Rash from cloth nappies?? & further question, pls!

[thebluefoxategreensocks]

Hello, Just hoping someone might have some advice for me!

(very long post - sorry! please bear with me!) ;-)

My daughter has just turned 2 and has been in cloth nappies since she was about 6 weeks old (apart from the odd weekend or holiday where I used disposables). Anyway, she recently developed individual spots on her bottom and quite a lot of redness and kept saying her bottom was hurting. I had tried various ointments as well as making sure I changed her very frequently whenever she was even just wet, but nothing seemed to make it clear up. It wasn't the usual "nappy rash" or anything toooo awful, but still not nice & obviously hurting her. So I put her in disposables last week and after a week of them it was all gone. I put her back in cloth last night only to discover today that she is very red down below (front and back)!! I know that she can't be left more than a couple of minutes with a messy nappy, or she'll get a really red rash. But I got her just as soon as she finished a bowel movement this morning, so that can't be the problem.

Any ideas?? I know you have to be sure not to leave too much soap in the nappies. But any other ideas? I use fitted terry nappies (Little Lambs or Tots Bots) usually along with ME Airflow wraps. I wash nappies every day (as I have a 8mo little boy in nappies too). I try to put a minimal amount of soap, on a timesaver 60 degree wash (brings the wash cycle down from the 2.5!!!! hour wash to around an hour), and I usually have a tablespoon or two of vinegar in the rinse dispenser. I also always press "extra rinse" as well, just to get any extra soap out.

Anyone else experienced anything like this? I've use flushable liners with her since she was tiny. Fleece makes her go red in a similar way, so I only use fleece with her brother. But I'm not doing anything different on her than I've been doing, at least for months anyway. (Switched from prefolds to fitted when she was 16 months.)

But until she potty trains, I want to keep using cloth nappies! It might be soon if I stick with it - she was making a lot of progress and I thought nearly trained.... until we went on holiday last month. But I don't want her in pain just because I want to use cloth -- so surely there must be some reason behind it!

Hopefully a more experienced cloth nappying mum can give some advice! :-)

Oh, and one more thing while I'm at it, please! Regarding night time nappies, how do you prevent skin breakdown from being wet so long? My 8mo boy is a very heavy wetter and always has been. Most of the time I can put him in a bamboo nappy (bamboozle or wambamboo/geobel), fleece liner, and ME airflow, and his clothes and bed are still dry by morning. This is usually his final nappy change around 10ish at night until say 9am the next morning. But sometimes in the creases of his legs, the skin gets broken and slight bleeding, very raw like from being wet so long. Should this happen, or does he just have sensitive skin? I mean, people talk of "night time nappies", so it must be for leaving them a while! Or...should I use a fleece wrap to let it dry out a bit? During the day I change him very frequently - probably over 9 times or more a day, meaning he sometimes gets a dry one more frequently than every 2 hours, though occasionly he might go a bit longer than other times. But I don't want to wake him at night, or else I'm too asleep to realise he needs a change!

OK, I'll shut up now and await some good sound advice from you pros!

The individual spots sound a bit thrush like. But strange it came back so fast after a swich back from disposables. Could be that your wash is not totally killing of any bugs/bacteria, try using a nappy sanitiser the once and then maybe let your wash cycle run for its full length of time. Some machines don't get as reliably hot as they say they do. You could try the silver embedded liners from twinkle on the web or maybe silk liners.

I think the only thing for you son is to add more boosters into the nappy. Adding one or two boosters would be totally normal over night. that way there is somewhere for the liquid to go and it doesn't get forced against its skin as its slightly possible it could do through fleece if it runs out of absorbency in the nappy.

thanks very much for the reply.

Will try to get my nappy stash all thoroughly washed/stripped to make sure there's no soap buildup or any bugs in the case of thrush.

Thanks for the tip about more boosters. Don't think I'd thought of that, to add more bulk to make it less "wet" at the surface. I'm getting some bamboo prefolds, so maybe one of them folded would be good to add to a nappy.

apparently you can microwave nappies to kill off bugs. i'm having a similar prob atm and have just done a more or less boil wash and plan to microwave next i'll let you know if they melt

Hello, Rachel (great name),

I'd echo the advice about boosting -my fave for night times are Wilkinsons own brand microfibre -about a quid for three. One folded in the nappy does the job.

Thrush - I was plagued with it in the early months of bfing DD2 and became quite an expert on the nasty critters (I like to personalise them!). Anyway basically thrush can survive almost anything apart from Milton (which you could soak your nappies in) or Citricidal which you can add to your wash/rinse. Get Citricidal (extract of grapefruit seed) from a health food shop.

