Cloth Diaper Advice - Mailbox Mondays 3/28/11 - Diaper Rash/Creams

If you have cloth diaper questions, every Monday I will answer reader submitted questions, and ask you to add your opinions.

Questions don't have to be cloth diaper related, just email maria at change-diapers.com with "Mailbox Mondays" in the subject, or Fill out my contact form for readers, which you will always be able to find on my Contact Page.

Madeline says:

Hey Maria,

I have a friend with a newborn who has horrible diaper rash (even in sposies) and has to have medicated diaper cream and A and D ointment on her bottom (the doc wants only the A and D to come off with diaper changes, so the medicated stays on all the time). I suggested fleece liners, but wondered (1) if you have any other suggestions and (2) if you know of any diaper cream that is as thick as Desitin, but is CD safe.

Madeline

Hi Madeline.  Even "cloth safe" creams have to be put on very, very thin in order to not damage the diapers. If she had to use a medicated cream, I'd recommend using a fleece liner for sure. You're really not going to find anything that thick or medicated that is cloth safe. I never had luck with Desitin, but I think Boudreax's Butt Paste is an awesome non-cloth safe rash cream. It always worked wonders on my daughter (who was disposable diapered.)

Does she know what the rash is? Thrush etc.? My son actually got terrible rashes from disposables, but it cleared up with cloth. If he gets a bit red, I put a thin layer of a cloth safe cream like Grandma El's, Earth Mama Angel Baby Bottom Balm, or Motherlove Diaper Rash and Thrush Salve, and it clears up.

Once her baby's rash has cleared up, she might want to consider using a very, very thin layer of cloth safe cream at every change as a barrier.

For now, I'd also recommend letting the baby have some naked time. Do tummy time on a few blankets or a waterproof pad, and leave the diaper off whenever possible. I know it can be a messy prospect, but air does seem to help rashes!
 
How about you lovely readers?  Have you battled a diaper rash that required medicated cream?

Earth Mama Angel Baby Bottom Balm

I had heard of Earth Mama Angel Baby Organics in the past, and when someone suggested that I review their products, I decided to look into it.

I ended up having a phone conversation with Tracey at EMAB.  I hate talking on the phone; I get nervous.  I think I always sound like a doofus and end up saying something stupid!  Despite that, Tracey and I chatted like old friends.  We talked about everything from tear-free shampoo to teething babies. 

Tracey directed me to EMAB's reading room, and I ended up spending quite a bit of time there and learned a lot.  I highly recommend you take a peek if you're at all interested in natural and organic products.

To try to keep this post from becoming a novel, I'll get to the point!  I emailed with Julie at EMAB and they so generously sent me a 2 oz jar of Angel Baby Bottom Balm.



Since switching to cloth, we rarely, if ever, see any diaper rash, but my son usually gets red after he has a dirty diaper.  It doesn't matter how quickly I change him, I suppose it's the acidity that bothers his skin.

He made a dirty diaper while in his exersaucer and wearing the one cheapie diaper we have, which doesn't do much to contain messes!  Between the diaper and the pressure from the exersaucer, we ended up with an explosion ( or a "poo-nami" if you will).  Up his back, on his legs, everywhere!  It was the perfect chance to try the Angel Baby Bottom Balm.

I was initially worried about it being in a jar; I don't like having to dig my fingers in stuff, like lip balms or creams in a jar.  However, I didn't have to.  I just lightly rubbed my fingers on the surface and it melted onto my skin.

The balm glided easily onto my son's skin, and covered well without being thick or gloppy.  The product I had been using was in a tube, rather waxy, and difficult to spread without using a little too much.  Any "cloth safe" diaper cream really isn't if you glop it on too thick.  I was not at all worried about the bottom balm damaging my diapers.

After I applied it, my fingers weren't all goopy.  I just rubbed it into my hands and used a little hand sanitizer as usual.  Even after the sanitizer, my hands were soft and smelled wonderful. 

Angel Baby Bottom Balm contains organic olive oil, shea butter, candelilla wax, organic jojoba oil, organic calendula extract, tea tree leaf oil, lavender oil, organic St. John's wort flower extract, organic chickweed extract, organic plantain extract and myrrh oil.  It has a pleasant, lavender scent.  There's no zinc and it's vegan (no beeswax).

