My CDed son has a pretty nast diaper rash at the moment- his penis is actually bleeding (not a huge amount, but I did notice red spots on the front of his diaper last night and this morning.)
I will admit that I was kind of lazy about the frequency of diaper changes the past few days
:
I really don't want to use artificial stuff on him or disposable diapers but I will if I have to. I'm hoping that more frequent changing and avoiding use of the vinyl training pants for a few days will help. He's in a diaper w/ a wool cover right now.
WWYD?
OK, he's looking better now. No more bleeding, and the skin is less 'angry looking'. I've been changing him as soon as he wets all day and only using breathable wool covers (well, actually the same cover all day since it's stayed dry.)
I put some balmex on him at his last diaper change (at his request)- the rest of the day I haven't used anything on his skin at all.
First go give him a nice warm bath (as warm as he can handle) with just plan water - no soap, no oils, no bubbles. Then let him run around naked all day - for as long as you can. When you absolutely have to put a diaper on him put some calendula cream or, if you don't have that, the most natural diaper cream you have. Poor little guy.
Also, how are you washing his diapers? What do you use? What do you put in the rinse? And what material are the diapers?
OK, the diapers are cotton, but some of the inserts are hemp/cotton.
I wash them in hot water with about 1/3 cup of detergent in the prewash (plus the baking soda I use in the diaper pail to minimize odors), on the longest setting my machine has- prewash, long wash cycle, 2 rinses, with vinegar in the first rinse.
Then they go in the dryer for 2 cycles.
Do you think I should change something in my wash routine?
Hey, first go soak him in the bath while I analyze your diaper washing routine ok? :LOL
So, about your diapers:
1) What kind of detergent are you using? How long have you been using it? I only use plain baking soda and it washes them really well.
2) Do you sew at all? You can go buy some thin fleece fabric for cheap and make some easy liners. The fleece really helps keep the moisture off thier skin. Actually, even if you can't sew I think you could just cut them out as fleece doesn't seem to frey at all.
3) Try to use more breath-able covers. You can get used covers for a really good price at the Trading Post (Diapers) here. Wool is the best, Mother Ease airflow covers are good too. Are the vinyl ones you're using the pull on kind?
Yes, I can sew (in fact, I've made most of his stash) but money is REALLY tight right now and I dont' have any fleece in the house.
I've got enough wool covers to keep him in wool exclusively, plus I have more wool somewhere in the bottom of my fabric closet. I only bought the vinyl training pants for him to wear to preschool (but he's got the next week off, so I won't need to use them.)
I've been using whatever inexpensive detergent we've been using for the rest of the family laundry. I'll give the plain baking soda a try the next time I wash diapers.
Give him a little bit of sunlight, if you can, either though the window or from a sunlamp. Just a few minutes once or twice a day did wonders for my DS.
Whenever my kids had a diaper rash or were just a little red, I would cut open a Vitamin E capsule and squeeze it on them. It works wonderfully! I would only need to use a few capsules before it would be all cleared up.
I've been keeping him in cotton diapers with either no cover or a wool cover, and he's healing nicely. I think I'll save those vinly coated training pants for preschool and go back to only using wool covers the rest of the time (and he doesn't have school for the next week anyway.)
My DD occasionally gets two kinds of diaper rash: down in the crevices, or on the outer bits (the labia mostly), which happens when I put her in a dipe that isn't snug and chafes/rubs. For the latter, nakey time is especially helpful. For the former, nakey time helps, but a good diaper rash cream (I use Burt's Bees or California Kids, both are great), or an herbal salve (for if the skin is raw or it's being nasty/persistent) called Kumbaa Made that a friend gave me, clears it up fast. Usually a thick slathering of Burt's overnight clears up whatever. If not, we do nakey time.
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