I Suppose I Should Start Wearing Birkenstocks And Forgo Deodorant. . .
I did something yesterday I swore I would never do, and I’m afraid this will significantly up my crunchiness level. I spent all day shopping online for cloth diapers.
Gasp! I know! Cloth! Stone age! Poo everywhere! Mass hysteria and extra laundry!
Now that is out of our systems, I’m going to tell you why, and I’m not even going mention the ecological benefits, because, let’s face it, I’m just as selfish as the majority of the rest of the world, and if it isn’t making my life better right now, I’m unlikely to go green. Pathetic, yes. Honest, yes. Moving on.
My children have really, really scary diaper rash. Jonas, thank heaven, is now potty trained, but Maggie has at least a year to go before we ditch the diapers. Due to her extremely sensitive skin, she has had more than her fair share of diaper rashes. Hers tend to go from nothing to red, raised, bumpy and bleeding in one change. Eczema forms where the edges rub on her thighs. It’s not pretty, and it is clearly very painful, and I can fight a rash for over a month before it subsides, only to return the following week. The medical profession has been useless. Currently, we are entering her fifth week of a rash. She has been gooped with fifteen kinds of goo and allowed to run around naked for days on end. Nothing is working.
So yesterday morning when I went to take off her night time diaper and she arched her back and clenched her cheeks and screamed bloody murder when I tried to clean her up, I saw the blood on the wipe, and her purple, tear-streaked face, and it put me over the edge. This simply cannot go on.
I had seriously considered going cloth before I had Maggie. The only thing that stopped me was a sense of being so hugely overwhelmed with everything else going on that the idea of an extra load of laundry and two in diapers made me stop short. Part of me wonders if I made a mistake there, but the logical part of me says, it simply wasn’t my time. Aside from being economically a better choice, cloth diapered babies rarely get diaper rash. Why this is I’m not entirely certain; I’m sure it has to do with chemicals and breathability. I’ve reached the point where I will try anything to make Maggie feel better. (Have I mentioned that she has head to toe eczema and we are waiting for allergy testing results to determine what she can and can’t eat? Trust me, she’s suffered enough lately.) Because I really had no idea what I was doing I e-mailed Jessica over at Very Mom, who runs a Very Baby, a Very Cool diaper supply shop, and knows lots of interesting diaper factoids, and, most importantly could tell me what I needed to get started, the best places to shop, and help me not get blindsided by really awesome and funky, but ultimately unnecessary distractions.
Cloth diapering has come a long way since I was a baby. Instead of a soggy, leaky, stained rag, we now have some incredibly cute and highly functional (read: no leaks and no jabbing the baby with pins) cloth options available. I am told they are easy to use and very absorbent, and not difficult to care for. I should have a big box of basic stuff, and a small box with two custom made diapers arriving at my house very soon, so I’ll let you know!
Yes, do let us know. Sounds interesting…
Comment by Morgan — March 29, 2006 @ 9:49 pm
I had to do that with my middle child. She has VERY VERY VERY sensitive skin…NOTHING like the diapers that are on that site….I did manage to stick her a couple of times…she is SIX now! LOL
Can’t wait to hear how it goes for you!
Comment by Adrienne — March 29, 2006 @ 9:59 pm
Poor Maggie! What a headache, heartache and just a plain pain in the butt………..no pun intended. Sounds like Maggie’s problems are much more severe, but when Lucas had a horrible rash we actually used Lotrimin or a womens Yeast remedy. Worked like a charm. Good Luck with the diapers! By the way, Birks are pretty comfortable.
Comment by Kim in Camas - ScrapToMyLu — March 29, 2006 @ 10:34 pm
My Madi was horribly allergic to diapers. By the time she was 4 hours old she had bleeding blisters all over anywhere a diaper touched. We had to change her to cloth before we even left the hospital.
It’s not that overwhelming of a task and they have some DARLING diaper covers!
Comment by Sheri — March 30, 2006 @ 12:41 am
Thanks for visiting my blog today. As an eczema sufferer, I really hope you get the diapering worked out for your baby soon. That has got to be painful. {{{Hugs}}} for both you and the baby.
Comment by Renee — March 30, 2006 @ 12:50 am
My heart goes out to Maggie! I hope this works for her!
Comment by texasblu — March 30, 2006 @ 4:28 am
Congratulations on giving cloth a try! I didn’t switch to cloth until I had baby #5, and my cousin gave me a couple of newborn cute diapers to try–I thought no way, but when my son got a rash in the hospital, and it wouldn’t go away a week later, I tried it, he was cured, and I was hooked. An extra load or two of wash is no big deal! I wish now I had switched with my own second baby–who also endlessly battled a rash. Good Luck, and enjoy the journey!
P.S. My son is now 21 months old and halfway potty trained–at his request! That’s a novelty around here. My other two boys were almost four when I said, “No more diapers!” Good fortune, cloth diapers, or both, I’m thankful!
Comment by Mom2Five — March 30, 2006 @ 5:06 am
We just switched to cloth…. on both kids! I bought a bunch of fuzzi bunz at http://www.cottontailbaby.com/ I went with the pocket diapers because supposedly they dry quicker than the AIO’s. I also have some prefolds and plastic wraps for emergencies… and still have quite a build up of disposables. :/
Did you try just pure Lansinoh on the rash, btw? Poor bebe!
