My Husband Is Fed up with Cloth and Wants to Switch Back to Disposables

I'd hafta say if my kids was getting rashy with the cloth that disposable would by the next best option. She does sound old enough to start potty training tho as well. There's gotta be something in the detergent that is irritating her I guess?

If she's almost two and aware that being wet ticks her off, I'd start with potty learning in earnest. My youngest was like that and was in underwear by his second birthday, no problems.

The disposable industry would love you to think that three is a far more appropriate age to transition out of diapers- that's another year of profit for them. A two year old in a prefold with a cold, wet bum is a motivated potty-er!

What kind of detergent are you using. It's VERY important with cloth diapers!! Nothing from the supermarket, is cloth diaper safe. Are you using anything else on them? Stain remover, bleaches...? Have you stripped her diapers?

We use cloth and have never had a single rash, in over two years!

In total agreement with Denise. I can't figure out just WHY it is that you are fighting this when the cloth diapers are so obviously bad for your child. There would be No principle whatsoever that would come before my children's health. Or money.

I did not read your responses so far, but I have used both cloth and disposables on my boys. What I found worked the best for my family was to use cloth during the day and at night put on lots of whatever cream you use ( I love Bag Balm) and use a disposable. My first son wet through every cloth diaper I tried at night. Nothing worked. So I got him some disposable overnight diapers. It helped a lot since they really do keep dry for longer periods. When my second son was born, I didn't even bother with cloth at night, just used it during the day. If you only use disposables at night, you aren't going to go through very many and it's not too expensive. I'm sorry your little one has rash issues. I have battled rashes with my boys, both using cloth and disposable. I think some little bums are just more sensitive to being wet. You are just going to have to make sure she stays good and dry no matter what she is wearing and even let her go without a diaper when you can. It helps a lot and summer is a great time for it! Good luck!

First let me say I was not a cloth diaperer. BUT your post makes me wonder exactly WHY you are fighting this losing battle? She's obviously healthier in disposables so why are you choosing to die on this hill? Sorry, but it sure seems like a no brainer to me.
Like I said, I used disposables, and my son had slight diaper rash like once or twice in his life....

So you do not want our opinions on what we would do if our infants had such a bad infection that was finally cleared up, but the rash came back so severe "her little bottom was red, red ,red- all over"..

I would do whatever it took to help my baby/child feel better,. It may make you feel better to be helping the environment, but why should your daughter suffer when there is an option?

Maybe this is why disposables became so popular.. No more huge diaper and heat rashes on children with super sensitive skin?

Maybe with the heat outside, the urine being so close to her skin irritates her skin type. The disposables take the urine away from the skin. Sitting in a car seat in a wet diaper must be excruciating, especially with the heat of summer. Yikes..

I hope you can come to some clarity about this. She should not suffer any more discomfort when there is an option. She should not be made to experiment to figure this out if the experimenting is going to take more than 24 hours.. It is just not fair to her.

You mean don't answer because you don't want to hear you are mistreating your child? If you don't want to hear that, why ask at all? I don't believe for one second your child would have gotten a rash this bad in disposables unless you aren't giving enough baths or aren't changing soon enough. Children can get a rash quick. But they clear up just as quick when we are on top of them. I've seen and dealt with impetigo too and staff infection. It shouldn't last 2 months!

This is why my mother called disposable diapers "the best invention in the world". She said we all had diaper rash when she raised us. My daughter did not have diaper rash once with disposable diapers. Just switch to disposables and let your babies bottom heal up and be healthy.

I didn't see your original question, so I'm not sure what you were asking. But the title of your post indicates that you're trying to decide if you want to go back to using disposables. I guess some of the responses indicated you should. If you didn't want those answers, you might have picked a more illuminating title (i.e., "Please help me find ways to keep my daughter in cloth diapers and get my hubby off my back about it.") Frankly, at this point, all you've done is describe why cloth might not be the best option for you.

Mrs. R., I will give you two answers:
1. (the one you want to hear): tell your husband back off.
2. (the one i really mean): switch back to diapers. don't buy old ones. yes cloth diapers cause bacterial infections, because they're are thicker, and the bottom stays moist (which isn't a good thing because it creates a haven for bacterias), rash, pimples, red bottom, and even staph infections (skin breaks, staph moves in). so diapers is what you need to do.
i read a lot of responses. most didn't offend you, yet your response in the end was very harsh.

