Ammonia - help please

102007

We've been battling a pretty bad rash for about 2 weeks now, and I think it's ammonia. So my questions are two-fold - what can I do for the rash, and how do I kill it from the diapers?

The rash is red in the crack and there are some blisters on the cheeks. We typically use coconut oil overnight and for minor redness, but it's not cutting it at all right now. At home I've been using liners with butt paste and hydrocortisone on the blisters. Daycare was using CJ's butter but we ran out, so I grabbed some Weleda cream at BBB after a quick desperate google told me it was ok for cloth (hope that's actually true....) Like I said it's been 2 weeks and while we sometimes have improvement, it's still awful and likely because the dipes are causing it.

We use BG 4.0 covers during the day stuffed with flats, and flip covers overnight with cotton pre-folds. I switched to all cotton inserts after we had stink with our microfiber, but now that our cotton has the funk as well, I feel like it's our washer/routine. We have a HE front loader, and use 1/2 scoop of country save in the warm wash/cold rinse cycle, and 1/2 scoop in the hot wash/cold rinse cycle. I've been adding extra rinses and soaks to both these cycles, along with wet towel tricks and straight up buckets of water as well. Lately I've been attempting to also squirt some dish soap right in the drum with the diapers followed by 1-2 rinse/spin cycles after the regular wash cycles. Please help - is it time for some kind of stripping additive? Something like a funk rock or a bac-out? I don't really know what they do. Boiling? Additional soaking? Give up completely?

nanabanana06

Yeah. Your routine is weird. It's probably your detergent.

Mandmeesh

wow, that's a lot of detergent.  I'd first get the cd's off LO since it's been two weeks of a rash. 

Then hot water strip.  Like 5 hot water washes/rinses like Yellowlily said

then a routine should be something like: 

warm rinse/prewash.  NO detergent 

hot wash with detergent 

rinse

rinse

unaveragejane

I agree with the advice above. I just wanted to add that we have also found it helpful to rinse and soak DS's overnight prefolds and fitteds in hot water for a few hours.

102007

AFwifelife said:

I can't really give advice on the creams because I've never had to use more than CJ's but you are using way too much detergent in your wash.  Your initial rinse or prewash should be with no detergent to rinse the poop/pee out.  Maybe switch to a cold rinse (not everyone has luck with a warm initial rinse).  I'd also lock up the Dawn.  Dawn should only be used occasionally and sparingly.  You need more than 2 rinse cycles to get dish soap out of your diapers. 

I would do either a strip with RLR or just hot water followed by a ton of rinses (like 5 - no joke) until you don't see any more soap bubbles.  After the strip, see how you diapers do with just te 1/2 scoop in your hot wash followed by 2 rinses.  I don't have a HE but I've heard (I think from Nana) that she does an additional rinse without a spin between her initial rinse and main wash so that there is a good amount of water/weight in her machine.

Thanks - it's hard to remember which product is for what with all the acronyms flying around. I know I've read so-so reviews of funk rock, but I couldn't come up with RLR, which seems to have great reviews. Since you and others have said this sounds like too much detergent, I don't know if I trust just hot water to really get it OUT. Thanks again.

nanabanana06

Yeah I do a warm/warm rinse drsin spin cycle, then a warm/warm delicates cycle with the spin turned off, then my hot wash. I trick my machine this way. Plus detergent goes in the hot wash. Though I'll add some bac out to my pre wash.

102007

Nana_Osaki06 said:

Yeah I do a warm/warm rinse drsin spin cycle, then a warm/warm delicates cycle with the spin turned off, then my hot wash. I trick my machine this way. Plus detergent goes in the hot wash. Though I'll add some bac out to my pre wash.

Thanks, I'll have to work on my cycle routine. How much bac out do you add? To the rinse, drain, spin or the delicates cycle?

nanabanana06

Delicates cycle. I add about 2-3 tablespoons. I don't measure. I also spray my poop diapers with it after I spray.

102007

Thanks for all of the advice. I've got a hefty amazon order on the way and I've notified the husband of a new wash routine in the immediate future!

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