I tend to shy away from products with tea tree oil or lavender due to a study linking their use to gynomastica in boys.  As far as I know, it was just a single study and I haven't done much research into the matter.  Until now, there really weren't any products I needed or wanted to use which contained TTO or lavender, so I didn't worry about it.  The ingredients didn't stop me from using it, but I do wish it had a different oil used for anti-fungal properties, such as grapefruit seed extract.

Back to the subject at hand.  At the next diaper change, there was no redness.  Zero.  Zilch.  None.  This stuff is great!  It was a nice change to open up a wet diaper and get a whiff of lavender!

A 2 oz. jar retails for $14.95.  I think that's quite a good deal considering how little you need to use to get the job done.

The 1.67 oz. bottle of Happy Mama Body Wash they sent along was a nice surprise!  While I don't have a problem investing in natural and organic products and foods for my kids, I tend to put myself last!  I use whatever I get for free at CVS (I'm a coupon/bargain shopper).

Like many moms I'm sure, my showers aren't exactly relaxing.  I can't count on one every day, and the ones I do get are usually hurried and accompanied by an audience and questions of "when are you going to be done" before I manage to get both feet in the shower!  So, the ginger grapefruit body wash was quite a treat!

The wash contains organic coconut oil, organic olive oil, organic aloe leaf juice, Kosher vegetable glycerin, organic shea butter, Potassium citrate, organic ginger oil, organic grapefruit peel oil, organic lime oil, organic vanilla bean extract, and organic calendula extract.  It smelled fabulous, like ginger and citrus.  It did take some getting used to; it smelled more like something tasty from the kitchen, since I'm used to stinky, perfumed, chemical filled body washes!

The foaming bottle dispensed just the right amount, and it lathered nicely.  It smelled so fabulous, and rinsed off my skin easily (quite a feat in our soft water!)  It left my skin feeling clean and soft.

A 5.3 oz bottle retails for $10.95. 

Earth Mama Angel Baby has a wide array of products for pregnancy, labor ease, postpartum recovery, breastfeeding, baby and baby loss comfort as well as gifts and teas.  I'm highly impressed with the company, as well as the people who run it.  I look forward to trying more of their products in the future!

Want it?  You can get 20% off your order during April (that's tomorrow as of the date I'm writing this) by entering coupon code CLOTH20 at checkout!  Earth Mama Angel Baby also shares some great specials and discounts on their Facebook fan page.

Lastly, if you twitter, mark your calendar for the April 21 #ecowed Twitter party.  If you have questions, contact EMAB.  I don't Twitter, so that's Greek to me, LOL.

Thank you so much to Earth Mama Angel Baby for sending me these awesome freebies!  Though I was given these samples, the freebies did not affect my review in any way.  :-)

Edit August 2010: We don't often need diaper cream since switching to cloth, but this jar is lasting forever!  I think we have nearly half left, and it knocks out redness like nobody's business!

Lil Outlaws Detergent

One of the moms from one of my cloth diaper groups owns lil' outlaws.  She makes/sells diaper safe laundry detergent, cloth wipe solution concentrate, cloth safe diaper cream and more.

She honored my special request and packed my order with smaller portions of five different scents of detergent!  I chose baby bee, butt naked, baby powder fresh, laundromat and midsummer's night. 

My order got here today and the package made my house deliciously smelly before I'd even opened it.  The scents all smell great, though they are very strong smelling in their bags.  They smell heavenly in the washer & after washing though (the smell makes my whole laundry room smell great).  I got the normal strength scent but she also offers heavy, extra heavy, light & extra light.  I've had a bit of a headache this evening from all the new smells, but from my experience with the last bag, the scent will mellow a bit after the bag has been open a while.  I actually suggest that if you "stock up" when you order, store the bags in a closet or drawer that needs some freshening, the bag will do duty as an air freshener until you're ready to use it!

I used the butt naked on diapers tonight, it is fruity & clean smelling.  I don't know what it reminds me of. 

She recommends 1/2-1T for a load in an HE washer, but I use less than half that amount for a smaller load of diapers.  I washed my hubby's coats in the midsummer's night & used more than I needed to make them smell extra good.  There is no soap or suds so there's no risk to your laundry or your washer by using more!  It smells just like the Yankee Candle scent.

