it could be the urine is reacting with the chemicals in the detergent that aren’t rinsing out completely. maybe try an extra rinse cycle on your diapers, or switch to a hypoallergenic or special cloth diaper soap. (we use purex free. much cheaper than the other ones!)

hope you figure it out soon! diaperswappers.com is a great resource too, check their forums, I think I have seen problems like this being discussed! =)

I don’t know if I’m an expert on this but here are a few things you could try

It could be the detergent. Even though you wash your clothes in it, he doesn’t sit in his clothes when they’re wet. Maybe you could try another type. Some online diaper stores send cheap samples of their natural detergents.

Or, you might need to strip the diapers from residues. I like to stick mine in the tub with some dish detergent and let them soak, and then rinse over and over and over until there are no bubbles left. It’s a long process but it will certainly strip them if there are any residues bothering him.

When my daughter had a rash someone suggested to me that I should put rash cream on it and then stick a flannel barrier in the diaper so it won’t hurt the diaper.

Or, you could just put him in a disposable for a few days with some rash cream (though with my daughter disposables made it worse).

If you don’t have all natural diapers, you might want to try those til this clears up. SOme simple cotton prefolds and a wool cover would be great. All natural and very breatheable. I had my daughter in a prefold and a wool cover all night the other day and despite the fact that she was SOAKED the wool and cotton allowed air to circulate and she did not get a rash.

Also, there are some rash creams available–all natural ones–that places like Diaper Junction sell which are okay to use with cloth diapers.

I’m sorry if this is a super long list. Don’t be overwhelmed. You’ll figure it out!!!

My 14 month old who has also been in cloth her whole life developed a rash like that when she was about 11 months old. Several visits to the pediatrician and several rx creams later we finally got a cream that worked to get rid of it. It was a fungal rash and the cream that worked was wicked expensive rx and combined zinc and anti-fungal stuff.
The dr. said that cloth diapers were best so to continue using them (I was worried like you were that CDs were the reason she had the rash)and to stop using disposable wipes as well and use cloth wipes.
It took a week and a half of using the cream to get rid of the rash but now it has been gone for a month. Before it used to go away for a day or so and them come back.
The rx creams that will be prescribed are not good for your CDs so use a liner. I wasn’t always very good at it and now some of my CDs are repelling.
So I’d say regular diaper creams won’t fix a fungal rash (small red bumps, not necessarily painful) so according to my experience…get thee to a pediatrician and it isn’t related to your CDs.

We were getting this with our pocket diapers so we switched to using 100% cotton and covers and haven’t had any problems.

We are experiencing the same sort of thing. Ours is small red bumps that last for a few days and then disappear for a few. They don’t seem to bother our baby though.

I would try switching to 100% cotton if you have them, as well as giving him some “naked time” every time you change him so he gets plenty of airing out down there. Olive oil works nice as a natural diaper cream for us, and I actually put some in my cloth wipe solution and it works great at keeping him from getting any kind of a rash or redness.

I would ask if there is any possibility that it is a yeast infection? That would have a spotty look to it, though I would not call the irritation hives, however, it may look different on each person. If that is the culprit, I would try a triple paste – now sold in stores, awesome, because it wasn’t when my son needed it and it was $60 a tube with insurance! It can also be made at home, which is what I did, calling it August’s Extreme Diaper Cream – equal parts nystatin (or otc yeast med), zinc oxide, and petroleum jelly or aquaphor.
I do know that many allergy prone children are irritated by polyester, which is likely in your fleece, and may be blended in other products; it causes hive-like irriatation on my neighbor’s son. I would try other insertable liners, even if they don’t wick, they will help with absorbtion, and since he doesn’t sleep for extremely long stretches, you’ll be able to change him often enough. I really liked my organic hemp and bamboo liners. You may even try a wool one, though you may have to make it yourself, that would provide a dry feel, but the wool itself could be irritating.
Good luck!

I agree it probably is the laundry soap! I have the same thing….I switched to homemade laundry soap because it was easier on my kids’ skin, and it STILL gave them a diaper rash, because the diapers get a buildup so much easier.

You’ll probably have to switch to a different detergent just for dipes. And you may have to strip them as well.

Good luck! Sore bums are no fun. :(

Sorry one more thing….just make sure your CD detergent doesn’t contain any actual “soap”….that’s the culprit that causes buildup.

I would try the following:
-Lots of naked time
-Try a new detergent. That has been the culprit with my kids, even when they didn’t have irritation elsewhere.
-Like other posters have said, if it is yeast it will need to be treated differently. Try Grapefruit Seed Extract diluted in water with every diaper change.

