The Dreaded Rash

A few months ago Tommy had a really bad rash which we discovered to be Thrush, or a yeast rash. He was prescribed Nystatin and things cleared up pretty quickly. But for some reason, a few weeks later, his little tush became red. Sometimes it would be much worse with red welts and blisters, which I knew was yeast, and sometimes it would just be a bit pinkish.

Since then I've been trying everything in attempts to relieve Tommy of this dreaded rash. Honestly it's never seemed to bother him. He loves being naked, loves diaper changes because of that, and has no issue with me wiping him. From here I began a very long and annoying elimination routine.

Whenever I used Desitin the rash would get a bit better. The Nystatin always helped as well, but I prefer not to use medications if I can help it. Using creams meant I had to use liners in our cloth diapers and/or stick to prefolds and flats. This wasn't too big of a deal and I luckily haven't had any issues with cream stains or build up.

I stripped all of our diapers to make them nice and clean, so we'd have a clean slate so to speak. I also determined it most likely wasn't our detergent. When we began using cloth I used Allen's Naturally, which I love. When we started running low I had to think about if we'd continue to use Allen's. I had heard great things about Rockin' Green, especially when paired with hard water so I bought a couple sample sizes to give it a shot.

I was less than impressed :-( Sure our diapers came out clean, but they didn't have that nice & yummy smell Rockin' Green is known for. Sample sizes don't last long and before I knew it we were out of that as well. I then decided to give All Free & Clear a try- it's what we used on our clothes and while some say you shouldn't bring All near your diapers with a ten foot pole, others swear by it. It couldn't hurt to try, right? So I did and it didn't make a difference with his rash. Not better, not worse. We're still using All.

Food allergies was a common rash causer I soon found out, but Tommy wasn't on solids at the time. Even now he only sucks on Bananas and Apple Cores so it's not like he's eating a 3 course meal and snacking on oranges.

After eliminating all the above possibilities I was left with only one other option.

Our diapers. Our precious diapers.

I really didn't want to admit that something could be wrong with our diapers. I never had build up issues, my laundry routine worked great, Tommy didn't seem to mind what kind of diaper was on his butt. I rarely dealt with staining and the only time I had that awful ammonia stink was in the morning after he wore the same diaper for 12 hours. I thought I was lucky, but I guess not. It finally my turn to deal with diaper issues!

I sat down and thought long and hard about when his rashes got worse and when they got better. A few weeks earlier I had started letting Tommy go coverless while we were at home and saving the PUL diapers for going out and nights. Hmmmm. We're getting warmer...

We have several different kinds of diapers with PUL. Bumgenius AIO's, BG Organics, BG Pockets, Rocky Mountain Diapers, AppleCheeks, Thirsties Duo's, Econobums, Flips. Surely he couldn't be allergic to ALL of these diapers? Thinking a little harder it finally came to me.

He was sensitive to synthetics. While trying to figure out why he never got redder after wearing a BG Organic AIO yet he turned 10 shades brighter after a BG Pocket, I finally got it. To be sure I was right I took away all diapers with suedecloth and fleece inners for a few days.

Bingo. His little bum was nice and soft and red rash free! There were still some small rashy spots, but the difference was undeniable.

One problem- half our stash is Bumgenius. With Suedecloth. After those few days going synthetic free I put a BG AIO on him when we were going out. Sure enough when I changed him no more than 2 hours later his bum was a bit red. Nothing near the nasty rash that started all of this, but it was still red. But I couldn't bring myself to let all those near perfect diapers just sit there. I had to come up with some solution.

We still go coverless whenever possible. Fitteds are my diaper of the week (because we all know you can never just have one favorite when you're a CD addict ha). He still wears his BG's, but we have a system for them. To begin, Tommy gets Desitin or A&D ointment on his tush to act as a barrier. Then I'll take a preemie prefold and lay it on the diaper in attempts to cover as much of the suedecloth as possible. If that means a tiny bit of the prefold sticks out of the legs so be it. We've yet to have an issue because of this.

Sometimes I'll add a disposable liner but usually I don't bother. I know this system isn't perfect and Tommy does get a tad red, but I can live with that. As long as I know he's not hurting, then we'll continue doing what works.

How do you combat rashes while using cloth?