Swollen, red foreskin because of cloth diapering.

[Funny Face]

Ds is 1.5 and we've been cloth diapering for over a year with no problems. A few months ago (during the heat of the summer) his foreskin started getting red and swollen and eventually had white growth on it. I took him to the doc who agreed it was probably yeast and we treated it. Then it came back almost immediately.

I decided to switch to sposies while treating it the second time and took that time to buy some new pocket dipes and some new diapering (thinking they would help with the yeast thing by keeping him drier than wearing pfs all the time). He wore sposies for a month with absolutely no problems.

We're back in cloth for one week and his penis is red and swollen again. I'm seriously frustrated because I spent so much money updating my stash, don't want to spend another penny on sposies and his penis is irritated again (possibly on it's way to another yeast infection).

We cd for a whole year with no issues. Why now? What can I do? Do I have no choice but to go back to sposies?

[Ola_]

Could there be yeast on the diapers? That's my first thought. Sounds frustrating, I hope you can figure it out!

[cristeen]

We're dealing w yeast reinfection too. You have to kill it on everything that comes in contact with him. Cloth dipes, wipes, towels, covers, pants, pjs, blankets, changing pad, wet bag, diaper pail, everything.

If it cant go in the washing machine on super hot (possibly w some bleach), wipe it down w a bleach/water solution.

My task for this week is figuring out how to kill yeast in woolies. Fun.

[HappyMamaBeth]

Are you using a fleece liner on top of the prefolds now to try to keep his skin dry? Not sure if you've already tried that, just an idea!!

[Funny Face]

I've bleached, dryed on HOT and sunned every single thing. Most of the diapers we are using now are new (I bought them while we were taking a break) so they aren't even the same dipes that caused the first infection. They are the Thirsties Duo dipes, so they have the fleece stay dry liner. I love the dipes other than this yeast crap.

His penis is even worse today. I can't keep doing this. I'm going to buy some sposies today while I figure out what to do. Mostly I just want to lay down and cry. I just bought him new prefolds, new covers, new pockets... all brand new because I bought all used last time and wanted these to last through the next baby. A huge splurge. I just finished building an entire stash for the new baby and now this happens.

I can't see using sposies for one kid and cloth for the other, my life is complicated enough.

I can't believe how quickly his foreskin got irritated. It was within the first day back in cloth and has only gotten worse since.

[gwen's mom]

I just wanted to send some support b/c we went through the exact same thing. I had made all in ones for our girls and fully expeced to to use them again with our son but he too always had a red foreshin in cloth. I did everything recommended on these boards, through Google searches, etc, etc and finally I too had to throw in the towel and buy sposies. ( I even have a sanitary cycle on my washer and it still didn't help.) Sorry you are going through this and I hope you find something that works for your little one.

[Funny Face]

Thank you mamas. This is just so hard to accept right now because diapers are the only thing I spent time and money on in preparing for this new baby (allocated all of my budget as it was the most necessary item and obviously the most fun). I thought out how to have dipes to cover both kids and everything I bought for new baby took into consideration that he/she would be wearing cloth (diaper shirts, wool pants, babylegs, etc). And then had to spring for newer dipes for ds too.

And I really hate sposies. They leak so bad.

[weezix]

it could be your laundry soap. we all have super sensitive skin over here and my kids have often got the red burning rash while using cloth, but either stripping the diapers and/or changing my laundry soap and making sure they are rinsed REALLY well seems to do the trick.

[SubliminalDarkness]

Some babies react badly to fleece. It could be that. Did the diapers you used before have fleece?

[JoggingMom]

I went through this with my son who is now 11. We had such sensitive skin issues AND yeast. I am glad at least your kiddo can tolerate disposables. Mine couldn't do cloth or disposables without starting to bleed.

We got the yeast situation under control by me doing a 2 week yeast free diet while we both aggressively treated for yeast (Nystatin, IMHO was not a viable treatment, there are other better treatments).

I washed his diapers in HOT water with about a 1/2 cup of vinegar. This killed the yeast.
You may also choose to dry diapers in the sun. That kills it too.

Laundry soap was always a problem. I was able to use, I think it's called Dr. Bronners's? It's the soap in the bottle with all the biblical verses on it. Now I can use All Free and Clear.

Good luck, don't give up!

[nigellas]

What kind of detergent are you using?

[Breathless Wonder]

Is he eating solid food? We CDed as well, and we had very similar issues using cloth when my children (specifically my oldest) encountered foods they had sensitivities to... For whatever reason, they didn't react as badly when in the sposies.

[Funny Face]

I'm using Purex Free and Clear. Never had a problem before. I have stripped the dipes several times in addition to all the other yeast fighting measures. Then of course we got new dipes.

The older dipes we used prefolds and pockets. It seemed to be worse with the prefolds. :think

He's almost two and eats plenty of solids. There are definitely foods that he is more sensitive too that make his bum red, like tomatoes and blueberries but I don't and haven't fed him either in a long while.

I have had a yeast infection during this pregnancy and considered I might be passing it to him but thought the chance was minimal since he's dry nursing and also seems like the yeast would still be a problem with sposies? Also it comes on sooo quickly when we try to go back to cloth, like within a day.

I've had thrush with all my newborns and planned to sposie in the beginning with new babe until we were sure that wasn't a problem (we quit cding ds when he was born because of a terrible yeast rash on his bottom).

We started again when he was 6 months old and never had a problem.

Ugh. So complicated.