I've just started using it in my wash again as both DDs have a touch of thrush and I really don't want it in my boobs again.

microwave?! Not heard of that. lol Though my husband has microwaved old books to kill any possible live critters when the book showed sign of recent insect damage! .... but we did nearly have a book catch fire though, as it had gilt/metal on the covers!

I've not used any ordinary microfibre cloths, but I have the microfibre inserts like you use in Fuzzi Bunz, both short (Nurtured Family ones) and long ones (unbranded) and I use them with ordinary Little Lamb terries for my daughter's nappies at night. Whereas I only use bamboo for my little boy. (Only have 2 bamboo nappies just now, otherwise I'd prob use it on both of them, as I love bamboo!) But maybe I should combine the two (bamboo & microfibre) for my little boy. Or do you think the cloths are as good/better? We've just got a new pound store in town and they have some microfibre cloths. Would be less bulky anyway.

I haven't been aware of any thrush problems at all so far. So it would be new if that is what it is. I've been breastfeeding just over 2 years now and only problem I've encountered is clogged ducts a couple of times, but I think that was due to too small a bra. Tandem feeding 2yo daughter and 8mo son, so not had a break in bf since I started! LOL

laundry lover that is a great tip about the milton and citricdal. Never heard of citricidal. How much do you add to the wash?

rachel - I don't think it matters as such what the booster is whether its a properly made booster or a cloth or a pair of socks or an old tea towel to be honest although obviously the last two are probably a bit unusual. Just you are right that micro fibre ones are less bulky. I avoided the ones with polymide but most are 100% polyester. Even the main supermarkets have them at 3 for a £1. The microfibre works really well though and the fabric is exactly the same as the fuzzi bunz type microfibre.

do any of you use fleece wraps at night? I've recently bought a Stacinator one and tried it last night for the first time. I used just a Little Lamb ordinary fitted terry with a large microfibre insert to boost it. But my little boy likes to sleep on his tummy, and the front of his vest/bodysuit was rather wet this morning. I think I'd read about that before, that fleece can wick through if there's pressure for too long. Is this just something that goes along with using fleece wraps? or did I not have enough bulk inside? I did love how comfy the wrap looked!

Hi
its just something that goes with fleece wraps and heavy wetters. The most substantial fleece wraps seem to be the nappies by minki ones. They are two layers. You could try wool too.

Citricidal - I add about 20 drops I think.

Rachel - well done to you for tandem feeding. Sounds like it's working well. I am bfing my 19mo but won't be tandem bfing unless we have a major blip! Am very broody tho but think that 2 is enough really. If you do suspect thrush on your LOs bum just be extra vigilant is what I'm saying. I was talking to a woman yesterday with thrush and a 7 week old (I'm a bfing peer supporter) and her GP told her to switch to formula instead of offering any help. Had to get that off my chest!!

I use bamboo at nights too, it's great but I still boost with microfibre. The Wilkis ones are very close weave which is why I like them. I put them in between the nappy and the bamboo insert so not in contact with bum. I'm not a fan of fleece wraps tho haven't given them much chance TBH. I just don't like the damp feel on their babygros.

Ummm, yeah feeling broody .... I've got 2 tandem feeding and still often think I miss being pregnant! lol But with bf the both of them, no periods yet, so prob be a while before I get #3! I'm sure I'm busy enough with 2 tho! haha

Yeah, I hate it when med professionals think formula is the miracle cure! I just wish there were more people out there to help struggling bf mums. I have a friend who has failed to bf 2 of hers (not sure she fully wanted to or not, but she did try), and I'm sure it would have been possible if only someone had helped her.

Good idea to hide the microfibre! I don't like the feel of it, but good for soaking up liquid! Last night I put a full bamboo prefold in a ordinary Little Lambs with big fleece liner and a fleece wrap and he was quite dry this morning. Skin lovely & dry! and clothes hardly damp from fleece wrap. but not sure why all the urine decided to stay in the front half of the nappy, and back was dry. Seems to happen if I put extra boosters in...all builds up at the front and doesn't travel back.

Microwaving nappies won't help the elastic in them!!!

Wool is much much better than fleece - where it absorbs and then evaporates, you get much less chance of wicking.

Flame - why the boring name woman??? - surely you could find a gap filler before your Xmas one? Anyway, do you get a smell of wee in the room when you use wool wraps? DD2s wee is soooo strong at nights as she is not a big drinker apart from 'booby'. Am just curious....not investing in more nappies at this stage!

I tend to find less of a wee smell because of the natural fibres and being more breathable.

I wasn't feeling very sparrow-like at the moment, so went for Flame for a bit.

I think you should be Flame-ing Fabulous and giev yourself a pat on the back.

Flameinlazy is more like it today

Like me eh? MNing when I have 4 Lottery proposals to write!!!

I have advice to give out, a son to care for... and still I am sat here

He is having a lazy cbeebies day it seems!