Duh duh duh duh, duh duh, duh, Diaper Time!

That's what I sing nearly every time I change Mia's diaper.  Like Hammer Time, except Diaper Time.  No, it hasn't gotten old yet.  At least not to me.

Here's my problem:  Mia has a rash on her left hip.  When I took her into the Hotty Pediatrician a week and a half ago for her cold and fever thing, I had him take a look and he said it was a contact rash and to put Vaseline or something on it.  I've been doing that faithfully, and it helps some but the rash is still there and now seems to be breaking out on her right hip.

The thing is, the only thing that really contacts these areas of her hips and therefore could cause these contact rashes are her diapers.  Her disposable diapers, because I am lazy and selfish and hate the environment.  Anyway, since the rash is getting worse rather than better, I thought maybe I should try cloth diapers for a few days to see if that helped.  The very thought scared me to death.

But, I'm willing to give it a shot, if you all will help me.  If you have experience with cloth diapers, I really need to know a couple of things.  1) Can I use the huge pile of plain old cloth diapers I already have?  I think I even have a few diaper pins lying around here somewhere.  2)  How in the heck do I turn those spit-up and pureed-avocado rags into actual diapers?  3)  I assume I am supposed to put something on over the diapers, otherwise I am just straining the urine before it hits the couch, but what?  4)  What do I absolutely need, hopefully at no great expense, to survive maybe 5 days of cloth diapering?  5)  Not to put too fine a point on it, but what do you do with the poop?  I mean, I have enough diapers that I could just throw away five days worth of poopy ones and still have a huge pile, but that seems a bit wasteful.  And finally, 6) am I insane to consider even trying to start cloth diapers with a 20 month old kid?

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.  Also soothing words and large bottles of wine.

Comments

[Sharri]

I don't have experience with cloth diapers, but I do with diaper rash. Triple Paste, which is like a super concentrated Desitin, worked wonders on my son. I could only find it at a CVS (do you have those?) and it was a small container and a bit pricey, but it worked almost overnight on a really bad raised rash. E me, if you want more info on it. Good luck!

[Laurie]

No experience with cloth diapers. I was a little too afraid of the poop. But, my baby sitter turned me onto the the Gold Bond Baby powder for C. Make sure it is the Baby powder one. That stuff works wonders, but around here it was only sold in limited places so we could only find it at CVS.

[jodi]

Um yes, you are insane.

Before going the crazy cloth diaper route, try aquaphor on the rash. It's from the diaper rubbing against her hips, you need to create a barrier and my experience has been aquaphor works better than vasoline. Also, if you have any lanoline left over from beastfeeding that works too.

And it might be time to chage diaper sizes, if they are too small they can cause the rash. Or did you change kinds of diapers recentl? She might be having a reaction.

[Bethiclaus]

We don't use cloth diapers, but I know that Chelle (http://soodz.com/blog) does and she's written about it a couple of times on her blog.

[Amy H]

I've been away for a few days, so let me start off with:
-thankfully your ailment I have NOT had, but I SO get the internet search
-I will pray for Mia (and you too!) during her daredevil phase because WHAT ELSE CAN YOU DO???
-She looks ABSO-Freakin-LUTELY adorable in that dress...I remember both my little sister's and Sunshine's period where I got to pick everthing the wore...like dolls! It was awesome.
-The only things I know about cloth diapers are:
*that when my mom used them, she had to rinse the poopy ones in the toilet. You just dunk 'em and ... er...rinse?
*they have plastic panties that would work great over them, but from what I remember, they're quite constrictive on little chubster legs (not that mia is a chubster, that's how i describe baby legs).
*I don't think you are insane, but I do think it would be HARD.

Good luck, Beth!

[Sarah]

Aaaaaaaargggggg! I just answered every ? and my pinky hit a button and it went away!!!! I am going to summarize what I said. You're not crazy to help me. Being a mommy requires some craziness sometimes. Kmart or other stores with baby aisles will usually have supplies. You need diapers, pins, rubber pants that go over everything, a small trash can or bin to soak yucky ones in and cleaning supplies. Shake as much poop as you possibly can into the toilet. (I do this with disposables, too. Think about how much space you save in the landfills over a year!) I bet if you google it a site will show you how to fold the diapers. I think you use 2 - one sort of rolled up inside the other. As for cleaning them, I am sure hot water and extra rinses are important. Bleach maybe to kill germs? Not too much though because that could also irritate Mia's skin. I don't know if vinegar would work well enough instead - it is a disinfectant/deodarizer. You'll have to ask someone else who as actually used them.I have looked into it a little but haven't done it with this kid because I live in an apartment and don't have a place to put all the smelly ones until I can lug them all out of the home and bring them somewhere to wash them. Good luck!