Comment by Summer — March 30, 2006 @ 3:37 pm
Poor Maggie! I hope the cloth diapers work out.
Comment by msdramateacherlady — March 30, 2006 @ 4:12 pm
I LOVE my cloth diapers! I have always used cloth, but living in WV and not being in the know way back when, as I am now…I used the stone age kind with pins etc for my older kids. ICK. Hated them. I had to use them, I just couldnt see wasting all that mulah. But I didnt like it. (Never heard of the word crunchy til this year! LOL)
With Raechel however, I got the really groovy kind online that have velcro tabs, and stuff. I love them. I do it the easy way and just throw them all in the washer, no matter what’s in them, and soak them in there, and then wash them a couple times if need be. Lots less touching gross stuff that way
Although some would say it is hard on a washer, I have done this for many years and have never had a problem with my washer because of it :-p
So here we are … another book for ya
I hope the new diapers help with her poor little bottom! I know Raechel has never had a rash to speak of, and she’s got sensitive skin, too! (I use baking soda and vinegar to wash with, usually… I think that helps too) 
Comment by Lawanda — March 30, 2006 @ 5:06 pm
Have you thought about that it might be the soap your bathing her in instead of the diapers? My son and I both have extremley senistive
skin. We can only use Ivory soap and I have to wash our clothes in Dye free perfume free det. or we will breakout.
Poor baby.
Comment by Sandeera — March 30, 2006 @ 5:59 pm
Neen loves cloth diapers. Ok, maybe love is too strong a word, but she evn wrote an article about them.
Myself, I just hate twisting all that crappy water out before I wash them. Of course in SA, it is much cheaper to use them.
Comment by scott — March 30, 2006 @ 6:48 pm
I have two in diapers as well. I was waiting for the youngest to get big enough for clothe (she was premature) and now that she’s old enough, cloth it is for both of them! I love them and don’t mind the extra laundry. We still use disposables on the go, but I love the comfort and ease of cloth. Plus, they’re CUTE!!
Comment by The Pajama Mama — March 30, 2006 @ 8:29 pm
We used disposables for our first two children. When Number 3 was a few weeks old, I ordered the first of my stash.
I think the fitteds and fancies are cute and nice, but I LOVE flatfolds (birdseye from Very Mom’s diaper shop), prefolds and PINS. My husband and sitter use the Snappi fastener and I use pins.
You know those up-the-back poo blowouts? We haven’t had ONE with our cloth-diapered baby. Not even one. We haven’t had to battle diaper rash at all the way we did with the other two. I work full-time outside the home and cloth diapering has much easier than I ever anticipated. You can holler at me, too, if you have more questions.
I hope this makes your babydoll feel better.
Comment by coolbeans — March 31, 2006 @ 5:13 am
I’m very glad you’re switching her to cloth - poor Maggie. Excema sucks! My lil bro had it (I think he’s grown out of it) and in the summer he’d wake up crying and bleeding because he’d been scratching himself in his sleep. Icepacks and cool wet cloths seemed to help.
I babysat a little boy who had to have cloth diapers. I noticed that his Nanna always put the dirty ones straight in the wash. I think that is key to staying on top of the washing factor, getting rid of the poop and dumping them straight into a bucket of water then when there’s enough, in the washing machine.
Good luck with that!
Comment by kristarella — March 31, 2006 @ 9:53 am
My first had diaper rash for the first 3 months of his life. washing with Safeguard soap and blow drying his butt as well as baking soda baths worked great. Also used neosporin. The rest haven’t had it like he had. They got the soda bath and desitin. hope cloth works for poor Maggie.
Comment by Jen — March 31, 2006 @ 8:00 pm
I sure hope it does the trick. I told you I did cloth diapers too and it was work, but you get the hang of it pretty quick. Its not that hard and if it works thats all that matters. And as far as Birks go, I have bought 2 pairs and hated them. Its like walking on 2x4’s, HARD. I just don’t get it about those shoes. I visited the wesite. Very interesting. How things have changed.
Comment by Soli — April 1, 2006 @ 7:25 am
Ashton gets HORRIBLE diaper rash all the time. If you can get it in your area, try the Burt’s Bees Diaper rash ointment and talc powder - They do WONDERS for Ashton.
Comment by soapbox.SUPERSTAR — April 2, 2006 @ 3:23 pm
Just a thought. A friend of mine went through this with one of his twin boys and come to find out it was actually something in the ointment that he had an allergy to. So up until the Dr discovered this nothing worked b/c the ointments the dr would give him to use all had zinc i believe was the allergy.
Comment by Heather — April 4, 2006 @ 7:34 pm
I cloth diapered my last 4 babies, twins included. You are right — the dipes of today are MUCH different. They work well and are so darn cute!
In regard to the rashes - have you ruled out allergies? I would see about dairy, since that is a major culprit.
Comment by Kim — April 10, 2006 @ 3:09 am
oh honey how horrible
my oldest got a few rashes like this - they were fungal ie yeast based - it took a trip to the pediatrician for a special antifungal cream which cleared it up almost immediately
Comment by mama kelly — April 12, 2006 @ 6:26 pm