I know you said don't answer but I'm going to anyways. I think you should side with your hubby on this one. Obviously something in the cloth diapers isn't agreeing with her skin. Maybe you could start working on potty training and while you do, use the disposables. I'm not sure why you feel so dead set on cloth, but sometimes we have to reevaluate our principles when they are negatively affecting our children.

I can't see how you justify using cloth diapers if they cause so many problems. I think it's silly to hold on to a principle for the sake of your principle when it's causing your child physical distress. I am not bashing cloth diapers, necessarily, but maybe they are just NOT meant for this child. I always kind've though they were more for young babies, anyhow, when you're going through more of them. If I had issues like that, I'd switch right off the bat. No way would I slather my child's bottom with cream just to protect it from a nasty diaper when none of that is necessary with a disposable. My youngest is 14 months and has never had a diaper rash, and we use disposables.

I think the best thing would be to evaluate why you are clinging to cloth diapers. What is the ideal? To save the environment? To not put a disposable on your child's skin? Cost? And then ask yourself if it's worth it. The world isn't going to be saved by cloth diapers and isn't going to be here long enough to be ruined by disposables, in my opinion.

It's okay to give up...you don't have to feel bad about it, or feel like you lost something. You don't have to let people know, if you told everyone how great cloth is, that you've switched. Just do what's best for your child!! :)

(I guess I just don't get this all natural movement sometimes. I use disposables. I use Gain. I use Windex and Pledge. So far, none of my children have been poisoned by any of it. Sigh. Just my opinion, I guess. I just can't help but think that "all natural" is not that clean. People, a few 100 years ago, were "all natural" and they were filthy and stinky, by historical accounts, and on average in much poorer health than were are now.)

Also, is she just allergic to the cloth? Some people can have very strange allergies. It might be worth considering...especially if it all disappears when you use disposables.

Ok here is what I think. Are you using microfiber diapers? IF so, thats maybe causing it. Tons of kids have problems with the microfiber pockets. Also, my oldest son has severe eczema and psoriasis, and he cannot use rockin' green. We use Charlies Soap. www.charliesoap.com Something about the rockin' green reacts with our water making his skin funky.

He DOES have a dairy protein allergy too ,causing his eczema and psoriasis. BUT is is ust an old wives tale that you shouldn't bathe eczema kids every day. Kdis with eczema and psoriasis need a bath daily (even just plain water) to get irritants off their skin, wash off the old dead skin too. Then after a bath you can put on a cream to seal in moisture. But she should be bathing daily even if its plain water to wash off her skin.

I think changing the soap, stripping the diapers with vinegar, changing to a diffferent diaper if you are using microfiber, and bathing her daily will help. Also adding some acidophilus probiotic to her diet will really help her ward off those bacterial and infections. A probiotic and prebiotic will replace bad bacteria with good in her system. :)

Just to think about:

1) People can be allergic to ANYTHING.
2) Certain allergies build up over time (as in they don't seem to be having a reaction for months or YEARS, then 'all of a sudden' they start reacting, and it gets worse and worse and worse... I'm deathly allergic to watermelon, but I ate it every summer until I was 9 years old. From 9-20 "all" it caused was hives all over my body the size of my palms. Misery! Then my airway started constricting mid twenties. Last summer I had the BEST gazpacho EVER, and found myself going into anaphylaxis. Yup. Watermelon in the gazpacho. I had to snort some benedryl because I could barely breathe, much less swallow. I now carry an epipen. But as a kid, I ate watermelon all the time. In retrospect I showed some really mild symptoms that hinted at an allergy, but not until I started breaking out in hives was it 'obvious').
3) aka It might not be the diapers, it might be your daughter.

My own son got rash after bleeding rash... tried 'everything' (cloth, disposable, barrier creams, no creams), but yeast infection after yeast infection, a staph infection, a bacterial (non staph) infection, and more yeast infections still happened. Aaaaargh. FINALLY (due to an accident) we figured out the problem was he was allergic to wipes (I was broke for a week and just used wet paper towels). Got paid, bought wipes, within 2 days, he was back to getting the horrible rashes.