[Sarah]

I meant Mia, not me obviously;)

[meowmix]

Have you tried just using a different brand of diaper? She may just be sensitive to something in the diapers you're using. Or like someone said above, try the next size up.

[Carrie]

I second the use of Aquaphor over Vaseline, first!! It helps with any sort of irritation over here at our house. I used to use it on my feet all the time when I would get stuff from running.

Not that I am against cloth diapers...I did them for 6 months with my first, and then we moved, I got lazy, etc. And now I guiltily contribute to landfills, as well.

But if you do use them for awhile, get some of the diapercovers instead of the rubber pants - then you don't need pins. You put the diaper inside of it, wrap around, velcro. Done.

Also, you do dump and "swish" in the toilet. I remember doing it for my mom for both my brother and sister. I think I even flushed a cloth diaper once...

[Jen]

I would use A&D for the diaper rash. Every time my son gets one, A&D usually clears it up within a day or two. (We can't stand the smell and stickyness of Desitin)

As for cloth diapers I have no experience but wanted to share this: don't invest too much right away in cloth diaper accessories until you know it works or not. My cousin had grand plans of cloth diapering but after the hospital put disposable ones on her son, anytime she tried to use cloth he cried and fussed. He didn't like the wetness against his skin since they didn't absorb as quickly as the disposable ones which draw the liquid away.

On the other hand-maybe this will help you get a head start on potty training.

Good luck!

[Kelly]

I've been cloth diapering Addy since birth and and I'm not even a hippy - just cheap. I use Fuzzi Bunz but if you are only looking for five days worth, I would go with a couple Bummi Wraps (http://www.cottonbabies.com/product_info.php?cPath=36&products_id=92). You can use any prefold cloth diapers that you have to insert in the wraps. You DO NOT need to dunk the diapers in the toilet - look for info on the "dry pail" method. You also will not need pins.

Resale on eBay is pretty good for cloth diapers so you can unload them when you are done. If nothing else it's good to have cloth on hand in case you run out of disposables.

Just know that she will have a bulky tush and will not be able to wear a lot of fitted pants. Since you are putting her in sundresses as of late, this shouldn't be a problem! Good luck!

[ann adams]

I used cloth for my kids (no choice) and disposable for the girls.

Diapers have changed so much that anything I might have known has been superseded by progress.

Good luck. I'd still try the other suggestions (ointment, change brands or sizes) before I went whole hog.

[Leah]

Cloth diapers are super easy. People who think they're hard either haven't done it or haven't had enough information to do it right.

This site http://www.jilliansdrawers.com/cdcm.html has the option of trying cloth diapers for $10. If you like it, you've gotten $100 worth of really nice different types of diapers. If you hate it, you've gotten 14 days of use out of really nice cloth diapers and you've only spent $10.

You can't use Gerber prefolds. They aren't absorbant - they have poly filler, not cotton.

If the poop is ploppable, plop it in the toilet. If it's runny, throw it into the washing machine.

The only slightly difficult thing about cloth is that you're going to have to turn knobs on your washing machine in a certain order. No!!! The horror!!! Your wash routine may take some tweaking depending on the type of water you have, the type of detergent you use, and whether Mia is super-sensitive, but I can give you tons of ideas. The only thing totally set in stone about a wash routine is that you MUST do a cold pre-rinse before you wash the diapers on hot.

Email me for more.

[hello insomnia]

On the rash--we've had evil red-spotted diaper rash a few times and each time a few baths with a generous helping of Quaker Oats thrown in seemed to do the trick.

And if you want to go the cheap route on cloth diapers, I would suggest buying them used, which may sound gross, but ones that have been cleaned and well-kept are just as good.

The cheapest way would probably use those thick white gerber diapers (which we also use as burp cloths) and fold the sides in. You can put that in a diaper cover (we liked http://www.tinytush.com/prorap.htm because my husband was able to use it easily, not the case with snaps!). There are also disposable liners and diaper doublers, which act as like a maxi pad in addition to the cloth.

As for the poop, it's icky, but I usually soak the poop-stained diapers in in a small rubbermaid bin with a few drops of dishsoap or gentle detergent. Then when you have enough for a laundry load, you can do a few washes then. And don't use bleach ever because it just destroys the fiber and your cloth won't absorb as much.

You could always get creative and use diaper wraps and those g-diaper liners so you would only have to wash the cover, but you could flush the inside.

Kerflop has a great cloth diaper FAQ here: http://www.diapershop.com/index.php/action/faq/

[Christina]

I don't know if your Walmart or Target carries this product, but in south Texas, we have a miracle product called Boudreaux's Butt Paste. It works in a matter of hours! Not exaggerating. Anytime my 2year old had a rash as a baby (even now) I used that stuff and it vanished overnight (sometimes less time). You can also buy online at buttpaste.com. You can get a 3oz tube for under $5...much cheaper and easier than CLOTH DIAPERS...if you attempt that at 20months, you're my hero!

