Another rash post

[danny2023]

I cannot figure out why my cloth diapers are giving my baby a rash. It goes away in disposables. They are freshly stripped and bleached, I followed fluff love u’s directions perfectly. The bleach is new. I just tried putting her back in cloth and the same rash came back. We’ve been using them for 10 months with no issues except a yeast rash when she was 2 months old.

My wash routine is: warm normal pre-wash with line 2 of Tide f&c, then hot heavy duty wash w/ line 4 and 1/2 cup of Borax.
Edit: we have hard water hence the borax.

Any ideas?

 

[coffrey]

@danny2023 I had to give up on cloth diapering for the most part unless i cant afford diapers i try to mix it 2-3 cloth a day just to make things stretch but some babies dont do well with it full time. My daughter gets bad rashes if she wears them all day (I change her every hour and a half or if she feels wet) have tried dozens of different detergents and ammounts they have no build up and they give her a rash doesn’t matter the type of inner wicking or the type of inserts i use she just cant wear full time due to sensitivity after the 4th or 5th diaper she gets redness and a rash that doesn’t go away until some disposables. Watch for fabric sensitivity

 

[danny2023]

@coffrey That sucks. I know some babies just can’t handle cloth. It’s weird because she was 100% fine with it for the last 8 months. And now, after trying to go back to cloth for a day and having the rash come back, I switched to disposables again and the rash is still there even with good lotion/rash cream/nystatin. Lol can’t win.

 

[coffrey]

@danny2023 Have you possibly switched wipes recently? If the rash is still there a day later its probably not the diapers themselves if babies poops have been any different then typical that could be a idea or if you introduced any new foods it could be a intolerance.

 

[sissikop]

@danny2023 FLU always recommends WAY more detergent than necessary, especially for natural fibers. They overcomplicate everything, really.

Use the same detergent you use for clothes. Cut your detergent in half. First wash should be cold (warm/hot water sets protein stains) second wash can be hot.

Rinse the diapers until the water is clear, then do a quick cold wash with minimal detergent, then a long hot wash with a normal amount of detergent for the load size. Do an extra rinse. See where that gets you.

Borax is extremely hard on diapers; I'd skip it and see if you can do without. I had Borax literally eat through my hemp doublers in a matter of weeks.

If you are using cotton prefolds, look up Green Mountain Diapers washing instructions. They really stripped everything down to the simplest and most effective way to clean diapers, and I've not had any issues when following their guidelines.

 

[danny2023]

@sissikop I wasn’t even going by FLU’s detergent guidelines, I was just going by the directions on the Tide bottle. I’ll see if I can switch to something else besides Borax.
I do use GMD’s prefolds so I have their guide.

Thank you for your reply. It’s crazy to me how much vastly different advice there is for washing diapers.

 

[sissikop]

@danny2023 Every diaper/washer/water/schedule is different, which just adds to the crazy. Everyone has to just experiment, to some extent. But the Tide recommendations are a decent place to start!

 

[markiplier]

@danny2023 How hard is the water? If you swish an insert in a bowl of water is it cloudy?

If you are using borax because your water is hard, you need it in both washes. It’d have to be somewhere around 220ppm or more to be using that much. If it is that hard, again, needs to be in both washes.

 

[danny2023]

@markiplier I probably need to actually get it tested, but google says it’s about 205. Swish test is pretty cloudy/filmy, so based on that and other people’s comments, I think it might be un-rinsed detergent. Honestly if they’re freshly stripped and bleached idk what else it could be besides detergent buildup.

That being said, if the hardness is only about 205 do you think I should skip the borax?

Also, thank you! Idk what I’d do without the people of this sub.

 

[markiplier]

@danny2023 I’d rinse, rinse, rinse until they are clear of detergent. Then, I’d either switch to tide original powder or use the free and clear powder with 3/4 cup borax. That detergent I think is discontinued so when it runs out, you could try all free and clear powder.

If you do that a while and end up in the same spot, I’d retest with clorox pool test strips. Some brand strips are faulty but not all and I’m not familiar with every brand.

 

[luketbachelder]

@danny2023 Since this is about a rash, any good cloth safe diaper creams? I’ve been cloth diapering for over a year and still haven’t found a good one

 

[newageapostleofgod]

@luketbachelder MotherLove! It's the GOAT

 

[wren84]

@danny2023 My unsolvable rash was from the material (pockets) and detergent not being fully rinsed.
I had to switch diapers entirely. And I have to hand rinse my diapers out til they run clear in the tub. No rash though.

 

[danny2023]

@wren84 I’ve always used prefolds. You hand rinse every diaper after washing?

I thought that the rash back at 2 months was maybe from detergent buildup, and I’m still not totally sure if it was that or just a stubborn yeast rash. I did seriously like 20 rinses trying to pass the swish test. The rash cleared then but I’m not sure if it was from all the rinsing or the nystatin finally getting rid of it.

 

[wren84]

@danny2023 I do. And it runs out super sudsy at first. I’ve even tried running a full normal cycle with no detergent, still suds. My baby also needed nystatin. I’m taking my diapers out of the wash to the tub and hand rinsing til it runs clear. It’s truly insane but my washer just doesn’t use enough water.

 

[cees]

@danny2023 Did the rash come back right away after the sanitize?

 

[danny2023]

@cees Yep it did.

 

[tycoon34]

@danny2023 I'm newer, but I have read on other groups that detergent buildup can cause problems. Do the swish test to see if the water is cloudy or bubbly after. (Use a clear glass container with water in it and dunk one of your thicker inserts and swish it around.)

Stripping gets rid of mineral buildup, but not detergent buildup. That's just a whole lot of rinsing to get rid of detergent buildup. Some use the hose, pressure washer(follow safety precautions), or manual car wash to rinse until clear of suds.

 

[danny2023]

@tycoon34 So I’ve read very conflicting things about detergent buildup on this sub/the internet. Some people say what you said and some people say that if you have an actual problem with detergent buildup, it’ll be obvious bc your diapers will come out of the wash feeling soapy.

 

[lifeword]

@danny2023 From my personal experience, I've had some build up without the cloth feeling actively soapy, so I always triple-rinse my loads to assure that all the soap is really coming out. For me it's a convenient setting on my machine "extra rinses" and I can chose up to 3, so it's 3 every time just to be safe.