Sudden suede cloth sensitivity?

OhSewCrafty · October 2014

We've been using mostly bumGenius 4.0's and Rumparooz on my daughter for over a year now. In the past few months, however, we've been battling serious diaper rash issues. I'm not new to cloth (we CDed my now 4 year old for three years), so I've done the strip, soap change, sunned, yeast treatments.....it's none of those things. New diapers, old diapers - nothing seems to help it aside from time out of them. This poor girl gets the reddest skin where the diaper touches, often with sores that sometimes break open. We change her every 2-3 hours and put her in disposables overnight to try and heal her skin, but it's awful. At this point, she hides when we need to change her diaper because it hurts! I don't blame her!

Could she have a sensitivity to the inner lining in these diapers? I love CDing, but I don't have the time or money to swap my entire 50 diaper stash over to organics.

freezorburn · October 2014

What are you stuffing them with? What detergents have you ruled out as problematic? What did you use to strip your stash?

OhSewCrafty · October 2014

I don't know exactly what the inner is called, I've always heard it called suede cloth. Maybe it's micro suede? It's the stay dry liner stuff. We haven't tried any liners yet. Does fleece get hot against their skin tucked in a diaper like that?

They're stuffed with varying combinations of microfiber, hemp, bamboo, and cotton. I've tried (and stripped in between) Charlie's Soap, Nellie's, and Tide. We have very, very hard water, so stuff like Rockin' Green is a nightmare. I work full time, so stripping this many diapers takes hours over multiple nights. This has not been fun.

freezorburn · October 2014

Microfleece is really thin, it won't hold in heat like the thermal fleece that they make clothes out of.

Did you use a water softener with the non-Tide detergents?

How did you strip?

OhSewCrafty · October 2014

freezorburn said:

Microfleece is really thin, it won't hold in heat like the thermal fleece that they make clothes out of. Did you use a water softener with the non-Tide detergents? How did you strip?

Oh okay. I'm picturing like blizzard fleece or something. LOL

Yes, we use powdered Calgon with the non Tide detergents (which are also powders). I strip with RLR and a bazillion rinses. We have a front loader, so I add extra water each time. My poor washer. Haha

Kelly11235 · October 2014

RaR = Rump-a-Rooz

I would second the putting a non-microfiber insert on the top of the diaper (using it like a shell). If you don't have any inserts, you could try a flour sack towel folded to fit. You'd find them in the kitchen section of your local wal-mart or target. They have the advantage of being very inexpensive.

OhSewCrafty · October 2014

I just realized something about using a liner - daycare can't use them. They aren't allowed to "put diapers together" on site and they need to come fully prepped. So, at daycare she'll either need disposables or continue to be exposed to the lining, only using a diaper or two at home with a liner. That's why we use pockets in the first place. :-/

CLLDLL · October 2014

RaR is microfleece. BG is suede cloth. I'm gonna guess that it's not a sensitivity to the diaper material if she's getting rashy from both.

Has she gotten completely rash free after using sposies and a good rash cream? If not maybe it's yeast?

If she does get completely cleared up, then try getting her clear. Then put only RaRs on her and see if the rash comes back. If it does, it's not the suede cloth. You could then repeat but only use BGs. I think suede cloth sensitivity is more common than microfleece though.

How have you been stripping?

What does your wash routine look like?

Is the rash everywhere the diaper touches or just certain places? Like is it only near her butt or is it up by her belly or around her legs too?

ETA any smell when the diapers get peed on?

OhSewCrafty · October 2014

CLLDLL said:

RaR is microfleece. BG is suede cloth. I'm gonna guess that it's not a sensitivity to the diaper material if she's getting rashy from both. Has she gotten completely rash free after using sposies and a good rash cream? If not maybe it's yeast? If she does get completely cleared up, then try getting her clear. Then put only RaRs on her and see if the rash comes back. If it does, it's not the suede cloth. You could then repeat but only use BGs. I think suede cloth sensitivity is more common than microfleece though. How have you been stripping? What does your wash routine look like? Is the rash everywhere the diaper touches or just certain places? Like is it only near her butt or is it up by her belly or around her legs too?

Diaper cream helps, but she's always red to some extent - the sores come and go without a discernible pattern though. It's definitely not yeast - she's had that a few times and this looks totally different. Her pediatrician checked it out at one point when I thought the spots were impetigo (that's how gross they end up looking!!) and she said that it was some kind of contact dermatitis, not an infection. The redness is almost everywhere the diaper touches between her legs. Not around her hip area.