The last detergent I bought (Giggles, smells just like Johnson's buddies body wash) is actually only maybe half finished and I've been using it for about 6 weeks. I just couldn't resist some new scents!  I also would like to switch over to using lil' outlaws on ALL of my laundry.  I want to see how it does, but I think it would be much better for our clothes, our skin, our washer and our septic system than the sudsy, chemical laden, gummy liquid kind!

**edit, it is doing awesome on all of our clothes & has even gotten rid of the weird, musty funk smell my 9 month old washer had!  My son's clothes don't have a residual sour milk smell like they did with Method baby either! 

The scent on clothing is very faint after washing/drying (we have soft water AND a water softener) but to me that is good, since you can enjoy the scent you like without worrying about smelling like you bathed in muffins, hee.  I did notice that some scents are stronger than others.

When I put a whole Tablespoon in with my hubby's coats though, the smell was noticeable & wonderful, though everything gets clean with much less.  If you want the smell to stick around more, choose heavy or extra heavy scent.  I would, but I don't know if my nose could take the initial smelliness!**

I'm already making my list of scents for my next order.  Lemon, Amazing Grace, Rice Flower & Shea and Winter Candy Apple.  This yummy detergent sure makes laundry more enjoyable!  Once I find a favorite scent, I plan to figure out what strength works best for that particular scent and stick with it.  However, the scents are so tempting, I probably will keep wanting to try them all!!

I still really want to try her wipes solution, rump rub and pail pardner.  I'm not sure what the pail pardner comes packaged in.  I guess you could put it in a baby powder shaker?  I could definitely see that turning into a giant mess with little ones around though!  I do think I'll wait until I find a favorite scent before I order that, although I will probably end up choosing baby powder for upstairs and lemon or midsummer's night for downstairs!

P.S. Jacklen also offers Gift Certificates!  If you are having buildup, repelling or stink issues, or if you have sensitivity issues and have tried other "green" or "homemade" products, to no avail, please give lil' outlaws a try!  You won't regret it!!

Edit August 2010: This stopped working for me for some reason, I don't know if the makeup of my water changed or what!

Free Sample of Grandma El's Diaper Rash Remedy & Prevention

Click here to request your sample of Grandma El's Diaper Rash Remedy & Prevention.

This stuff is miraculous, zinc free and cloth diaper safe!

Grandma El's + Happy Heiny's=Happy Heiny

My kiddo usually ends up in sposies in the evenings & overnight, but I had a clean one at bedtime last night & put him in it. 

Before I did, I used a tiny, tiny, tiny bit of the cloth safe diaper cream I'd bought.  It had a very mild but pleasant scent that reminded me of something I couldn't put my finger on.  It warmed up and spread very easily and didn't leave a disgusting, gloppy mess on my hands.  In fact, my hands felt soft after.

Usually my son is very red in the morning.  This morning was the first time in a long time I have seen him look completely normal.  Not a trace of redness.  I am sure part of that was from being in a cloth diaper all night, but that cream is a miracle!  Huge, huge difference.  I'm planning to keep it right by the diapers & just put a tiny bit on at each change.

His second diaper of the day was the Happy Heiny's.  I did look on their site and the 4th snap is a newborn/extra small setting.  However, the medium setting seemed much larger than the medium setting on the bumgenius.  Even my daughter commented that the diaper looked big.  Not a problem, it still fit him great.  I imagine that it would fit him longer than the BGs if it is a bit bigger.

The diaper is soft, flexible and really easy to put on.  It has large, overlapping velcro tabs.  The insert was really easy to put in, though I had to be sure not to put it too close to the front or back of the diaper so it wouldn't wick onto his clothing.

Overall it is trimmer than the BG.  The print is flipping adorable! 

When it was time to change it, we had no poop blowout and no leaks.  Usually after a poopy diaper, even if I change it within seconds of the poop actually occurring, he has redness where it touched his skin.  The breathable barrier of the diaper cream certainly works because there was no redness at all.