Come to find his mild allergy to wipes was breaking down his skin just enough for any nearby infection to climb into the microscopic cracks and bloom like crazy. Ironically, the more 'gentle' the wipes, the stronger his allergic reaction. But since wet papertowels are 1/4th the cost, and super easy, and WARM (since we have hot running water), we just stuck with wet paper towels rather than experiment in pain any longer.

So that's a possibility to keep in mind... that your daughter may have an allergy to the inserts, diapers, or wipes that is breaking down her skin enough for the infections to start. If the area is her whole bum, toss the diapers for a few weeks. If the area is just the inserts, toss the inserts. If the area is anywhere you use wipes, toss the wipes. If you reintroduce, and she rashes up, toss them for good.

I didn't read all the responses but I read all the things you wrote. I dont understand why women can be so freaking judgemental as if their children should be placed on thrones because they have never thrown up in public all over them, or pooped so bad that it went up into their hair, or that has never had a diaper rash and never had to use 5 different diaper rash creams to make it go away, or who has had staph infections more than your hands can count within 6 months. (Yes all those things have happened to me and my son). I think it is more important to encourage us moms on here and stop insulting us and putting us down for asking a question. My son had diaper rash so bad, in disposable diapers mind you, that I had tried 5 different diaper rash creams, all the name brand ones that were supposed to work, and it didn't go away. I finally found a really good (and expensive) cream that worked wonders. It doesn't matter what kind of diapers you use, children get diaper rashes, its part of being a baby (child). And for people to accuse you of being a bad mother is stupid because you got on here out of concern and trying to get advice, not saying that you were glad your daughter had a rash or anything like that (now that I would be concerned with). Im sorry for not really answering your question because I have never used cloth diapers before, but I was just getting mad at these women for being so rude over a question. I hope things get worked out, and the name of the diaper cream, Dr. Smith's Diaper Ointment-(just in case you wanted to check it out, it might or might not work with your daughter with her sensitive skin {my son has eczema also, so I understand the no dyes or scents in any lotion, wash, or detergent}) Anyway, good luck!

Talk to the pedi........... sounds like some sort of allergy.

Common sense here cloth=rash disposable = no rash

Cause of rash = unknown but happens with cloth

No brainer.... why are you so adamant that you will allow your daughter to continue in pain when you KNOW it is uncomfortable and gives her a rash.

She is still really young to potty train. We don't even have a bathroom in the 2 year old room. If she is having such issues and it's not laundry detergent then maybe it's the fabric softener or dryer sheets. We have odd reactions to the perfume in dryer sheets so we use the Bounce free. It really helps me, I don't get the rashes around the waist after washing and drying with the additives. It could be anything really. Even something the city is putting in at the water treatment facility.

As for your question, I guess you weren't really clear that you just wanted cloth diapering moms to support you and tell you that you are doing a good job. It really sounded like a question as to whether or not you or your husband were right and why. Hope her hiney stays pink and not red!

I had one child with a super sensitive bum. He could go from perfect hiney to bleeding rash in one diaper. And I changed as soon as I caught the wet/poop.

The only solution for us was I had to make my own diaper wipes (store brought brands broke him out in seconds, except for the Lanasol ones and they are super expensive). I still have the diaper wipe recipe if you would like it pm me.

The only cream I could use and I used it my the ton was Dr. Smith's...he was allergic to all other creams. The church nursery put Desitin on him and he broke out in welts...one got infected with staph and had to be lanced and drained. We all had to be treated to make sure none of us carried it.

I don't know anything about cloth diapering so I can't help you there but I did want you to know you aren't the only mom with a sensitive baby bum on your hands. I hope you get it all figured out and can keep using your cloth diapers.

show him picture of the landfills filled with disposable diapers. maybe he'll get the point.

