Help me get my son back in cloth

benmichele

Help! I'm so lost I just need to completely start over. My son is 18mo. We use Tiny Bubbles (warm rinse, hot wash, extra rinse).

Months ago, my son was getting raw on the tip of his penis (circumcised) to the point where there was sometimes a little blood left on his diaper. His ped said the cloth were probably chafing and that I should loosen them. Ok, maybe, but I stopped putting them on so tight. And I stripped with blue dawn in the tub and lots of warm rinses. We have a GroVia Magic Stick, which works for his bum, but not really for the tip of his penis. I started putting coconut oil on it and ended up with yeast and an infected tip of his penis (maybe I put on too much?). I put him in sposies to do an antibiotic and anti-fungal cream (per the ped). Well, I hate sposies (the smell, the cost, the trash, and of course the new diaper rash in his butt crack from chemicals or heat or something). So once his penis was looking better I put him back in cloth bc I thought it would help the other rash, which it did. All the while I'm doing lots of diaper free time and baking soda baths, and did bleach on my diapers for the yeast. I put him in flats mostly, because I thought they could take the wear and tear of bleach while being sure the yeast was gone and his penis was red and bloody again! Ug, I switched to pockets almost exclusively (I don't quite have enough to do it exclusively) and it didn't really clear up, but maybe that's because the damage was already done? So he's back in sposies. Ped gave us another antibiotic but I've been putting some melaluca oil on it and it looks like it's almost clear without the antibiotic. 

So my question is how to get him back in cloth and not have this happen all over again? I'm thinking about easing back in with pockets at home and disposables at daycare (3 days/wk, I can't seem to get her to change as often as we do) and overnight (when the irritation seems the worst).

If you've read this far, thank you! I need ideas!

flummadiddle85

Are there any other issues with the diapers?leaking, stink, etc? The dawn will only help with non CDsafe cream on the diapers. So step away from the dawn.what's your wash routine? Where was the yeast, front or back? Were the pockets bleached?

benmichele

No other issues (they're absorbing fine and don't seem to have major stink - I soak the ON prefolds bc they were stinking). 

Ok, no Dawn, good to know.

We use Tiny Bubbles (warm rinse, hot wash, extra rinse) in a HE front loader.

The yeast was above and on his penis.

I bleached everything, including the pockets, to be sure I got everything.

TJ1979

Coconut oil isn't going to cause a yeast infection... coconut oil is antifungal.  But yeast does love a moist environment.  How often are you changing him?

Mandmeesh

Does the warm rinse spin the dirty water out?

benmichele

At home and with my in-laws he's changed every 2-3hrs, but the three days at daycare I'm having a hard time getting her to consistently change him mid-morning (she changes everyone before and after nap, noon and 3pm unless poopy). I have a hunch she's the problem, which is why I'm considering sending him there in sposies for a little while. We can't seem to find anyone else who will take him part time.

benmichele

Mandmeesh said:

Does the warm rinse spin the dirty water out?

Yes, it's a rinse and spin cycle

ElleBeeDub

What type of pockets do you have and what rise snap are you using? G sometimes gets irritated on the tip of his penis when he's starting to outgrow a rise. Currently most of his diapers (that have rise snaps three across) are snapped to the middle rise snap, but I leave the center snap unsnapped (does that make sense?).

Have you tried doing multiple hot washes (without detergent/soap/etc) to make sure there's not buildup?

benmichele

ElleBeeDub said:

What type of pockets do you have and what rise snap are you using? G sometimes gets irritated on the tip of his penis when he's starting to outgrow a rise. Currently most of his diapers (that have rise snaps three across) are snapped to the middle rise snap, but I leave the center snap unsnapped (does that make sense?).

Have you tried doing multiple hot washes (without detergent/soap/etc) to make sure there's not buildup?

We're sortof between rise settings (middle and biggest), so leaving that middle snap unsnapped is a good idea. 

I have a pocket mix of BG 4.0, Nicki's, Imagine, Kuwaii.

I've done an additional hot rinse after washes recently, but I could do another couple just to be safe before we put them back on him.

TJ1979

benmichele said:

At home and with my in-laws he's changed every 2-3hrs, but the three days at daycare I'm having a hard time getting her to consistently change him mid-morning (she changes everyone before and after nap, noon and 3pm unless poopy). I have a hunch she's the problem, which is why I'm considering sending him there in sposies for a little while. We can't seem to find anyone else who will take him part time.

This is a problem, and I would be livid. 

I wonder about using waxelene or something as a barrier to keep him from chaffing?  I don't have a boy so I don't really know about peens.  But just a thought.

Amores0121

TJ1979 said:

benmichele said:

At home and with my in-laws he's changed every 2-3hrs, but the three days at daycare I'm having a hard time getting her to consistently change him mid-morning (she changes everyone before and after nap, noon and 3pm unless poopy). I have a hunch she's the problem, which is why I'm considering sending him there in sposies for a little while. We can't seem to find anyone else who will take him part time.

