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where I expound on diaper troubles

Looking back, I realize this has been a problem for many months now. I need to figure out what is going on.

I really like cloth diapering my babies. I like that I am not spending lots of money on disposables. Not to mention the throwing away of all those diapers. I have been doing this since Anna was a baby and I have never had the troubles I am now experiencing. Poor Peter. His little tush is a mess. I might get it looking better for a few days, but never for long and never completely clear.

There are so many possible culprits that I can't seem to narrow it down to the right one. I thought maybe my washing machine might not be doing so great anymore at getting them clean, although they look and smell clean. So I tried boiling some to see if I could kill anything left after washing them. That didn't help. We have switched to disposables in order to try an anti-fungal lotion, an antibiotic lotion, commercial diaper rash lotions, petroleum jelly, you name it, I have probably tried it! Still, this rash persists, even in disposables, which makes me think it is not the diapers at all.

I also had the theory that it could be allergy related. But why only the diaper area? If it was a food allergy, wouldn't I be seeing a reaction in other places too?

Today, I  bought some brand new diapers that are currently being prepped for wearing and a new cover. I will keep these separate from the other diapers and see if that makes any improvement. I also bought a sample size all-natural diaper cream. I read the ingredients and realized I own all of them excepting the shea butter. I did some research on the internet and I found some great recipes for my own homemade lotion that I could make right now. And I did. It is currently cooling on the kitchen counter.

I realize this is really boring reading for most anyone but me. But just maybe, someone might have the answer. So I write and hope.

Comments

  1. Replies
    1. I would say yes, except that he usually has 3-4 poopy diapers a day. I am going to bring that up at his one year check-up. It seems like a lot, especially since we do cloth!

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  2. My son had a rash for 6 months. It was Impetigo, a bacterial rash and even the antibiotic ointment didn't work for him. We eventually put him on oral antibiotics (which I hated to do), and I stopped eating gluten and sugar. I was nursing him at the time and he kept getting thrush. He was sensitive to gluten and sugar and the thrush made him more susceptible to impetigo since it opened his skin. After the oral antibiotics and no more gluten and sugar, he never got thrush or his rash again. I reintroduced gluten a little at a time about 3 months later and then sugar very slowly! But he can now eat both without any problems. Also, if it's impetigo, you need to stop using cloth until it is completely gone and has been for a while. Only way to disinfect is to bleach them, that is why you want to stop or bleaching at every wash can ruin them. Also, tea tree oil and grapefruit seed extract are natural antifungals that I use in my prerinse just to make sure if there is any yeast started to brew, I can kill it quickly. I also sun all my diapers because the sun helps kill anything in the diapers. Not sure if this is even what he has, but I spent MONTHS trying to figure it out, so ask doctors if it's impetigo at his next appt. They got it confused and thought it was yeast for a while until we officially figured it out. Oh and 3-4 poops a day is fine. My son had a spell a little before a year when he went 6-8 times. He is now 17 months and goes about 2 times a day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I looked up impetigo and I don't think that is what we are dealing with. I do wonder if it could be a milk allergy since his formula is milk based, but the proteins are partially broken down. My 6 yr. old and 2 yr. old also have milk protein intolerance. They got eczema on their faces and arms and legs, but not on the tush. But they did have blood in their stool, which he does not have.

      I bought the disposable liners for the cloth diapers. Would that protect the diapers or not?

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  3. My son had a rash since he was born and the one thing was I was consuming too much vitamin C and it was burning his tush. that was all for us

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    Replies
    1. I do have a rather tall glass of orange juice every morning. I wonder.

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  4. Our pharamcist's secret diaper cream -- and I hesitated to use it because its not natural, but it always worked -- was a mix of aquaphor and maalox. You just take a big scoop of aquaphor and pour maalox in and stir until it incorporates. You end up with a thick white paste. It protect the skin with a barrier and neutralizes the acid in the urine and stool. A pharmacist gave us the recipe when our first was a baby and we always used it at first sign of rash. The only thing it won't help is yeast which causes bright red skin but not much raised rash. Kind of grainy looking. Could it be simple heat rash? Have you tried some cornstarch?

    Who is the patron of diaper rash? ;-)

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    Replies
    1. There needs to be a patron for that for sure!

      I don't think it is heat rash. It has been going on too long for that. The more I think about it, I am leaning towards milk allergy. I can't remember exactly, but I think it has been going on since we changed from Nutramagin to Gerber Good Start Gentle formula. Some days he doesn't take any formula, but some days he has a 6 oz. bottle (Tony will feed him at night sometimes or if we are out and about). That could account for the coming and going.

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    2. Well, that's easy enough to test!

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  5. Jenny -- I had a friend who struggled with this with one of hers, and her pediatrician suggested two things. The first was a comment I read above about the Maalox. You can also use Mylanta. Her doc said to just swab it on and let it dry directly on his bottom. The other thing was to keep a blow dryer near where you change him and actually blow dry his bottom every time. On a cool setting, obviously. But sometimes if there is even a tiny bit of moisture on the skin, it can cause stuff to grow like this. Really drying it well, along with good ointment and some anti-fungal can help clear it up. Hope you figure it out!

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  6. No answers here, but a prayer for Peter's little tush.

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  7. Jenny, Evan and Hillary both had this problem, and for us, the culprit was apple juice. The least bit of apple juice simply blistered their bottoms. I had to switch to the white juices (pear and white grape), and that did the trick. Funny thing, though--to this day, neither one of them particularly likes apple juice.

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  8. Jenny, we use coconut oil on Anna's butt when she gets a rash, since you can't use the store stuff with cloth diapers. Works like a charm every time.

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