advice appreciated....i dont want to give up on cloth...

[rokki]

thanks for all your concern and help
where do you get the calendula cream from?
not sure what longies or soakers are - are they wool outer pants?
what do i use for natual liners?

sorry for all the questions! i just really want to get it sorted, i hate disposables

what should my "action plan" be?

[MadMumof3]

Ok natural liners i think carmen just means using the nappies unlined( hempstraight on bubs skin ) which tbh i have rarely bothered with liners and all my nappies are fine.

calendula more than likely best to ask at a health food store

longies and soakers are knitted covers. longies being like long pants, soakers look more like a pull up cover.

action plan - i would try unlined nappies with the covers you have - that will determine if its the covers or not cos if it is then the rash will still possibly be there. apply calendula cream too

if it goes away then it was the fleece inners if it stays then you may need to look at covers

HTH

[tikki]

In terms of calendula cream, we've used this blend
GAIA Natural Baby Skin Soothing Lotion | soothing benefits, super-sensitive skin, big red blotches, calmer, smoother, itchies, versatile, calming, soothing relief, irritations, redness, sore skin, eczema, nappy rash, beeswax, zinc, castor oil, healin

and Jurlique make an excellent calendula, this is the baby barrier cream, DH uses their pure calendula on his eczema
Baby's Soothing Barrier Cream | Jurlique Australia | Skin Care Products

[jayne]

Weleda make a calendula cream...maybe google for a stockist, I'm not sure who has the range online?

And yes, longies and soakers are long and short knitted woolen covers/ pants that are nice and breathable and water resistant.

Silk liners will help soothe sensitised skin. Biodegradable liners will help keep the synthetic lining separate from your baby's skin, and help prevent any nappy creams clogging your fleece linnig too.

To be honest, if you don't think the rash is causing your baby distress or discomfort, I'd trial the different types of fabrics in your nappies for a short amount of time to see how your little man's skin fares. I'd also be going coverless until I sorted out the cause of the irritation.

It looks like a little bit more trial and error will get to the bottom of it, and I would try a good strip wash just to help rule out a reaction to detergent. What nappy soak/ sanitiser are you using Rokki?

[WB]

Looks like maybe the covers or nappies may be a bit tight on him?
If he was allergic to the fabric you would imagin it would be all over his bum and genitals also.
Maybe it's the elastic? Do mother ease use FOE? I know that FOE causes a bit of a rash on Aiden sometimes.

[rokki]

thank you so much, you are all helping so much, i cant really ask anyone i know as they all think he should be in disposables

i'm in the uk so i'll look on the net for calendula cream - is it ok to use whilst using the nappy? is it like a barrier cream?

i'll try my bamboo bambinex and motherease sandy's without liners and with no pants perhaps and then if no reaction try adding the pants, if no reaction then the fleece

whilst trialling i'll have to use disposables when i'm out of the house i guess

the nappy soak/sanitiser is just called nappy soak from perfectly happy people - i hardly ever use it but thought it might help to blitz the nappies in the wash

it'll be a shame if he's sensitive to fleece as it kept his skin so dry and the pocket style nappies were so handy

i'd love to have a go at wool pants but bit scared tbh!

[~Carolyn~]

Wool covers: you can also get wool covers such as baby beehind, loveybums or lotus if you want covers as apposed to pants etc...

it doest look that bad to me.

Have you tried a nappy with sofer elastic such as a Cute Tooshie? their elastic is softer so to speak.

We often get redness around where the elastic touches the skin, same as where i get red marks from the elastic on my trackies (i need to lose this baby belly!!)

[johT]

a few things come to mind, most already mentioned
how much detergent do you wash with? 1/4 to 1/2 recommended amount is fine - more can cause buildup of product causing rash or reduced performance of nappy and need the stripwash.
do you use barrier creams alot?? they can also cause buildup on the nappies, reducing the nappies performance or causing rash.(using flushable liners might protect nappies when using creams).
most nappy sanitisers are quite harsh too (as well as unneccesary) and can cause rash - if you do use them rinse really really really well!

i would try strip washing the nappies, then using nappies with no fleece for as while, then perhaps introduce it again...see how you go.

How to do a strip wash - link to article

[rokki]

thank you for the link to strip washing - its what i've basically been doing but i've not been using the vinegar, and i'll do more rinses as well to make sure
i've never used barrier creams, and never had any redness before, it doesnt look too bad at the moment as it appeared to be completely healed, but the rash came up again within a couple of hours of going back to cloth so he's been either out of a nappy or in a disposable for the last day or so
it did get quite sore till we stopped using the cloth nappies - and the skin was starting to break down so i felt i had no choice but to switch to disposables for a while (they sit higher up on his thighs so the sore bit was exposed to the air)
i'm so sad, i loved seeing his cute big cloth bummy, and felt that it was the right thing to do both environmentally and for his skin...so i was gutted when the very thing i thought would be kind to his skin started causing such soreness :o(
anyway, i'll see how we go once all his nappies have been strip washed
any further advice or opinions are still very welcome!

[KristyMumTo4]

I know it's hard when there are so many things to try
but I will add that two of my guys needed that 'moist' that calendula provided, while the other needed the 'dry' of pure cornflour - you can get it in the supermarket make sure it's the wheat-free and either sprinkle as is or put in a 'sprinkler' container thing.

I'd also suggest (which sounds odd having just mentioned cornflour) when you bath, just a few drops of olive oil in the water, will help restore balance to baby's skin (the bath water does WONDERs for your hands too!).

Even when it looks healed, it won't take much to reirritate if it's not totally healed iykwim? So I'd go the olive oil in the bath, nappy free time, cornflour powder and more nappy free time

eta just wondering what size - maybe size combined with how tight is making a difference?
will pop in and see how you're going


The thing is, cloth gives you the BEST chance to overcome the probs because there are so many options available - you'll find the answer, almost everyone does, so just wanted to give you that confidence