I agree that it might be an allergy to something...and it may have nothing to do with what kind of diaper your are using...it maybe something she is eating or drinking...the wipes you are using....it could be literally ANYTHING!!!
As to the cloth vs diaper debate...some of the mama's may be just like me...not very good with words...and what they are saying to you may not be so negative at all..just their choice of words might not be what you would like to hear. ( I didn't read ALL the responses so I am not sure what you are upset about in detail).
I tried to used disposables on my first daughter ( who is now a Mama herself) but she was allergic to them and so I had to switch to cloth...and continued to use them with all 3 of my children. Both of my daughters use cloth diapers...both for economical and ecology reasons. One of my daughters has even flirted with the idea of EC which was less than successful...but it was sort of fun watching the process!!!! :-)
Since you know this was a staph type rash, I am assuming you have been to the doctor about this... that is the best decision...but don't just think "diapers"....as I said...try eliminating one food at a time from her diet and see if it makes any difference.
Good luck to you...being a detective can be SO frustrating!!!

What are you using to wash the diapers?
That could be irritating her.
My daughter was allergic to disposables and had the worst rash on a baby I've ever seen. I switched to cloth and she was fine. However, I was so afraid of her getting another rash that I rarely had diapers on her. I kept her aired out as much as humanly possible and as a result, she was super easy to potty train. She never developed an "attachment" to her diapers.
Cloth can be a little more work, but if you're letting her hiney get aired out plenty enough and not washing with something that irritates her, I'm not sure why just being wet would upset her skin so much.

I hope you find what's causing it.
Best wishes.

If she was recently on antibiotics, then the red rash is probably a yeast infection (a side effect of the antibiotics). Disposable diapers can also encourage yeast infections with antibiotics (because the plastic locks in moisture and warmth).

Try treating the yeast infection (regular 7-day yeast cream, spread on bottom three times a day, morning; noon and before bed) before deciding the current rash is due to the diapers.

These bacterial based skin infections she gets... is really not good.
I mean, it can quickly get infected, or what if she gets infected with MRSA or drug-resistant Staph strains etc.?
Bacteria, gets into the skin via any cuts/abrasions/skin openings or weaknesses in the skin, no matter how small.

Maybe, the cloth diapers, abrade her skin????
Because yes, 'cloth' can abrade the skin too... and when the skin is wet/moist... it is more prone to being abraded.
The skin when wet, is more sensitive.

Some people, also are 'carriers' for Staph and are carriers.

Why are cloth diapers so important to you?

OR here is a thought: get some brand new cloth diapers. And see if THESE cause any rashes/infections/bacterial infections in your daughter? Since you said you have previously-owned, cloth diapers.
Even though you have washed and treated them.
Also, how did you treat your diapers and clean them?
Maybe that irritates your daughter's skin too.

Try looking into Elimination Communication to minimize the amount of time in any kind of diapers.

You can try using cloth diapers without any covers to improve air flow. We liked the Mother-Ease.

Good luck with your experimenting!

I'm too lazy to read the rest of the responses, but you could try her in disposables for a week without her on the antibiotics and see if that helps at all- it would help keep her more dry since they usually pull the moisture away from the body. Trying a different kind of wipes might help(a couple of my kids were allergic to the sensitive wipes). Also, have you tried a laundry service that does the diapers for you? They might have some different ideas what you could try. I would also let your little one run around without a diaper as much as possible to "air out" or try using a hair dryer (on low) after each change to make sure she is completely dry, especially when she has a rash. I had to do this with a couple of my kids and it really helped a lot.
Good luck- I know this is frustrating and you feel horrible as a parent when stuff like this happens to your kids- hang in there- you are doing great!
~C.

I hear you, sister! We had almost identical problems, except our rash didn't get that bad. It made me crazy!!! Okay, first, is your baby possibly teething? My older daughter has CRAZY acidic out-put when she's getting her chompers in. So we lay a fleece liner over the diaper (it helps pull the liquid away from her skin) and then put it on her.

I was the one that threw up my hands and called it quits on the cloth. Not gonna lie, a few weeks into the disposables we went back. I can't stand garbage juice!

So, I started back over with my diaper washing routine and realized I'd gotten a little sloppy. Once I went back to a very strict regimen of cold rinse-hot wash+1/4 recommended level of detergent (unless you use diaper specific stuff already)+hot rinse after that our problem cleared up. Maybe it's voodoo magic, but we're happily back on cloth and not looking back.

