Bad Bad rash from my cloth diapers!!! What do i do?

[Amanda1]

DS is 17 months old, he has been in cloth diapers since he was a few weeks old. We have never had more than a little rash but now he is getting super red and big sores on his bum.

I thought it was teething but we went away and had to use disposables and it cleared up right away for the 2 weeks we were gone. As soon as we put the cloth back on when we got home the rash came back... so I am back to using disposables and I hate it!

Do I need to strip them? If so how do I do it? the websites all give conflicting info (vinager...no vinager, bleach...no bleach)

I dont want to wreck my diapers!

I use a combination of bumgenius and bamboozles with bummis covers.

We have always used soap nuts for our diapers (and all our laundry) so there shouldnt be any residue. I rinse them on hot first, then add the soap nuts and wash them on hot again.

I would love some good been there, done that advise and tips!!!!!

Thanks in advance

[jumpmama]

Sounds like they need a good strip.

I think everyone strips differently. It depends on your water.

For us we use rockin green, do an overnight soak, than keep rinsing with hot until there are no suds in the water.

I have also bleached in dire circumstances, really not good for your dipes though. (our water is ridiculous)

Some people also do a squirt of dawn dish soap and than do the multiple hot cycles to make sure everything is out.

good luck!

[chel]

I vote bleach. Sounds like bacteria in the diapers.

[APToddlerMama]

With our BG, I always stripped with Dawn followed by like 6 washes on hot....until there was definitely no soap suds at all in the washing machine and the water was totally clear.  Are your BGs suedecloth?  It isn't uncommon for kids to become allergic to the polyester and suedecloth blends.  We had to switch to cotton with DS.  Luckily I sold all of our BGs for three bucks less than I had paid for each one and they got snapped up really quickly so I could buy new cotton ones.

[Amanda1]

By dawn you mean the dish soap?

I think I will try that first, then if needed I will do bleach.

Just so I've got it right... put diapers in first wash with a bit of the soap, then keep rinsing until there are no suds?

Thanks for the advise, his little bottom will appreciate it

[APToddlerMama]

Yes, Dawn dish soap.  The original blue kind...the others won't work.  Use a tablespoon in the first hot wash.  Then keep washing again and again in hot (120-130 degrees) until there are no soap suds and the water is totally clear.  Depending on how hard your water is, type of soap you've used, etc. number of washes can vary.  Usually I've done about six washes but when I had to strip after washing a long time in hard water, it took like 10. 

[twinpossible]

We just went through this issue! Do the diapers smell like ammonia? This very well could be a bacteria issue. The only thing that really worked with out ruining the diapers was to wash normally, boil them in water on the stove for 30 minutes, then wash again and dry normally. I know it sounds like a lot of work but it will kill all the bacteria. Also, it sounds like your poor baby has an ammonia burn which is different then a diaper rash, my girls had that too. The Welda brand baby calendula diaper cream cleared it right up! If you want more info I blogged about our whole adventure! http://anyasgreenbaby.blogspot.com/2011/10/battle-of-stinky-cloth-diapers-how-to.html

[APToddlerMama]

Originally Posted by twinpossible 

We just went through this issue! Do the diapers smell like ammonia? This very well could be a bacteria issue. The only thing that really worked with out ruining the diapers was to wash normally, boil them in water on the stove for 30 minutes, then wash again and dry normally. I know it sounds like a lot of work but it will kill all the bacteria. Also, it sounds like your poor baby has an ammonia burn which is different then a diaper rash, my girls had that too. The Welda brand baby calendula diaper cream cleared it right up! If you want more info I blogged about our whole adventure! http://anyasgreenbaby.blogspot.com/2011/10/battle-of-stinky-cloth-diapers-how-to.html

To OP-- Make sure you only boil if your diapers do not have PUL as boiling will ruin the PUL.  Otherwise you can wash as hot as you want.  I am thinking though that Bumgenius diapers all have PUL though my son is 3 and we haven't done cloth for a while now. 

[Amanda1]

This is very interesting! Some times they do smell like ammonia, I thought it was teething again ( i think i read it somewhere). But it makes a lot of sense, sometimes his whole bum looks like its been in too warm water, all red.  

We dont have hard water, I hear about people talking about it on tv but in all of my life here I have not heard anything about our water being hard or soft. Just that its " some of the best water in the world", so I assume its right in the middle.

I dont think I feel comfortable boiling my bumgenius, seems like it would be bad for them.

I got the dawn soap so I think I will try that first, then if needeed I will boil the bamboo and figure something else out for the bumgenius

 

Originally Posted by twinpossible 

We just went through this issue! Do the diapers smell like ammonia? This very well could be a bacteria issue. The only thing that really worked with out ruining the diapers was to wash normally, boil them in water on the stove for 30 minutes, then wash again and dry normally. I know it sounds like a lot of work but it will kill all the bacteria. Also, it sounds like your poor baby has an ammonia burn which is different then a diaper rash, my girls had that too. The Welda brand baby calendula diaper cream cleared it right up! If you want more info I blogged about our whole adventure! http://anyasgreenbaby.blogspot.com/2011/10/battle-of-stinky-cloth-diapers-how-to.html

[twinpossible]

When you boil the diapers just boil the inserts, those are the culprits holding on the the bacteria. Inserts might have PUL depending on the brand, I chose one with out PUL because it locks in moisture and does not let baby's butt breath. I compare that to wearing polyester unders...yuk!

[QMtwins]

We have had the same issues.  With our Fuzzibunz and Thirsties/bummis covers and use biokleen powder.  Over the summer I boiled all our liners, contours and sunned the heck out of the Fuzzibunz pockets and bummis covers. Also used Dawn and it worked some. I determined that in general, I use too much detergent (only 1/4 of the scoop that came in the box).  I added a pre-rinse cycle on our front loader to each wash and every other wash just use the sanitary cycle with no detergent. Seems to have kept things at bay for now.   Good luck.  Its so sad to see their little bums burned.  :(

[coffeegirl]

WAIT! Careful about that tablespoon of Dawn recommendation earlier. Depending on how large the load, I would personally use a little less than that. Maybe a teaspoon, or a half tablespoon at most. Too much Dawn came mess up your washing machine. :(

[mamayogibear]

i have tried so many different ways of stripping dipes. i find it works best to use the dawn a skimpy table spoon in a large front load washer with about a half a load of dipes and rinse a million times this removes any grease that may have settled from poop into the fabric. then I pasturize the prefolds and inserts in a pressure cooker for half an hour to kill whatever bacteria may be deep in the fabric. i have tried just boiling them and still ended up with an amonia smell so if you have a pressure cooker it really makes a difference!