PLEASE help me sort out this nappy rash problem. I'm close to giving up on my cloth nappies!!

[blissieblue]

I just cannot get rid of my DS2's nappy rash and it's driving me to distraction.

The rash is red and very dry, around his groin and on his thighs - mostly at the front but also a patch on the back of one thigh and a sometimes a patch on the back of his other. A switch to disposables seems to ease the problem but it doesn't go away completely.

Things I have tried:

Washing all nappies at 90 and doing extra rinses to get rid of any nasties and/or detergent build up (done this several times)
Cutting down on amount of detergent. I now use about 25 mls of Surcare, do an extra rinse and use a sensitive setting which uses more water to rinse. I also cut out using Mio Fresh.
I tried washing with bio - instant bad reaction to that.
I bought a new washing machine!!! (I'm very committed to my cloth nappies!) and I chose it because it was one of the best for rinsing in the Which test.
He has had two lots of canesten on prescription.
Have tried Sudocrem, Vaseline, Metanium, Weleda Calendula nappy change cream and now Epaderm (again on prescription)
I use washable wipes and water to clean his bum and a tiny squish of something very gentle in his bath
He doesn't seem to have particularly sensitive skin anywhere but in the nappy area

I dry pail and wash every couple of days. I didn't have this problem with his brother who wore the same nappies successfully for over 2 years.

Is there anything else I can try or do I have to accept that DS2 is just not suited to cloth nappies? I guess I'm realising that we can't just live with this rash all for the sake of my love of cloth nappies

Please help!!!

OK if it is very dry how about mousturising the area? Does the rash seem to hurt him? If not I would use an olive oil base with a fe drops (two to every 50ml of oil) of roman chamomile and lavender essentail oils. If it does seem to be causing some discomfort I would try Lamsinoh on the rash. Use nothing but water or chamomile tea maybe mixed with some makuna honey (you can apply this directly to the rash also). You do seem to have tried most things nappy wise, the only other thing I may suggest is trying soapnuts rather than the surcare as these are even better than surcare for sensitive skin

Cornflour.

I kid you not, it's excellent. My mum said her grandad advised it and she used it (and so have I) and it really works.

It's used more commonly in the US for nappy rash but they call it corn starch

Egg white??

Curly - I have been considering soapnuts but do they really get nappies clean? Would I have to soak the nappies first?

Am intrigued by cornflour and egg white. What do I do with these? Please tell!

soapnuts work fine, I do a cold rinse first and then wash with soapnuts at 40 and they are fine.

Yup, I use soapnuts and they are great

What liners do you use?

Are you breastfeeding him? If so, why not try expressing some milk and rubbing it into the affected patches? I found it worked wonders for my daughter with all sorts of skin complaints.

I had to give up cloth.
I stil have my stash tho.

DS couldnt walk in the end and I tried everything suggested on here and contacted the nappy lady.

You just paint/wipe the egg white on the affected areas and let it dry. It seems to heal and protect. Worth a try perhaps.

I found changing washing powder made a world of difference to my dd's rash.
Otherwise giving her bum a proper wash at each nappy change (when at home) rather than just a quick wipe with a damp wipe and using a barrier cream all the time instead of just at night/when she looked red like I used to.

I found that Waitrose baby bottom butter was good for nappy rash - just put it on the affected areas after every nappy change.

Hi, my son suffered just the same, it turns out he was sensitive to the binding on the wraps - I was using MotherEase, Pro-Wrap and Bummis. I bought a fleece wrap and some Wonderoos, both of which worked really well -especially the Wonderoos. Several months down the line I've been able to switch back to using the Pro-wrap and Bummis on an occaisional basis, still can't use ME tho!

Don't give up!

After many moons of struggling with DD's nappy rash, I found the cause was using a fleece liner on nappies which are already fleece lined, which was keeping the wee against her skin. You don't say what kind of liners/nappies you use, but just thought I'd share what finally solved our problem.

Good luck, I know how frustrating it is! Keep at it and I promise you will find the solution in the end.

Oh, and I also love soapnuts.... only recently discoveed them and wish I'd found them earlier.

It sounds as if you are doing lots of things right, and a pat on the back for your tenacity.
My little boy developed a reaction to his nappies and on advice I 'stripped' them of powder build-up (I think if you can smell the laundry powder/liquid - it is still in the clothing). Stripping them was basically putting the nappies through as many 60 degree washes as required until there are no bubbles in the rinse water.
We then switched to an eco-ball from lakeland with some white vinegar in the final rinse to restore the PH back to acid. For poopy nappies you can use a bit of napisan or similar in the main or in a prewash, just to nuke the e-coli from faeces. Obviously, this can also cause a reaction, so another thing to be aware of.
The redness did clear up, but I could never leave him more than three hours max between changes otherwise his skin would redden.
After moving to the ecoball I stuck with using a barrier cream and pretty much used bepanthan on his bum for every change. Using a cream suits some babies and not others, as long as it is applied thinly the skin should be able to breathe, but be protected from constant wetness. There seem to be some really nice organic creams out there such as red clover and burts bees diaper paste etc... so one of those might be worth a try.
On average, I think we changed him every two hours, apart from when he pooped when we would change him immediately.
If the rash is caused by thrush then the nappies may still contain the spores or whatever. I read on another thread that a vinegar soak before washing, gets rid of thrush from nappies, because it can't function in an acid environment - sounds plausible.
As others have said it could be a reaction to polyester fleece or microfibre.
Nappy free time is good.
I hope you get this sorted and your LO's bum is back to normal very soon.