For the record, we used hybrids with the first baby. The second HATES them. We thought she had colic (the first one did...ugh.) until I connected the dots, cloth on-screaming baby, cloth off-suzy sunshine! So we switched to pockets and now I have two happy girls! :-D

Don't let anyone else get you down. A lot of parents are all about the black and white style of parenting these days and that just doesn't really work. Heck, my kiddos are in disposables right now because the diaper bag was closer than the changing table the last round of diaper changes. You'll find your rhythm for you and yours.

PS: I'm a fan of baby naked time, which may be a difference too. If the kiddo gets her diaper off I don't rush to get it back on...some fresh air is good for everyone, right?

Good luck and kudos for wanting to work it out! Cloth diapering is so rewarding. The way we look at it, if we only use one cloth diaper that's one big smelly hunk of landfill trash that's not gonna happen. Oh, and the diapers are SO much more adorable than disposables.

Clearly you only want to hear what you want to hear from us and that is not what this site is about. I do wonder about your husband's opinion, how much weight does his opinion hold in your home?

As for the rash, my son could be perfectly clear and then really red by the next change. I used every product (powders and creams), one could think of to help him. Finally a friend of mine who is a nurse recommend Ammans powder (not sure of the spelling..it's been a while), and it worked really well.

If your husband participates in the diaper changes, why not use both the cloth and the disposables?

Blessings.....

I skimmed all your responses. The overnight disposables are very absorbent so using them at night is a reasonable idea. Maybe try starting on potty training with cloth training pants in the daytime. My daughter is also 2, almost 2 and a half. I started to introduce potty training but she isn't ready to be out of diapers yet. Whatever way you go, good luck.

I don't think she's too young to potty train, my son started at 15 months because that's when he showed an interest.... mind you it took almost a year for him to be fully poop trained, but that's boys for ya. He was pee trained in about a month. LOL

Sorry I don't know much about the technical stuff about cloth diapers, so I wouldn't have too many suggestions. All I can think of is how often are you changing them (but I'm guessing given the history you're not leaving her wet for any length of time) , and what else do you use on her (wipes, powders) that she might be allergic to. Or maybe something in her diet is causing her to break out at the other end? IDK, good luck with it!

I have never used cloth diapers, so I cannot really help you there...I just wanted to say I hope you are able to figure out what is going on soon. I know it must be very frustrating! My two little ones are allergic to the chlorine they use to bleach most disposable diapers and wipes, so we have to be very careful and very diligent, otherwise they end up with a bad rash. :( We use Chlorine free diapers and wipes now and they are good to go. Keep your chin up and do not let the judgmental mamas get you down. You sounds like a great mother and I am sure you will figure this out soon! :)

Unfortunately you've had a bad encounter with the judgmental Judys on this board. LOL. Your title is fine, your story gave enough details to support your frustration. The self righteous ASSuming are such turnoffs, like I said before as have others, it's almost like you have to include a disclaimer with questions. We're all different, and unique. People need to just answer the darn question. Yes it would be nice to hear from people who've experienced your challenges, HOWEVER it doesn't mean the judgmental Judys are not going to storm the topic making accusations.

*********Figure out how to make your child comfortable and stick with it, don't keep changing the product.

I'm a little late here, sorry!

When my little guy gets those rashes (red like a water burn in the exact shape of the diaper), for us, it means that I am either using too much detergent or too much vinegar (which is suprisingly easy to do with these new HE frontloaders, even with the extra rinse) and his pee/poop is reacting to it and it is always after a 12 hour stretch of sleep. So bottom line, not enough rinse for too much vinegar and detergent coupled with a long night in a wet diaper is our recipe for this rash.

I combat it by (gasp) a thin layer of diaper cream or vasaline to the affected area and in the four years I have been using them, this has never caused a cloth diaper of mine to leak.

As mentioned by previous posters, my last two were/are allergic to commercial diaper wipes in the nether region (not on the face or hands, go figure) so we just throw boiled water into a diaper wipe warmer with cheap infant washcloths to use as diaper wipes.

