10 month old (who sleeps thru the night but has a 7 oz sippy cup of water in bed with him) needs a large prefold doubled with a small prefold under a PUL cover OR 2 large ones under a fleece cover. My 2 year old (also sleeps thru but has a sippy cup of water) needs about the same, tho he seems to pee less over night.

[CarricksMom]

Well, 3 months later DS is waking up at 5am saying take off my diaper, my penis hurts. The hemp insert and cotton prefold with wool cover worked for a while, but now for a couple of weeks his penis is very red on the tip and very raw. His diaper is always soaking wet in the morning. I'm thinking it's just because he is sitting in pee or is he allergic to something? Not sure what to try next?

He is an all night nurser, so I feel like I would be expecting too much for him to get up to pee all night. His diaper is VERY wet so I'm thinking he goes several times. He never wakes up except to say "milk" and goes right back to sleep. If he does wake up in the middle of the night for any other reason, he is very difficult to get back to sleep.

He is almost 4 and I don't mind him still being in a diaper at night, but I can't stand him being in pain!

[cristeen]

I know my guy cant sit in wet all night, we'd be dealing w a massive rash by morning.

We use happy hempys pocket fitteds (w fleece inner) under wool for night-time. You also have to have enough absorbency or it doesnt keep him dry. My 11 mo gets 2 pfs + a 4-layer hemp doubler, and even then hes sopping by morning (in tests, this combo holds about 30 oz of water).

Does he react to poly at any other time? If it is a poly sensitivity, that wouldnt be the only time you would see it. As for leaking out the legs/waist, i would suspect repelling, or that the dipe was too loose, and build up would also explain the rash.

[littlemizflava]

i just seen and had to post my dsalmost 4 suffered the same thing alot when peeing everynight not so much now. everywhere the diaper touched would be red and sore. sometimes his penis would be red or/and swollen at the tip of his forskin. most times they rash would stay for days. my ds does not have as much accedents now that he is self BF weaned and has not had any food he is allergic to.

the only thing that worked from birth-3 years was putting a microfiber facecloth folded in the diaper to be next to his skin. i only did this at night due to they say microfiber wisks mosture out of the skin. we dont need to do this now a daysbecause he will only pee once and most cases he will wake up and take it off, throw it on the floor and go back to sleep he wears homemade fleece pull up training pants that i put 9 layers of diaperweight flannel in the middle but still have to add a prefold to it or else he will pee threw everything. ohhh i do put aveno diaper rash cream on him when he has the rash to soothe the rash.

[CarricksMom]

Thanks Cristeen and littlemizflava!

Originally Posted by cristeen

... and build up would also explain the rash.

Cristeen, what kind of build up and how would I get rid of it? Thanks!

[CarricksMom]

bump

[littlemizflava]

Originally Posted by CarricksMom

Thanks Cristeen and littlemizflava!



Cristeen, what kind of build up and how would I get rid of it? Thanks!

she means build up of soap. i used 5ml of dawn in each load this avoided buildup. there is many ways to stip diapers. i would do a search in mdc to see the different methods and which one you wish to try. what i would do is take the clean diapers and wash them on hot with NO soaps. let the machine fill and start to wash for a few mins then open the lid to see if there is bubbles. if there is there is build up.

[NewMoonMum]

I wanted to add that it may not be a reaction to the diaper or buildup.
This happened with DS while we were potty training and he'd be in his cloth overnight.
Especially in cloth-diapered babies, they'll build up a tolerance to the irritants in their urine, as they are up against it so much no matter how often you change their diapers. This tolerance tends to drop off as they spend more time dry. Couple that with the fact that they are peeing far less frequently-thus resulting in more concentrated urine-and overnight up against wetness can be a disaster.
We finally got to the point where he had blisters from the rash. He needed antibiotics and hydrocortisone, and we ended up just doing sposies overnight. It was just too severe to experiment. If his rash starts looking worse I'd suggest sposies until it is totally clear, then try a new method. We just don't have the funds to try different combos of new dipes and inserts, so we stick with a sposie for overnight. Not ideal, but at least it's only one a day.
But definitely I agree, try stripping first!! And good luck!

[CarricksMom]

Thanks littlemizflava. I didn't realize soap buildup could cause a rash, but it certainly makes sense. I will do the hot water/no soap test and see what I get.

NewMoonMum, poor little guy! I think I would opt for sposies too! In the past I've done a sposie for a couple of nights and it cleared up. Then a few weeks later it comes back. I'm going to try stripping and maybe do a sposie for a night or 2. The rash is better, but not completely gone. Thanks!