Help! Frustrating rash

RACHELAD616

So I'm a total newbie to cloth diapering and tried to learn as much as possible before I dove in but I obviously still have much to learn and no one to ask for advice from (in person).  My daughter is 3 1/2 months old and we've been cloth diapering since we came home from the hospital.  I have mostly pockets, a lot of Charlie Banana and a few Bum Genius and Kawaii.  I have Kissaluvs hybrid contours for overnight and prefolds which I use occasionally during the day.  Everything has been going great, no rashes, up until last week.  My daughter has a quarter sized slightly raised rash over her pubic bone and little on her (very large) inner thighs, but nothing in the creases.  I thought it was due to hot weather and wearing the overnight diaper too long overnight but it didn't seem to get better.  Then I read online that overnight diapers are not supposed to burn your nose in the morning... I feel really dumb, I thought it was normal.  So I went about treating the ammonia problem with lots of washes and soaks and one run with a little washing soda.  The smell and rash got better over the past few days, almost gone, and now today it's back.  What gives??? I'm super frustrated and don't want anyone knocking my unpopular decision to cloth diaper.  I do cold rinse, hot wash, cold rinse with Nelly's laundry soda.  Here's my cutie patootie

  

NGilmerGirl

Maybe your diapers aren't getting clean enough? We just had that problem with Nellys detergent and switched to Tide. Our diapers don't stink anymore and LO's rash is starting to look better. I think his rash also has to do with moisture/heat because naked time seems to help a lot. We have also started using only natural fiber diapers and that also is helping.

RACHELAD616

The diapers seem clean, only the overnight ones had the strong ammonia smell which is now a weak ammonia smell.  Does that mean I need to do something else to them?  They're cotton fleece with the sown in microfiber backed soaker. I have a brand new tub of Charlie's that I haven't used because I was afraid of changing things.  Is it the same deal as Nelly's?  Tide seems so chemically to me for a little one.  Naked time hasn't helped. Maybe I'll try a prefold and bamboo insert the next few nights and see if that makes a difference.

freezorburn

Do you soak your overnight diapers before adding them to the dirty diaper pail? That can help reduce ammonia buildup. Also I have read that if you do NOT have hard water, adding a little vinegar when soaking can also help neutralise the ammonia. I haven't tried this since I have hard water, so I can't tell you how much would work.

RACHELAD616

I just started spraying them before putting them in the diaper pail. I'm pretty sure I have hard water but never tested it.