Well one thing I do when my kiddos are on antibiotics and somewhat regularly, is to give them probiotics. I use the Culturelle brand, they come in little packets and you just put them in their milk or other cold drink. Helps a lot to prevent the bum from breaking out during antibiotic regimens and maybe in the case of cloth diapering could be useful. It is basically what is in yogurt minus extra sugar etc. and they can't taste it at all. So you could try maybe. Also, do you put like A&D or Vaseline on after every change? My sister had to use cloth diapers even as an adult and we would slather her with Vaseline and she never had rash issues, so maybe just always creating a barrier will help. Also, I know talc in the diaper is a no-no but what about a little cornstarch? Maybe put some in the diaper, just a small amount to help absorb wetness? My last question is how long have these particular diapers been in use? Could it be time to order a new supply? Just like anything, tooth brush etc, you can sanitize it but after a while you have to throw it out. So maybe some new supply would help. I mean I know you want to train her soon, but who knows if she will be ready, some kids, like mine!, are ready around three, so it may be worth a little expense, you know? Well that is all I can think of short of switching to disposable, which is an option, should it continue on. Wish you the best!

When my son was a baby, he was switched from formula to homoginzed milk way too soon by the pediatrician, I am talking about at age of about 4 months. He immediately got a diaper rash. I used cloth diapers, and disposable, then hand washed, used Dreft, used vinegar, used baking soda, tried all sorts of things, made sure well rinsed, kept diapers off, kept him clean all the time, but the rash got worse and worse to point of blood coming to surface of skin, even to his nipple line. No matter what, I did, it didn't get better. Took him to peditrician, she called me a bad mother, accused me of not taking care of him. I was devastated, but she was only Peds Dr. in the area. My husband decided that we would use Carnation Evaporated Milk for his formula.......As soon as we switched from the milk, the rash cleared. If we ran out and substituted milk, the rash came back. My baby was allergic to milk......... The allergy history is a whole other story with life changing results with nutritional supplements.
So your child's diaper rash could be an internal problem, not external cause.

I'm sorry you had so many people who judged you poorly because of your question. I didn't take the time to read the responses myself, so I apologize if I am repeating anyone else's advice.

We have been using cloth diapers since August 2007 on three different children. Right now my daughter (2 years old) seems to get some bright red diaper rash every so often, and I suspect it has something to do with teething and her diet. When it happens, I try really hard to restrict her orange juice intake because I suspect that acidic foods may contribute. Of course I can't control her teething, but at least I have something to 'blame' it on.

You mentioned that your daughter has sensitive skin, so I applaud you for using cloth. When we go on vacation and use the chlorine-free sposies, our kids tend to get little red dots all over their diaper area. I wonder what it would turn into if we continued the sposies.

Another thing I just thought of is baby wipes. We use cloth wipes, and at first I was going to make a solution to dampen them. But we ended up just using water. Disposable wipes may irritate her skin, as well as a homemade solution. I recommend just using water on cloth wipes if you don't already do that.

Please encourage your husband to stick it out - cloth diapers are so much better for your daughter's health and your pocketbook and the environment.

My youngest was unable to use anything with fleece or microfiber. So cotton prefolds was all I used on him. Maybe the microfiber is irritating to her.

In my household - Mommy makes all the final decisions concerning anything child and home life related - so no recriminations about not wanting to take your husband's path of what HE feels as the least resistance.

Only thing I could think of is maybe switch detergents - she may be having a reaction from that and change her more frequently.

And about Mommas being rude about cloth diapers and rashes... as a Nanny - I've seen bloody rashes in the children I would watch who wore disposables and you'd better believe those parents didn't even CONSIDER changing THEIR diaper preference. It was always upsetting to get a child's bottom back to a light shade of pink during the week only to come back after the weekend to see the bloody rash was back...

What kind of diapers is she in? She might be allergic to any microfibers. I would try cotton prefolds or flats or any other mixture of natural fibers.

When you put her in disposables...did the rash go away? My daughter unfortunatley had a couple of times a yeast infection in which her little bottom and girl parts were red, red, red....it had nothing to do with the cloth diapers. I put, cortizone, i think on her...I don't remember. Call your pediatrician and see what he/she recommends.

I looked at your profile and it looks like your youngest is almost 2. Have you considered potty training and getting out of diapers altogether? While 2 is considered young in this country today, 18 months used to be the norm (prior to disposables) and 12 months is the world wide average (there was a great article in the NY Times a few years back).