Mysterious cloth-diaper-hating rash

[persephonefalls]

My daughter has had a really aggressive nasty rash/yeast infection for MONTHS. We had seriously tried just about everything to make it go away--different ointments, creams, we took her to a dermatologist, and literally nothing was working. We thought maybe there was some lingering infection clinging to our cloth diapers, so we stripped them, but

Comments

[coendou]

Stripping won't get rid of yeast - bleach the diapers, that finally got rid of our recurring yeast rash.

[teacup9]

How did you do it? I've tried some bleach, stripping, and vinegar. (Not all at once.) My daughters just have the most awful yeast and it does seem so much better in disposables. I got so tired of fighting it I trained by toddler at two and a bit just to be done with it. My infant's yeast is all over and so bad it got a secondary infection so I'm treating that with a dermatologist and using 'sposies for now but she doesn't really understand cloth diapers.

And to the OP I wish I had some advice, but after four years of cloth diapering I am at my wits end. We use Planet and occasionally Tide for what it's worth.

[countessof_roth]

Tea tree oil maybe?

I'd go NUTS if I couldn't use cloth but Roland's eczema is exacerbated by 'sposies :(

[teacup9]

Yeah I have been nuts. The truth is I'll never know if the girls had the same thing because it presented differently in both of them. Bayla tested positive for an infection, but I am still waiting on the other cultures so I don't even know for sure if it is yeast, but the doctor and I suspect so. The thing is I think it started on the back of her knee and not even in the diaper area.

[prosperina7]

I was just taking a peek at this community (currently pregnant with baby number two and really wanting to try out cloth diapers -- wanted to see what this comm was all about), and I came across this comment and had to reply -- your child's name is Roland??? LOVE IT!! My grandfather's name was Roland, as was my uncle's, and we were seriously considering it for our little ones (though both happened to be girls, so that didn't work out, lol). So many people were opposed to the name, which I still just don't understand at all; did you meet any adversity about the name? Anyway, so amazing to see someone else use it! I have to ask, are you French-Canadian by any chance? It seems to be a slightly more popular name in Quebec (and I'm F-C, so that's also why I'm asking, lol)

[countessof_roth]

I wish I was Canadian. I'm an american living in the chicago area.

We got the name from (don't laugh) a Stephen King novel. :)

[rachaelhubbard]

I had a KILLER yeast problem. It was awful. Took me like 6-12 months to really get to the bottom of it and get it cleared up.

Our routine:
Strip w/Dawn & bleach monthly
Wash every other day with Tide & Grapefruitseed Extract (THIS has made a HUGE difference!)
Use OTC Lotrimin as diaper cream the instant a bump pops up

Sounds like your infant could use some oral antifungals - diflucan I think it's called - for systemic yeast. I would definitely treat that before tackling the diapers or she will just keep reinfecting (recolonizing?) herself.

ETA: I also use old school baby powder with every change to help keep his skin dry. The cornstarch based ones just feed yeast.

[teacup9]

Thanks. She is on antibiotics and some cream now. I'm still waiting on the yeast cultures the dermatologist took, but she did test positive for an infection. It did really get bad in her arm pit and back of the knee originally (she is healing quite well now), but I'll have to look into non corn based powders like you said.

[rachaelhubbard]

Poor thing! :( Hope she heals up well.

We got some Nystatin powder prescribed which worked the BEST - but it's prescription only and a tiiiiiny bottle. There is an OTC product available called something like X-orb that is also a non-cornstarch antifungal powder. It's not cheap, but it did work very well. I just had to be super careful about not using too much or it would irritate my son's skin (and he is not a sensitive skinned kid).

[teacup9]

My friend who has chubby babies (mine are thin so I am so confused) raves about the powder. I actually prefer prescription, because I have full coverage so that might work much better for us :) And no worries, my baby is happy as a lark. She just looks awful. She was wiggling around all giggles on the exam table when it was so bad it looked like a chemical burn. I do need to do more research about preventative. This doctor made a face when I mentioned cloth diapers and said "well hopefully you won't have to do that." She isn't what I'd call a good listener either, but her Rx have been healing the babes so far so I figured I'd finish this round with her and look for someone better another time.

[rachaelhubbard]

I have full coverage too, the Nystatin is only like $5 a pop, so not bad - it's just ANNOYINGLY small for how often I found myself using it. :) Something in a bigger container worked better for us!

That's too bad about your doc. My pediatrician just sort of blindly assumed that cloth diapers = problem free skin! which created it's own set of problems when we started with the yeast thing... it would have been helpful if she had known that it is a relatively common issue. =/ Instead I had to parse it out myself with months of trial and error and emailing various cloth diaper websites/detergent manufacturers.

[mela_chan]

You can get it in liquid form, so that shouldn't clog your machine.

[rachaelhubbard]

I've never had an issue... I dilute it though. I put 12 drops in a half cup of water (I use an old breast milk storage cup I just keep on my washer) and put it in the bleach dispenser for my actual wash load (after the 1st cycle of just a "normal" wash with no detergent). We have an older LG TROMM.

[manic_geisha]

Whats the deal with grapefruit seed extract? I'm intrigued.

[rachaelhubbard]

It's a natural antimicrobial, like Tea Tree Oil... but TTO seems to lose effectiveness when diluted (like, a few drops in a huge load of laundry) whereas GFSE still works to keep things at bay. :) I bought a bottle of it on Amazon for about eight bucks and it's lasted for more than a year.