Rash issues...

[cristeen]

And it's driving me bonkers!!

We've used fitteds and wool for 11 months now. In the last month or so, little boy has started getting a rash on his legs where the outside of the wet dipe touches. So I put him in PUL covers instead of wool, no change. I change with every pee, no change. I leave him naked for 3 days, no change. I finally switch to pockets, and 4 days in pockets and the rash is gone. It pops back up every morning, since I only have 4 pockets... he wears a pocket fitted to bed, and then is in fitteds between the time he gets up and when he has his poo (maybe an hour or two) - and I can go through 5 or 6 dipes in that time, changing him as soon as he pees. But just in that hour or two, the redness/rash starts reappearing. Then I put him in a pocket and the rash is gone by the end of the day.

But, the trade off seems to be a rash on his scrotum. I don't know if it's the heat or the fleece inner or what, but after spending all day and all night in a pocket, his poor little scrotum is red and raw. But that hour or two in fitteds seems to clear it up pretty nicely.

So what on earth do I do? Just keep switching between the two and resign myself to a constant rash in one place or another? Or is there some other option here?

[JTA Mom]

Hmmm, odd.

What about cutting out an oval of fleece, with the middle cut out, and laying it in a fitted?

This way the leg area will be covered with fleece, but his scrotum would not be touching it?

Ami

[clovergirl]

Did he recently start walking or cruising? I have found that sometimes there is a transition phase when they move from crawling to walking, their gait changes and the friction of the diaper on the thighs can create a "rug burn" type rash. If that's it, he may grow out of it when his skin toughens up, so to speak. In the meatime, maybe consider getting some pockets that have a natural fiber inside to help with the breathability? If you don't have the money for that, I'd keep switching between the pockets and fitteds as much as you can.

[EmmalinesMom]

When redness would start up with my girls, I'd sprinkle a little corn starch on them at diaper changes. This helped when the rash was just related to heat and/or moisture. Good luck!

[mama myssie]

Oh, how rashes can be maddening! My nephew recently had a pretty bad fungal rash. My sister used food grade activated charcoal capsules as advised by a LLL. His rash cleared up in a few days. Since then both she and I (I have a 9 month old) used the charcoal at the first sign of redness and it seams to halt any buggers trying to colonize.
You would need to open the capsule, make a paste with water and the charcoal and dab it on the red areas. It will stain cloth diapers, but the sun can bleach them.
You can also use pro-biotics in the same fashion, then give your baby some orally.
Best of luck.