[Tessa]

OMG I was just gonna post about teh Buttpaste but you beat me to it Christina!!!! That stuff is AWESOME!

[Swistle]

I think the trouble with cloth diapers is that they require A System and An Investment, and that doesn't seem worth it for a few days. (They're easy once you get going, but you'd only be doing the more challenging start-up time.) If I were you, I think I'd try just about everything else first. She's been wearing disposables for more than a year and hasn't had a problem before, so it's probably not the diapers. Chances are that Dr. McHottie will want to reconsider his diagnosis when he sees the problem has spread.

[Alissa]

I did not read all the comments, so forgive me if this has already been suggested...

Instead of cloth diapers, perhaps you could purchase some of the padded training underwear and plastic pants. We used them instead of pull-ups when potty training the boys, and if you go that route you're going to have to buy them anyway. Or maybe even pull-ups, because the sides of the pull-ups are not diaper material, they're some stretchy stuff.

[lorien]

I used cloth diapers on our daughter from the beginning and never found them to be difficult in the slightest. And I would totally not use vaseline on a diaper rash, it's petroleum jelly and in my opinion not very skin friendly, no matter what Tyra Banks thinks. When we needed it, Balmex always cleared up any rash within hours.

It would be super easy to convert your diapers from rags to diapers. Just buy a few (maybe two or three) covers, my favorite is Bummis Super Whisper Wrap, you should be able to get them on ebay for less than 10$ each. And instead of pins I would use Snappis (you can also get these on ebay or do a google search. They hold the dipe on without threat of pinning your child. With a snug fit on your cover, you may not even need a fastener of any type, though. Here is a page on how to fold your diapers: http://www.thediaperhyena.com/diaper_folding101.htm

As for poop, you can get rice paper liners and then the poop goes on the liner and you just drop both into the toilet. Babies R Us online carries the Kushies brand and there are a few others, easy to find on ebay as well.

My favorite cloth diaper retailer is baby bunz & co. They carry everything you could possibly need and also have lots of tutorials. It's super easy and my daughter potty learned at 22 months. Hope this helps, I would love to help more if you are interested.

[Amy]

I got nuthin. Good luck though.

[Deb L]

I changed brands of disposables and that made a difference. Also, if I notice a lot of chafing, that's usually a sign it's time to go up a diaper size.

Haven't skimmed the comments ahead of me for cloth tips, but my mom just always used the flat cloth diapers, diaper pins and plastic covers (which I've seen at WalMart and Target). I don't remember how the heck you fold them though.

I tried cloth diapering with my now-4 year old, and if you decide to do the diapering longer than a week or two, it is totally worth it to invest in the nice ones. The sort that have a "disposable diaper" shape and use velcro or snaps to hold the diaper on. And then a waterproof outer pant. They make paper "liners" which are basically a rectangle-shaped bit of toilet tissue, which makes it easy to simply dump the poo in the toilet and flush. :)

I still wish my kiddo hadn't had the eczema issues so we could have kept on with the cloth. (I tried *everything* that I could find online and from others who cloth diaper, and none of it worked. :( )

good luck!

[Patricia]

I can't help much with the cloth thing, but I have a thought on the rash -- try powder. All skin rashes need either more moisture or less moisture. If you are putting cream on it and it isn't going away, then try to dry it out.

Purely opinion time -- Mia is 20 months old -- you will be potty training in the upcoming months, so instead of going the true cloth diaper route, but if you want to try the cloth idea, go directly to Target and pick up some of Gerber's beginning training pants -- I never used these, but jumped right to the super thick underpants -- but the first steps are the diapers in a liner looking thing. Worst case, she'll potty train REALLY quickly because she isn't going to want to feel the pee and poop.

[juliette]

ok i posted on the other site first, then I decided to come here and actually read the problem (normally common sense to people that don't think backwards). Anyways... I'm surprised no one has mentioned mylanta... unless I missed it. Make sure you get the non sugary version though. It helped us to at least dry out her especially bad diaper rash before I found out about the clotrimazole stuff, but I'm pretty sure if the area we had been putting the mylanta on didn't have pee pee washing it off every 20 minutes it would have actually worked pretty good.

Well... the nurses say they use it for bed sores anyway... that's got to be something. But my husband got the cherry version and it's not only a pain to get the stickiness of the fingers, I'm also pretty sure sugar feeds bacteria. But then I also like to make up things out of fleeting facts I've heard.

I think there was a suggestion in there somewhere in all that babble...

[juliette]

blah, and i forgot the other suggestion in case you actually decide to punish yourself with cloth diapers.

They have diaper cleaning services, just throw it in a bag like you do the disposable ones and a cleaning service comes and washes them. I know my hubby's sister and the security guard at work used them, so they still exist somewhere.

[Lesley]

PENATEN