This is a problem, and I would be livid. 

I wonder about using waxelene or something as a barrier to keep him from chaffing?  I don't have a boy so I don't really know about peens.  But just a thought.

I am scared for the upcoming penis that I have to deal with.
:-S

Rrrrrachel

That's gross. She should be changing everyone every 3 hours at most regardless of what kind of diapers they wear. My cd does every two.

unaveragejane

Waxalene is fantastic. It's a lot thicker than coconut oil and Magic Stick, so it could help if rubbing is causing or contributing to the problem. I also second the idea of doing a hot water strip on your diapers just to take care of any possible build-up. I'd even go a step further and use washing soda or RLR, at least on the overnight diapers. We were having some continual issues with ammonia in DS's ON diapers, and I finally soaked all of them in a bathtub of hot water with enough washing soda to make the water cloudy. (Start with clean diapers if you do this.) Then I did my normal wash cycle and rinsed a few extra times just for precautionary measures. I also started adding Calgon to my wash and rinse cycles to try to prevent mineral build-up since we have hard water.

nanabanana06

We got this on my son. I thought it was rubbing too, so I put Grandma Els on the tip. After a while he got a rash that looked yeasty, but bigger. Turns out it was staph. Antibiotics cleared it up.

benmichele

TJ1979 said:

benmichele said:

At home and with my in-laws he's changed every 2-3hrs, but the three days at daycare I'm having a hard time getting her to consistently change him mid-morning (she changes everyone before and after nap, noon and 3pm unless poopy). I have a hunch she's the problem, which is why I'm considering sending him there in sposies for a little while. We can't seem to find anyone else who will take him part time.

This is a problem, and I would be livid. 

I wonder about using waxelene or something as a barrier to keep him from chaffing?  I don't have a boy so I don't really know about peens.  But just a thought.

I'm pretty irritated, but glad to know you all agree and I should be more insistent.  We have something like waxelene that I can try too. Thanks.

benmichele

Amores0121 said:

I am scared for the upcoming penis that I have to deal with. 

Don't be, we made it over a year with no issue.

benmichele

Rrrrrachel said:

That's gross. She should be changing everyone every 3 hours at most regardless of what kind of diapers they wear. My cd does every two.

So did our last place, but she had to let us go because we weren't full time and we're on the waiting list at the only other part-time place I can find.

benmichele

unaveragejane said:

Waxalene is fantastic. It's a lot thicker than coconut oil and Magic Stick, so it could help if rubbing is causing or contributing to the problem. I also second the idea of doing a hot water strip on your diapers just to take care of any possible build-up. I'd even go a step further and use washing soda or RLR, at least on the overnight diapers. We were having some continual issues with ammonia in DS's ON diapers, and I finally soaked all of them in a bathtub of hot water with enough washing soda to make the water cloudy. (Start with clean diapers if you do this.) Then I did my normal wash cycle and rinsed a few extra times just for precautionary measures. I also started adding Calgon to my wash and rinse cycles to try to prevent mineral build-up since we have hard water.

Thanks. Where can I buy washing soda? I think I'll try that just so we're starting at zero with cleanliness.

We have a water softener.

unaveragejane

I found washing soda at the regular grocery store near the stain removers and other laundry additives. It's in a big orange or yellow box, and it's made by Arm & Hammer. It's pretty cheap, too...like $3 for a big box that will last a while. (I think I have seen it at Walmart since then, too.)

Have you checked to be sure your water softener is working correctly? Other ladies have posted about problems and it turned out that the whatever-it-is (salt??) in the softener had run out.

PipSqueak0313

I would think that adding washing soda to soft water would make the water too soft.....washing soda acts as a water softener if I understand things correctly.

jcwinsto

Well, there a few signs that can let you know if your water is soft or not.  Do your dishes ever come out of the dishwasher cloudy?  Particularly clear glass cups or plastic baby bottles.  Does the tub/shower stall have a kind of dull look and not shiney plastic or glass any more?  Do your faucets/showerheads get any sort of buildup on them or water stains were they may leak?  I'd be tempted to do the hot water washes and then the washing soda strip anyway and just rinse a lot.

benmichele

Good idea, but our softener is good. Glasses come out of the dishwasher clear and there's no build-up on our fixtures. There's a reminder in our calendar for my husband to check it once a month.

blondolphn

I am also a huge fan of CJ's plus to help keep away the yeasties once you get it under control.

flummadiddle85

Nana_Osaki06 said:

We got this on my son. I thought it was rubbing too, so I put Grandma Els on the tip. After a while he got a rash that looked yeasty, but bigger. Turns out it was staph. Antibiotics cleared it up.

Wouldn't that have cleared when he was on antibiotics?