Edit August 2010: We still love Grandma El's but I'm just not able to get a good fit with my Happy Heiny's.  They always end up leaking, so they've been relegated to the "laundry day" drawer.  I'm hoping they might work in the future when my son is older.

Fluff Mail!

I was very excited to get my package today (yesterday by the time I got around to finishing & publishing this).  The colors are lighter than I'd expected, which is the opposite of what I'd experienced with the bumgenius. 

The monkey print I chose for the Happy Heiny's diaper is adorable!!  It confuses me a bit though because it has 4 rows of snaps.  Most one size diapers have 3 rows.  All open for large, 1st to second for medium and third for small.  I'm guessing it must be an extra small setting?

The Blueberry Minky diaper is super soft and very cute.

My initial instinct is that the Bumgenius are nicer than all of these others. 

The BG pockets are kind of hidden, rather than just open at the top of the diaper, and it has additional waterproof material at the front and back to prevent wicking onto baby's clothing if the insert were near the front or back. 

The BG inserts also seem much larger, which makes me think they would be more absorbent & would be more likely to work with the single insert alone on the larger settings, rather than having to use the doublers.

Lastly, as much as I've heard people say the BG laundry tabs stop working over time, these other diapers' laundry tabs seem useless already.  I had a heck of a time getting them to stick when getting them ready to wash the first time.  After I've washed the BGs, I actually struggle to get the velcro OFF the laundry tabs!

I had a bit of a diaper chain when I got them out of the wash.  They are hanging to dry and I am starting the process of washing the blueberry diaper's insert multiple times.  It is made of hemp and it comes with natural oils on it that need to be washed off.  It has to be washed separately to avoid causing absorbency issues on other items, and it will not reach it's maximum absorbency until after 6-10 washes.

I will with hold judgment until I have seen them in action, but if I had to pick RIGHT NOW which diapers I would prefer more of based on just this initial assessment (and price aside) I would choose more BG 3.0s.

I've got the Magic Stick

So diaper rash with disposables is a vicious cycle.  At least for us.  The sposies cause it but we use them in order to slather diaper cream on him to clear it up.  I'm well aware that most diaper creams cause repelling and staining and generally ruin cloth diapers.

I'll tell you from experience that tissues do not work as an effective cloth diaper liner and that diaper creams do in fact stain cloth.

I tried cutting up an old flannel receiving blanket to use as liners and cloth wipes when using diaper cream (also so I easily knew which items to wash separately) but even that wasn't 100% effective.

I also read that the zinc in these creams was drying & probably not the best thing for me to be using.

What I needed was a cloth safe diaper cream.  While I got the low down I found several contenders.  A few had similarly chuckle inducing names, reminiscent of butt baste.  These were rump rub and magic stick.  Please tell me I'm not the only one who thought more lil kim than lil bums.

I decided on the breathable barrier Grandma El's and added it to the trusty wish list.  I'm writing out of order, so if you've read in order, you already know that I ordered it.

I did receive it, and while I will write my full review later, it rocks.

I bleed for you

I think I mentioned before that we planned to use hubby's plasma donation $ to build up a cloth stash.  He was showing me his latest boo-boo from said donation and told our son that he is bleeding for his red little hiney!

I found a site that had great prices and sold most of the brands I was looking for.  Dipes are expensive to begin with, but their cost can easily increase by 50% or more if you have to pay shipping on each item.

I chose 4 brands/styles I wanted to try based on reviews online & from other mamas in the CD groups.  Happy Heiny's one size pocket diapers with aplix, Blueberry Minky one size diaper, Fuzzibunz one size diaper with hip snap and a clearance diaper, Haute one-size traditional pocket diaper.  Between the blood $ and a check I had from selling Mary Kay, I had about $100 to spend.  There was a $5/$50 coupon as well as free shipping with a $99 purchase.

I threw in some Grandma El's Diaper Rash Cream (post on diaper rash and CD safe creams to come!) and a planet wise small wet bag.  I had been using gallon size ziplocs for clean/dirties when we went out up to this point. 

A mom in the CD group on cafemom makes cooshie tooshies diapers.  I was able to get a screaming deal on a pocket diaper and an AIO.  They are mediums, whereas all the other diapers I have purchased were one size.  However, the price was great and definitely worth it.

Now the worst part, waiting for the packages to arrive!