General chat for cloth nappy users: Part 14 - The one where the house is so full of nappies there's nowhere to put the children

[mumface]

Jump over here!

Yay more longies for me arrived today! Green ones for Elouise and she is very happy as she is obsessed with green! (weird toddler alert).

Phew, feeling slightly less of a panic just now!

Just back from taking Clement to the GP and she says the nappy rash is thrush! So I guess that might explain why it was worse with the cloth nappies, since they are more wet/damp than sposies (he doesn't tolerate fleece liners)! And I'm guessing it's finally taken over him regardless of what nappies he's wearing since his immune system is a bit poorly at the moment - he had fever and virus over the weekend and now has spots all over back & tummy! So I think he just wasn't able to fight it over anymore! He's got a prescription for Timodine, which has nystatin, hydrocortisone, dimeticone and benzalkonium cloride. Just hope he doesn't have a reaction to any of those ingredients, as he has quite sensitive skin. I'll bet he's got this thrush/yeast infection since he spent months on antibiotics after having that urine infection at 9 weeks. He's only off the antibiotics for just over a month now, so probably explains why he started getting the rash a few weeks ago!

So happens this is my first time for any of my 3 children to have any thrush of any sort, so a bit of a surprise! For those of you who've had this with your little ones, any tips on whether or not I need to do anything special with his cloth nappies? I always wash on a 60 degree wash. But I use my own soap flakes mix, so no special/fancy/high powered detergents here. Should they be OK from just the normal washing?

Sorry for all the moans today, but was really worried cloth nappies were out for us! So I'm much happier now , esp when the GP reassured me it was nothing to do with what nappies I was using and to just go back to what we were using before! but maybe I should finish using sposies till we finish the medicine and the rash goes away??

That's great you've found out the problem Rachel, I think you need to strip your nappies. Have you read the thread a little further down starting 'Help!..' A mum had a similar problem with fungal infection. I would use sposies for a couple of days till you're sure nappies are not going to reinfect him.

Rachel - I would strip wash them ( without any wsahing stuff in at 60) then wash them trhough with some antibacterial stuff like tea tree oil or BioD. Make sure they are totally dry through to the core before putting them on - even if they feel dry to the touch, they can still be damp inside - esp with microfibre (in your BGs).

I recommend silver liners to everyone these days as the silver is naturally healing - you can buy silver plasters now too.

Rachel - Oh great im glad you have an answer i had a feeling it sounded like thrush. Octos right give the nappies a strip and a sanitiser should help as if the fungal infection is in the nappies it will keep reinfecting him. Good time to get all the nappies done whilst you use up the rest of the sposies!

Settled on WNNN: Skulls limited edition outer with scarlet fleece inner. Very Halloween influenced I think after shopping for costumes today!

Thanks for the tips about strip washing! But ugh to the idea of how many nappies I'll need to wash! We have toooo huge of a rotation to think about, LOL - including lots of Bedbugs which are nearly impossible to perfectly strip out, as they are so dense in the centre! I think a fair number of our Cotton Tots probably weren't used while he's had the rash, but probably most of the Bamboozles and Bedbugs, as well as various btp hemp & bamboo (bbh, which are also thick/dense) have been used. It's a lot of nappies! So you're thinking that the fact that they've been washed at 60 deg isn't enough, because it's built up inside and only stripping will work?

You need to get out the washing powder from the nappies as the build up could harbour germs. For proper antibacterial should be 74 degs but may not be great for your nappies!! I have a bottle of milton antibacterial liquid for washing machines which I sometimes use after strip washing - the liquid will go right into the fabric rather than the outer fibres.

oh, and is it likely that the thrush might get passed to Benjamin through the nappies? Back when the nappies had a build up (before I "almost stripped them" a couple of weeks back) Benjamin was getting some nasty red patches too, but it's not returned at all, though he's mainly been in disposables. But maybe that is an indicator that they need a major stripping. As for the BGs, it's only Benjamin that is wearing them, but they have been washed with other nappies that Clement is wearing. So hmmm, how to work it all out! Plenty of work for me to do anyway!

Thanks octo! We don't use any washing powder (as in, no detergent), I use mix of 2 part soap flakes, 1 part borax substitute, 1 part bicarbonate of soda, and 1 part soda crystals. Not sure how that is as far as likely for building up in the fibres, but I expect it could do. It doesn't suds up very much, so there are never any bubbles in the end rinse, but I don't suppose that is necessarily an indicator of build up!

If you have the nerve you could actually boil or put them through a steam steriliser Rachel Microfibre is pretty tough I think, but the pul might freak obviously. Cotton should be ok I think? It must be preshrunk anyway. No idea about bamboo and hemp, but you could try it on one of each that you are prepared to loose. Sterilising them should clear any spores at anyrate. You might need a stiff drink though!

My nan used to boil her terry nappies. I remember boil washing from when I was a kid too, maybe my night time terries, and towels and underwear. A big pot simmering on the cooker.

myjob, all the wool I see online is a fortune.

tree: I'd need a very big pot to do all my nappy stash! And I'm sure some of my nappies would def not like it that hot! LOL I think my mil still boils my fil's hankies on the stove! Or at least she did a couple of years ago!

I think I'll just go for some 60 degree washes with teatree oil and hope for the best! But I'll keep him in sposies till it's all gone and then see if it stays away when I introduce the cloth nappies.

My other worry was if the extra layer of minky on his wraps (his new UD wraps) might have been making him too hot? Since he started wearing them around the same time we started getting problems with rash. But I'm guessing it's a coincidence and it's rather him coming off nearly 4 months of antibiotics that did it!

You could just soak them all in the bath with a dose of Antibacterial nappy cleanser. Then rinse loads.

Rachel, have you tried silk liners? Seemed to make a difference when DS had a bacterial infection.

Can Clement have yoghurt? Rachel's Organics are great and is a natural remedy for thrush as it replaces the good bacteria in the gut.

Also, do you um, 'dress' him downwards? It seems to help DS as the wee goes south.

Oh, best of luck...

Shall I do a new thread?

dog: Thanks for the tips! Haven't tried silk, though I think I have 1 liner around somewhere, though it always seems so tiny and small - maybe it's not the right thing!

Clement does eat all sort of things (prob too many bits of bread too - yeast, oops!). Tonight he was grabbing handfuls of greenbeans and carrots off my plate and stuffing his face! So I'll have to give him some yougurt.

And yes, I try to always point him downwards, but he seems to be rather, ummm, sideways - can't seem to keep him straight & down, so he always ends up most wet on one side, up top, around his hip!

Yes please! It takes my computer forever to refresh when it gets to over 900 posts. Lets start again..

jump