She wears a combination of the kinds of diapers - we just grab whatever is on top. I need to see how many of each one we have - most of them are RaRs though. And actually, we have a few Grovia stay dry mixed in - what are they made of?

CLLDLL · October 2014

Grovia stay dry are micro fleece too.

Also how did you strip? Could what you are stripping with be causing it? Especially if it's not washing out all the way?

Is there any smell when she pees? Like could it be ammonia burns?

OhSewCrafty · October 2014

CLLDLL said:

Grovia stay dry are micro fleece too. Also how did you strip? Could what you are stripping with be causing it? Especially if it's not washing out all the way? Is there any smell when she pees? Like could it be ammonia burns?

We have very, very hard water so stripping has become just part of the routine. I alternate stripping with RLR and doing just a zillion rinses with extra water in the washer. I have a front loader, so it's a pain, but we do it. We had a lot of build up issues with my son when we used RnG soap, so I know what you're talking about with the killer ammonia smell the second they wet. It's not like that. The diapers don't have any overly "dirty" smell to them like ammonia or build up.

I mean, it could be just about anything, but that's the problem. I am at my wits end.

freezorburn · October 2014

What temperature are the rinses after you do an RLR strip?

freezorburn · October 2014

My 2 cents --

If you try the different types of fabric against her, you will know pretty quickly whether the problem is isolated to the suedecloth lining of BGs or if she does better with natural fibers.

You say you aren't smelling ammonia, or anything else particularly unusual, so there doesn't seem to be an indication of bacteria playing a role. And you say that the pedi has eliminated yeast.

You've tried many different things. It could be one thing or a combination of those things that might just be stubbornly stuck to the diapers that is causing irritation. I don't have personal experience with RLR, but it does seem that some people have problems after using it. Stripping again with RLR at this time is probably not going to make things better.

Whatever is causing the problem, you need to remove it as much as possible. Since you have hard water I would avoid using vinegar. I think your safest option would be to do 3-5 hot water washes, with no laundry additives. You don't need to do your whole stash all at once, but do a load size that makes sense for your machine. Don't worry about mineral deposits at this point -- if you have a buildup issue, at this point even your hard water, hot, will have a diluting effect on what is on your diapers. And mineral deposits are probably the least of your worries right now. You might not see a lot of suds, since hard water suppresses suds, and if you have been using HE detergents, they are formulated for minimal suds as well. You might see some cloudy water at first, but each subsequent wash should look progressively clearer.

As for your wash routine, I would go back to basics and look at your own experiences with CD laundry and choose what you think will work best. Your daughter might be easily susceptible to re-irritation even after her skin is clear, so if it were me I might opt for a clean-rinsing detergent.

One final thought, I think if you can get the right balance of softener and detergent into your regular routine, you shouldn't have to strip "as just part of the routine." I don't know how your water compares to the water that I wash in, but I have been using Calgon and whatever CD-safe detergent I can get my hands on for the past 2 years, and have not had to routinely strip. I have done hot water washes on my ON diapers twice this past year, but that is all. So, if you want help with your specific wash routine going forward, let us know. But I would start with doing the hot water washes and see if that helps.

basil2 · October 2014

Is it possible that you just need to change her more often?
One of ours is really sensitive as well. He does much better with naked time, frequent changes, and prefolds/fitteds. The suede keeps them dry, but it can still be humid- it may not be a sensitivity to the fabric so much as a moisture issue. I'd try more frequent changes first, then buy some prefolds and see if they did better. Another thought- is she eating something that causes her poop to irritate? (At one point our son would rash up every time he pooped tomato containing poop)?

OhSewCrafty · October 2014

freezorburn said:

What temperature are the rinses after you do an RLR strip?

Hot.

OhSewCrafty · October 2014

freezorburn said:

My 2 cents --

If you try the different types of fabric against her, you will know pretty quickly whether the problem is isolated to the suedecloth lining of BGs or if she does better with natural fibers.

I agree - I just need to figure out how to use a liner or different fabric addition that daycare will accept using. That's going to be the tough part.

You say you aren't smelling ammonia, or anything else particularly unusual, so there doesn't seem to be an indication of bacteria playing a role. And you say that the pedi has eliminated yeast.

