problems with BGs, any tips?

[paranoidmumdroid]

My little boy (12 weeks) has been in bgs on and off for two weeks. I have a couple of problems, but i know there are a lot of bumgenius fans so maybe they can help....

he now has a red foreskin - no signs of nappy rash anywhere else, and it's obviously not sore as he doesn't react when I touch it. I have switched back to disposables for a couple of days to put vaseline on it, but it's not clearing up.

Any ideas for a cure? Is this nappy rash? (never had it before with disposables).

Also i have noticed dampness around the legs - is this what's referred to as wicking? the bgs seem like a good fit, but even with the big insert they don't seem to be very absorbent. How often do other users need to change them?

What's my alternatve for quick line-drying nappies, birth to potty preferably, if i give up with bumgenius?

Hmm, I am not an expert with the foreskin thing as I don't have any boys BUT my first thought was that if it was caused by the BG then it would be clearing up when using disposables. I don't think this is BG related.

Not sure about the leaks - the inserts that came with them should be plenty of absorbancy at 12 weeks. I find we need better inserts now at 15 months but at 12 weeks it should be plenty.

How are you washing them? Washing correctly is very important with nappies and thats usually where the problems lie:

• How many times have they been washed?
• What detergents are you using?
• How much detergent?
• Have you used fabric conditioner?
• Have you tried doing an extra rinse cycle at the end of the wash?

I am sure there will be a way of working out what is wrong.

Both my ds's used to get a red tip of the willy thing. It didn't seem to make any difference whether they were in cloth or disposibles (although ds2 always gets a sore bum in disposibles). I never found out what caused it, because just as I thought I should take them to the doctors it would always clear up.

I haven't tried bumgenius so can't help there, but I have used fuzzi bunz on both my boys. hey are a pocket nappy so the actual pocket dries very quickly and you can stuff them with whatever you like. I don't have a tumble drier so need fast drying nappies.

tutu - Bumgenius are a pocket nappy just like fuzzis. But BG are onesize. .

I'd echo pp's thoughts about what might be affecting absorbency, as my dd was pretty much leak-free in BGs until over a year.
In regard to the redness, creams like Vaseline and Sudocream tend to 'lock in' any discomfort. We used (the cheapest) light olive oil on dd's nether regions for the first few weeks/months until we swapped to plain water and never had any redness.
HTH.

Tutu100, thanks for the reassurance about red willies! It's not bothering him at all so I guess I'll just leave well alone and keep on cleaning with warm water, air-drying etc.

The BGs I'm using are second hand, so well washed. At the moment I'm washing them at 60 degrees with one non-bio tablet, and a pre-wash with no detergent if pooey. We live in central london so the water's really hard - could this be the problem with the inserts? Any advice?

With the leaking, I think its just where the liner meets the outer fabric around the elasticated leg. I suppose this is what's called wicking, but it happens after 2 - 2.5 hours and the nappy is not always full. It's a bit of a wind up really. I find the same with the trim of wraps on my other nappies (MEOS and tots bots).

Thanks all....