Disaster - my 6 week old DS appears to be allergic to his bumgenius nappies.... argh!

[Bicnod]

I've got bumgenius v3 nappies. I wash them with a very small amount of surcare and do an extra rinse. Whenever mu LO wears them within hours he has nappy rash and everywhere that the nappy was touching his bottom is red whenever we put him back in the dreaded disposables the nappy rash disappears and his bottom returns to being nice baby pink. Is it possible that he's allergic to the bumgenius nappies? Has anyone else had any experience of this? I'm absolutely gutted as I really don't want to use disposables but we've tried for a few weeks now on and off and I can't keep putting him through having a sore bum any advice welcome... Thanks

have you tried just washing them with some bicarb in the wash?
no detergent at all

A few ideas:

• Could it be the surcare? i know it's meant to be dermatologically tested etc, but perhaps there's something in that rather than other detergents - maybe try another brand and wash a few times to see if that makes a difference.
• Do you dry pail, or do you use something in the pail? Teatree oil for example can be an irritant to some people.
• Do you use a liner between nappy and bottom? twinkleontheweb.co.uk sells silk ones which i think are meant to be good for sensitive bottoms.
• If all else fails, then Moltex disposables are really good and about the most eco-friendly any disposable can be so you might want to check them out. spiritofnature.co.uk is usually the best price, partic if you bulk buy, and i've started to see them in some shops (usually organic/healthfood/local pharmacies) as well.

thanks for the suggestions - i'll try washing them with fairy and see if that makes any difference. i dry pail and don't use any essential oils or anything. if the fairy doesn't work i'll look into the silk liners... wouldn't they just get all wrinkled up though? i've used moltex before and really like them so that would be the fallback option, but fingers crossed won't have to give up on the bumgenius just yet...

Maybe he is allergic to nappies with fleece inners? I would get a few different types secondhand - if they don't suit you could sell them on and should only lose out on the postage fees.

I second the fleece inner and the washing stuff advice. DD got bad nappy rash at the same age in BG, we were using fleece liners at the time to catch poo ( don't know why cos bf poo just washes away but 1st baby I had no idea ) but we ditched those and started washing in Fairy and she's been alright since. You could try a paper liner just so his tush isn't in direct contact with fleece, they do get a bit wrinkled but are a godsend now that DD is weaning and has horrendous poos!

Wash them in eco balls or indian washing nuts. And rinse afterwards in plain water.

Make sure you change his nappy as soon as it is wet.

and I've nearly always used disposibles at night time because I've found that washables are just too wet at night and it's not practical to change nappies at night.

I'd suggest trying a paper liner - if he's not red where the paper is, but red everywhere else, then chances are it's the fleece.

My hunch would be the washing detergent though. We had problems with DS2, and have now resorted to using ecoballs with the nappies as anything else he reacts to.

Is it a spotty rash, or is it more of an overall blush? Just because some babies can have a bit of a "blush" when they first switch to cloth nappies (as their skin gets used to it) but it settles down in a day or two.

How often are you changing?

Surcare brings ds out in a rash. It could be that. I've switched to Fairy and no problems now.

thanks for all the posts... its an overall 'blush' wherever the nappy has touched his skin + horrible sore looking red nappy rash round his bumhole it has gone now that we've been using disposables for a couple of days... i'll try washing in fairy and if that doesn't help i'll try the paper liners.

i change him every time he feeds (about 7 or 8 times a day at the moment) + at bathtime + one or two inbetween when he's done enormous explosive poos...

DD had this. Unfortunately, I did have to revert to disposables. It wasn't solely BG, the worst were the Little Lambs ones I used at night. She had a complete red bottom wherever the nappy had been.

Paper liners didn't work at all.

Some MNers did suggest silk liners but I didn't get round to ordering them.

My little boy was the same as a newborn. I used disposables fulltime for a couple of months and when I tried him in cloth again at 4 months, he was fine. So it can just be a temporary thing.

Also could it be a reaction to something else? My little girl came out in a horrible rash when I used tea tree oil or vinegar, but again she's fine now she's older

We had this with Persil, and Ecover wasn't much better, and the 'new improved' latest Fairy made her itch.
Try cutting right down on the amount of detergent too, we're encouraged to overdose as it is.

i've had the same experience with my six week old, we've tried using cloth nappies on him twice and both times the nappie rash appeared quickly despite our best efforts. I'm abit gutted as I hate the amount of dispsables I'm now throwing away, but I've decided to wait a couple of months before using cloth again. I've been told that because newborns tend to poo more times a day that they are more suspectble to nappy rash, as it's the poo and the wee together that make the right conditions for the rash. Later on they poo less frequently?

Newborn's skins are really thin. DS could only cope with Nature Baby disposables - even normal ones gave him a rash. He is now in cloth, at 7 months (almost 8). I'd try disposables for a while, then revert to cloth now and again to see if he's coping better.

The other problem is nappy rash prone teenies need barrier cream (Neal's Yard is so good the family now use it for all sorts - fixed my eczema) but that cream coats real nappies' fibres, and reduces absorbancy, so making more urine sit on the skin.

Good news... I washed all the nappies in fairy with extra rinse, waited a couple of weeks and tried again and DS seems to be ok with them... Pheweeeee

We're using disposables at night so that we can slather on barrier cream, but he's cloth all day which is such a relief.

Hurrah!

Glad it's better now. It would look to be a detergent issue I would think. Do make sure you're not overdosing on detergent - there should be no suds left in by the end of the rinse cycle. If it comes back would suggest camomile liners - they're soothing and would add a protection layer between baby and nappy.

I think it's already been said above, but if it's a reaction to the fleece you can put paper liners on top. My daughter was just the same - skin turned nasty & red. But a paper liner on top sorted it all.

But possibly, as you've found out, it could be the washing powder. We use Surcare (as 2yo son has severe eczema) and it works well for us - esp as his nappy area is the clearest skin on his body! LOL But everyone is different with regard to soaps!