You've tried many different things. It could be one thing or a combination of those things that might just be stubbornly stuck to the diapers that is causing irritation. I don't have personal experience with RLR, but it does seem that some people have problems after using it. Stripping again with RLR at this time is probably not going to make things better.

I've never had issues after using RLR, but we don't use it every time we do a deep clean.

Whatever is causing the problem, you need to remove it as much as possible. Since you have hard water I would avoid using vinegar. I think your safest option would be to do 3-5 hot water washes, with no laundry additives. You don't need to do your whole stash all at once, but do a load size that makes sense for your machine. Don't worry about mineral deposits at this point -- if you have a buildup issue, at this point even your hard water, hot, will have a diluting effect on what is on your diapers. And mineral deposits are probably the least of your worries right now. You might not see a lot of suds, since hard water suppresses suds, and if you have been using HE detergents, they are formulated for minimal suds as well. You might see some cloudy water at first, but each subsequent wash should look progressively clearer.

I never, ever use vinegar. It couldn't be the mineral build up causing an issue, could it? I mean, it's in everything else related to our water. What you're describing is usually how the water looks when I hot water "strip" - it's not so much sudsy, just grey and gross.

As for your wash routine, I would go back to basics and look at your own experiences with CD laundry and choose what you think will work best. Your daughter might be easily susceptible to re-irritation even after her skin is clear, so if it were me I might opt for a clean-rinsing detergent.

One final thought, I think if you can get the right balance of softener and detergent into your regular routine, you shouldn't have to strip "as just part of the routine." I don't know how your water compares to the water that I wash in, but I have been using Calgon and whatever CD-safe detergent I can get my hands on for the past 2 years, and have not had to routinely strip. I have done hot water washes on my ON diapers twice this past year, but that is all. So, if you want help with your specific wash routine going forward, let us know. But I would start with doing the hot water washes and see if that helps.

Our water is SO hard (how hard is it?!) that we even need to strip our bath and kitchen towels. No joke - at least once a month. Otherwise, they smell like mildew/mold the second they get wet, even freshly cleaned ones. We live in an apartment building, so we can't install our own water softener and just go through a crap load of Calgon. :-/ When I say that we routinely strip the diapers, once a month or so, we'll run them through several hot rinses just to break down the minerals.

I guess I'll break all the diapers out and see what I can do with them. I have off this afternoon, but won't get another chance to really rinse and rinse and rinse and rinse for another week or so.

Thanks!

OhSewCrafty · October 2014

basil2 said:

Is it possible that you just need to change her more often? One of ours is really sensitive as well. He does much better with naked time, frequent changes, and prefolds/fitteds. The suede keeps them dry, but it can still be humid- it may not be a sensitivity to the fabric so much as a moisture issue. I'd try more frequent changes first, then buy some prefolds and see if they did better. Another thought- is she eating something that causes her poop to irritate? (At one point our son would rash up every time he pooped tomato containing poop)?

She gets changed about every 2 hours, maximum 3 hours, but she tells us when she poops, so that gets changed right away. She loooooves naked time and would do it all day if we let her. Haha

I would love to keep her in prefolds and covers, but daycare won't take them. Pockets only. :-/

freezorburn · October 2014

Hmmm. Well, my water authority says that the CaCO3 is 359ppm in my area. I haven't gotten a kit to see whether what is coming out of our taps is picking anything up or dropping anything off between the test point and our home. We rent too and I wish we could install a softener! I've resigned myself to going through a crap load of Calgon. Especially since DS seems to be sensitive to perfumed detergents, which tend to be the ones that have water softeners in them. YMMV. Good luck!

freezorburn · October 2014

OhSewCrafty said:
It couldn't be the mineral build up causing an issue, could it? I mean, it's in everything else related to our water. What you're describing is usually how the water looks when I hot water "strip" - it's not so much sudsy, just grey and gross.

I wouldn't point to any one thing at this stage, given the many things that you have tried already. My guess if it's mineral build up is that it might have a drying effect on the skin -- but it would really take a lot of build up, and since you have stripped regularly, I would doubt that it is much different than what you are bathing your child in, assuming you are using tap water for that too. My best guess is that you are probably dealing with a combination of things that, together, are causing a problem.

Rrrrrachel · October 2014

The mildew/mold you're smelling on your towels is more likely leftover detergent than hard water minerals.

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