Can anyone suggest something for me to try, before I give up on cloth for good?

[bluebirdiemama]

Hey there mamas. I have been having such trouble with our diapers forever, and I could really use some help. I love doing cloth, and really don't want to give it up, but I don't think it's working for us. I have tried everything I can think of, everything that has been suggested to me... Nothing is working.

The problem is that our dipes are giving my dd a rash. I do a cold rinse, hot wash with a little detergent, an extra rinse, sometimes with tea tree oil.

Sometimes the first rinse I use vinegar. For detergents, I used Arm and Hammer Free for a long time... Recently I did a major stripping with dawn, like... stripped several times. Plus boiling. Switched to using soap nuts as detergent.

This is what I have tried recently. In the past I tried other things, when my ds was in diapers I had the same problem.

The ONLY thing that makes the rash go away on my dd is disposable diapers. I have tried creams using a liner in the dipe. I use arrowroot powder sometimes (a natural starch), and it works, but if I put her in cloth the rash comes back right away. Similar with going back to cloth from sposies... the rash comes right back.

I have gone through this for almost the entire duration of diapering. And I am seriously done. If anyone can suggest something that would work.... I would love you forever.
Otherwise... I am totally done... and will be selling our stash to pay for all the disposables


TIA !

[cristeen]

What type of dipes are you using? That can make a difference.

[GreenGranolaMama]

I feel your frustration! I would probably try switching detergents again before giving up completely.

We initially used Lullwater soap nuts with great success- however our health food stopped carrying them so I had to order a different brand online (and this is where the trouble started). This brand was NOT getting the diapers clean (like at all...) and DS was starting to get serious diaper rash.

So I switched to Charlies Soap with AMAZING success. We use prefolds and covers, bamboo AIOs, Fuzziebunz, and some DreamEze and it gets them all amazingly clean. I do a cold cycle with no detergent and then a hot wash/ cold rinse with Charlies and thats it.

Another thought- are you boiling your soapnuts? I found this made a HUGE difference when we were using them (however it adds more work to washing)

Good luck

[treeoflife3]

I finally washed my diapers with about 1/4 cup of bleach on the hottest setting. I didn't WANT to use bleach, but there was so much build up (not detergent, it was all in the pee zone) that it was really my only option. The dawn does best stripping detergent, but I've been using these diapers for over a year so they needed the kind of stripping you'd need to do on fabric that gets peed and pooped on every single day.

My wash routine is a cold rinse, a hot wash with a bit of detergent and a final cold rinse after everything to make sure its all gone. I figure even with the perfect routine, at some point something might build up as it IS fabric after all.

Her rash is finally gone.

[chely7425]

Originally Posted by treeoflife3

I finally washed my diapers with about 1/4 cup of bleach on the hottest setting. I didn't WANT to use bleach, but there was so much build up (not detergent, it was all in the pee zone) that it was really my only option. The dawn does best stripping detergent, but I've been using these diapers for over a year so they needed the kind of stripping you'd need to do on fabric that gets peed and pooped on every single day.

My wash routine is a cold rinse, a hot wash with a bit of detergent and a final cold rinse after everything to make sure its all gone. I figure even with the perfect routine, at some point something might build up as it IS fabric after all.

Her rash is finally gone.

This is exactly what I was going to say... which makes sense because it is what I told Bryanna to do (HI!!)

Anyway, when we start getting rash issues I bleach, it works for us. I also find we need to do 2 full cycles, one with soap and one without to get everything rinsed well.

[Nicole730]

I agree with cristeen, what types of diapers are you using? Your daughter could be allergic to the fibers.

We occasionally use a little bit of bleach to clear up any stink and build up. Then we do a quick wash, just water - a heavy duty wash, little bit of deterget, vinegar in the rinse - then another quick wash, just water. I also get way better results when the washer is only half full.

[Katie T]

my best tips are
Dont ever fill the washer, no more than half full for top loader with water setting as high as it goes.

I only use hot water for my rinsing. On my washer that means running another full hot wash cycle with no soap.

I also love Charlies Soap, only thing that works for us.

I thing sometimes dipes need a little disinfecting and a little bleach every so often is no big deal IMO.

Good luck, also I dont know what all of you dipes are made of but if they are all poly kids can be sensitive to that so that might be something to look into.

[MamieCole]

I agree that it could be the type of fabric, but it could also be too little detergent. Maybe the dipes just aren't getting clean enough.

Do you have a regular machine or HE? Do you know what kind of water you have?(soft or hard?)

It sounds like you have stripped your dipes pretty well.

If I were you, I'd try some Rockin' Green before you give up completely. You can order sample sizes for 80 cents each. It's really important to know what kind of water you have so that you can use the correct formula.
Rock a soak with your clean dipes in RnG at first, then do regular cold soak/hot wash/extra rinse.

Good luck!

[alfabetsoup]

Vinegar always gave my DDs a rash. I would get the rash checked out to see if it's yeast as well--if it is, use sposies while treating the rash and in the meantime, bleach the dipes.

[mumkimum]

When I used tto in the wash (even just sometimes) it always gave dd1 a red bum. I had to stop and let it wash out - extra wash/rinses for a week or two for everything. Something like that is a pretty common sensitivity.
I've also found both kiddos sensitive to zinc oxide creams (which didn't occur to me right away either, and we had improvement after a week of not using them) - we use an olive oil balm almost exclusively now and when their bum is extra red, do more frequent baths which helps way better.

I've also find both kids really react to citrus - so if I have more than a very tiny glass of oj or something, it has a major effect on their bum. In case that's a possibility.

I'd try the bleach the diapers approach, at least with everything that can handle a touch of it. Maybe switch detergents (we use charlie's - we had some issues after awhile with a different one and have come to like charlie's best) but you've probably read up on what you use and have an idea how common it is to cause problems (don't know much about soap nuts off the top of my head - so I couldn't say).

[bluebirdiemama]

hmmm... ok, I'll try a touch of bleach, and buy some charlies soap. I think I saw that at Whole Foods last time I was there.

We were using bumgenius one size, and cotton prefolds. Now we are using fitteds, like fatty cakes and baby beehinds (I think these are hemp and bamboo), and some other random fitteds. I don't know what that soft fabric is on the insides of them. I don't know if it is the fabric though, because just one round in cloth after a good looking butt will make her red again. It happens pretty much every time I put them back on her.

And you know, I just realized that my washed has decided that after a wash, it doesn't want to spin and rinse every time anymore. So that has got to have something to do with it

I'll try these ideas out, make sure my washer is spining properly, and let ya'll know how that works.

oh, I think the water is regular, but deffinitely not hard. and my washer is a GE top loading


Thanks so much for all the advice~!!