Help! Any ideas what's causing this rash?

We've had various nappy rash related issues with Clement over the past couple of months. He finally got "diagnosed" as having a thrush nappy rash at the end of October, and I quit using cloth after the rash would come back whenever he was in them. However, I think we had a mix of 2 kinds of rashes - there *was* a thrush rash, but I think it was mixed with some sort of eczema/contact dermatitis. I have this theory because once the rash was all gone, I put him in Cotton Tots (which hadn't been worn at all when he had the thrush, and which had *also* been boil washed (just to be sure they were perfect) and he still got this wavy rash appear just above his front bits. I guessed that it might be (due to very sensitive skin) and the area where the booster attaches was rubbing his skin, since that's where the rash always started.

So, we just used sposies for several weeks and then finally I found that I could use pocket nappies with suedecloth (since he's allergic to fleece), so I've put together a stash of GreenKids, Bumgenius & a couple of older Wonderoos, which have been working very well for him for a couple of weeks now! So I was very pleased to have cracked it that much, and we were in 100% cloth during the day, but a sposie at night.

But the sposies just don't cope with his wees (especially now that he's doing all his at nighttime! ), so while the fleece sleepsuits he wears at night keep the bed dry, his vest inside is *soaked* everymorning. Yesterday it was wet up to his armpits & neck, so I had the (stupid!) idea of trying cloth again at night.

So, last night I put him in a Bedbug and UD fleece wrap at about 1am (when I went to bed last night, after he'd been asleep for several hours) and at 9am this morning....

he woke up covered in raised/bumpy rash of some sort, all over his lower tummy and particularly on one thigh, as well as the area where the rash always comes back, but basically, he looks bad, as seen here:





I guess it looks a fair bit eczema like, but I dunno really! Looks really sore, whatever it is!

We've not used the Bedbugs for about 5-6 weeks (they've just been sitting in a stack), but they were like triple washed at 60 degrees, rinses with tea tree oil, etc. As well as tumble dried for like 140 minutes! So I was sure that anything that could have once been alive in them, surely was dead, right?! I'm sure the nappies would be totally killed if boil washed.

In any case, since I have a photo of what the rash looked like the day before the GP said it was thrush (back in Oct), this rash looks rather different (I think!), the other was more scattered, but this is more patches, like eczema.

So, anyone had/seen anything like this before? I guess I'll just have to resign myself to the idea of sposies (but soaked boy/bed is not good! ) so it's quite annoying! But whatever the case, I *can't* have my little boy waking up like this after a night in cloth!

ouch for Clement - that looks really sore

I'm not sure what it could be tbh, but if you go up a few sizes in disposables they get much more absorbant. Toby had to go into size 3 at 1 week old and was in size 5+ at night from quite young (10 months ish I think).

what powder do you use?

As for washing powder, they were done in the same as I do his pockets/inserts in (which don't cause a problem). It's my own mix of soap flakes, bicarb of soda, soda crystals, & borax substitute.

He's been wearing size 5 nappies for a while now, which he's not in the weight range for yet. He's about 23+lbs and nearly 8 months. We've been using ones from Lidl, as they take longer to leak than other brands (Pampers were horrid, Huggies a bit better but not as good as Lidl, and not sure I've tried Tesco on Clement), but I do hate them all. At least Lidl ones don't have the "stinky sposie" smell when wet, which is an improvment!

My sister in USA (who's also had all sorts of horrible problems with rashes & stinky nappies) was telling me the other day about Fisher Price making a nighttime disposable diaper, which she says is super absorbent! But I've not searched to see if they're in the UK at all - I doubt it!

Meant to say in previous message, having just opened the nappy bucket, I've realised that the Bedbug he was wearing last night has a STRONG and burning smell of ammonia, which I'm not aware of his nappies ever smelling of. And almost looks orange in places! Which really has me wondering ... if that's what made the rash? But I can't think why it should have any sort of build up, since they were washed so many times, and very thoroughly! But I *do* know that Bedbugs are very prone to build up and are difficult to sort out! But the nappy smelled and looked perfect before I put it on him (I gave it a very good look over and sniff before risking putting it on him) so I had no idea there was a problem. grrrr!

try rinsing a squillion times i've had to do this before, did ny head in

LOL, yeah! Problem is, using the soap flakes, my nappies NEVER have bubbles left in the last rinse, so it seems impossible to tell if there's a build up/residue like you would with ordinary detergents! So that I can't possibly know the nappy is bad till my poor baby is out in HORRIBLE rash!

But I think I'm convinced that it's ammonia build up from using the soap flakes - not getting clean enough? So probably a few washes in Surcare will sort them, but not sure how to work it out long term. As in, if I continued using them AND soapflakes - how can I know when they need a detergent wash to sort them out? Cause we had them perfectly good a couple of months ago, by using Surcare non-bio - but my little boys' skin doesn't like the detergent, so it means using detergent to get rid of the nasty build up, and then washing a couple of times in soap flakes so they're safe for boy's skin...by which time, they'll nearly need another sort out! grrr!

Gracie sometime get a rash like that but doesn't seem bothered by it, I always do extra rinses and now use minkee liners as I thought it was fleece that was causing it, what liners do you use? I would think that it is possibly the urine burning his skin

R gets a rash like that just in those areas where the nappies are the wettest. I put it down to the nappies rubbing, especially round the thighs. It used to worry me, but she doesn't seem bothered about it so we just keep using the cloth nappies.