Yeast rash...don't want to use sposies...what to do?

[whitneyg]

My dear little baby has a raging rash (we're pretty sure it is yeast) on her low belly, inner thighs, and bum that refuses to go away. We use a combo of cotton fitteds, prefolds, and some BG pockets (though they have been repelling recently, so she is mostly in cotton now) with Thirsties Duo covers. She has always had sensitive skin, but this rash seems extra bad. Is there anything I can do to battle it without having to use disposables? Will Lotramin ruin CD's? Are there any CD friendly yeast rash treatments? Would switching to wool covers help? Do I need to change my wash routine to kill off the yeast in the diapers? What do I do to save my baby's cute little bum?

Thanks!

[chase_mommy]

Your probably gonna get swamped with responses to this and they are all going to vary.

This is what we did... it took me a while to finally get it right and to keep it gone.

First off, if yeast is presenting externally then there is an internal issue, I would get her on probiotics. When I got DD on probiotics it helped a lot! We may not of even had another yeast outbreak... if we did, it was only 1.

I put distilled water in a spray bottle and added about 15 drops of GSE (grapefruit seed extract) to it. I would spray her rashy area at every change and let air dry. GSE helps kill yeast. I also made her a wipe solution with vinegar, GSE, TTO (Tea tree oil) and lavender. The vinegar and TTO kills yeast. Sometimes I would add calendula as it sooths and heals skin. Also, naked booty time- lots of it... yeast loves warm and moist. In addition to all that, I would add some vinegar to her bath (at the end) to let her sit in it to help kill the yeast, for about 5 min or so. I also like Weilda Calendula Diaper care... don't know if it helped to get rid of the yeast but it helped keep her booty looking healthy.

Diaper care... I have only dealt with prefold and covers... never had yeast in wool. For my prefolds I would do my cold rinse. Then a HOT wash and a HOT rinse. I would use my regular detergent then add 45-50 drops of GSE, some vinegar and a lot of TTO. I would also add the vinegar to the rinse cycle. Then I would dry on super hot for a minimum of 2 cycles... high heat kills yeast. Make sure to not to forget any diapers so you don't recontaminate, wash all wet bags, wipes and pails. I continued this routine until the the yeast had been completely gone for a week.

I don't know about lotrumn, I never had to use it. Good luck, yeast is a total pain!

[siacircus]

Thank you so much for posting your solution! We are dealing with the same situation here. I haven't heard of any of those solutions before this. It's off to the co-op for me! Thanks again. My little man and his very sore bottom (and his feeling-helpless parents!) thank you in advance.

[kittywitty]

Sposies never helped my kids' yeast issues. I always kept them bare butted as long as I could, used tto and lavender in the wipes water and gave them probiotics if old enough (for me, too). Make sure you get the yeast out of those dipes, though!

[mumkimum]

Did various things already mentioned as well.
I'll add, we also would use plain yogurt topically (it'll be cooling for the rash and help get rid of yeast too). For diaper wash routine, when dealing with the yeast, I'd also often run a complete wash cycle without detergent after our regular hot wash/rinse and I found this was especially important for any non-natural fiber dipes (like your pockets, any microfiber, etc). If you use any microfiber inserts, you can bleach them. Might want to run your washer with a little bleach in it to clean it occasionally (without anything in it) while you're in the midst of washing the diapers.

No idea if switching covers would help - other than wool or fleece being slightly more breathable, going cover-less would probably help just as much as switching covers would. I doubt it would really matter.