Cloth Nappy Tree Forum

I am driving myself nuts trying to work out the cause of my baby's nappy rash! He's been in cloth since birth, a mix of fitteds, pockets, PUL wraps and fleece. He never had any nappy rash at all until a few weeks ago and now I can't get rid of it. The only thing we've been doing differently is using washable wipes (now that I've used up the stacks of disp wipes we were given when he was born). I've tried cutting out fleece liners, fleece lined nappies and PUL, so he only wears fitteds and wool now. That seems to have helped but the rash won't go completely. I use bamboo terry wipes with just water and dry his bum before putting the nappy on. Should I be using a solution on the wipes instead of just water? If so, what would you recommend? I'm worried oils etc will make it worse

Any ideas gratefully received, before I go out tomorrow and buy a pack of disposable wipes

We just use water on our wipes. I haven't heard of washable wipes causing nappy rash before. Could it be teething or something different in your LOs diet? Sorry, not much help I'm afraid

are you drying LO's bottom with a flannel thoroughly before putting the nappy on? you don't have to with baby wipes but with reusable wipes there's no chemicals so bottoms should be dried thoroughly. my DD gets a rash if the nursery forgets to dry her properly then we put on a bit of cream/CJs butter. good luck! x

Have you tried stripping you nappies & liners etc?

I've never used just water although I know lots of people do. Maybe the water alone isn't cleaning his skin properly and it's causing irritation.

Maybe try something simple & cheap like camomile tea? You can add a few drops of some oils for scent if you like...

Millies Nappies sell lovely foaming wipe wash which I have bought on occasion when funds allow, it's lovely!
But mostly I make my own, I use cooled boiled water, a few drops of lemon, sweet orange, mandarin & camomile essential oils in a carrier of sweet almond oil & a squirt of baby wash (we use burts bees here) ... I put all this in an empty foaming bottle & it lasts weeks.

jclmellor wrote:are you drying LO's bottom with a flannel thoroughly before putting the nappy on? you don't have to with baby wipes but with reusable wipes there's no chemicals so bottoms should be dried thoroughly. my DD gets a rash if the nursery forgets to dry her properly then we put on a bit of cream/CJs butter. good luck! x

Definitely try this. You need to make sure baby's bottom is completely dry before putting the nappy on. I didn't have any problems with any of my DDs but my son got a rash if I didn't dry his bottom thoroughly.

jclmellor wrote:are you drying LO's bottom with a flannel thoroughly before putting the nappy on?

yeah, I dry with a dry wipe, and most times don't put the fresh nappy on till his skin has had a chance to air dry too.

zoeyboo wrote:Have you tried stripping you nappies & liners etc?

I did a strip wash a few weeks ago. But now that you mention it, I've just realised that the rash only started after we moved and we're now in a hard water area. I wonder if I need to tweek my washing routine because of that
Thanks for the replies anyway ladies Think I'll buy some wipes solution to try just now anyway. Maybe one with camomile?

If you're in a hard water area you may need to up your dose of detergent. We have hard water and use half a dose. I think some people use 1/3 or 1/4 in soft water areas.

Camomile is supposed to be good. You can just make a camomile tea from a teabag, allow it to cool and voila, wipe solution! We use a spray bottle from Superdrug.

Was just going to say. Chamomile tea! Just make a really strong cup and soak your wipes in it. Then use a dry one to dry the area.
It works like magic everytime for us.

We live in a hard water area and I use a full dose of detergent with a few extra rinses at the end. Otherwise our nappies just don't get clean enough. Definitely try changing your washing routine.