I’m guessing this isn’t the case since he’s only 5 months, but has he tried a new food lately that could be causing a reaction?

I would try prefolds (or anything cotton) only for a day or two and see if it clears up. My little guy gets this when he wears a bumGenius so I think for him it is the fleece. He only has one bumGenius so it was easy to tell for us where it was coming from.

My daughter has very sensitive skin and often gets irritation, our pediatrician told us it is because her waste is acidic. When I change my daughter’s diapers, I spread some coconut oil on her bum. Coconut oil is safe to use with cloth diapers, it comes out of them in the wash. The best part about coconut oil is that it is antibacterial as well as antifungal. I used it to clear up my daughter’s rash, but now I use it as a preventative measure too.

My daughter has very sensitive skin. I had to switch detergents after I discovered it was causing buildup, and I had to boil all my diapers (not PUL or elastic)–which took ALL DAY…and super-duper-hot wash wash wash all the other stuff. Pain in the patoot. But it helped her. Now I also use hemp overnight because that’s when she tends to get her rashes. I am also thinking of adding a stay-dry liner on top for overnight. I use Grandma El’s all the time to prevent and clear up what I can. Our pediatrician also allowed us to use hydrocortisone on stubborn red places. Please check with your pediatrician first. Good luck.

Time without diapers on, then cotton prefolds with WOOL covers…this always works wonders for my daughter. Her rashes are usually related to her BMs being either more frequent or more acidic than usual, but being in a very breathable diaper with a breathable cover overnight usually takes care of it. Stripping the diapers and/or switching detergents may help too…but air circulation almost always clears things up.

What kind of wipes/wipe solution do you use? My daughter had a breakout rash with wipes solution, but then plain water doesn’t always keep her clean enough either. So I like to use mostly plain water and then a little Cetaphil (gentle non-soap cleanser, recommended by our pediatrician) plus water for the messier diapers. Anyway, you might consider that if you’re using wipes or soap solutions.

You may never find out what is causing this. For now try a few things:
Strip all your diapers
lots of naked time or a fitted w/o a cover
soak baby’s bum in warm (not HOT) water with a few TBSP of baking soda for the rash. then air dry.
Hope something helps

Someone else mentioned this, but we are die-hard believers in coconut oil. As she mentioned it’s antibacterial/fungal and totally safe for CDs. We use it every night (a LITTLE bit goes a LONG way!) on our guys before bed and it keeps the rashes away!

I agree with Mari above. I have very sensitive skin and my daughter has inherited it. When she gets a rash we temporarily stop wiping her. We rinse her off in the bathtub and blot her dry with a dry cloth wipe (rubbing the skin can make it worse). Then I blot olive oil on the affected area. After about 24 hours she is good as new. Also a little extra naked time helps!

My daughter gets the same kind of rash and I have found that the diapers needed a few extra rinses every once in a while (I use Rockin Greenbut it still leaves residue) I also spray her diaper area with California Baby Non burning rash and diaper wash its okay to use with cloth diapers too. It seems to make the rash disappear by the next diaper change. I think my problem is the residue because it is only after a few weeks of washing then the rash starts again… SO, I stripe them in 4 hot wash rinse cycles.. I know a lot but, it works and it’s only once a month.

My sons have exceptionally sensitive skin. It’s not the detergent on dry clothes per say, but the mix of urin and detergent that does it to him. Try Planet. Great detergent, 100% hypoallergenic.

My son had that too! I am not sure exactly what was causing it bu tabout the time it finally cleared up I remember that we stopped using any disposable wipes (cause I ran out), and started using fitteds so he could crawl around and air could get to his bum. I know they say to let them go naked.. But I have a fully carpeted house… Just couldnt do it. :) I made some Very Baby SImply Nights diapers so they absorb a TON and saved my carpets. I also put him in a small pair of his brothers unders for a little while if I knew that he had JUST gone. Anymore, I let him crawl around the house in a t-shirt and diaper without a cover. I havnt seen that rash in a while. Thank you to the ladies that posted that coconut oil is CD safe! I had been wanting to try it because of how good it is for the skin but couldnt find info anywhere that said that it was OK to use with cloth diapers!
Hope you figure it out! Cristy

I would strip his diapers *right away* to begin with. Also, apply a CD-friendly diaper rash salve at each change. Good that you’re changing frequently–every 1-2 hours at most is recommended. The salve we love most is by Northern Essence–you can find them at http://www.NorthernEssence.com We love it! They have sticks as well as tubs, etc. That has helped enormously when my LO has had issues.
What detergent are you using? The reaction he might be having will not really show up on the rest of his body, as he doesn’t have wet urine resting on the rest of his body. Enzymes in many, many detergents react with proteins in feces and urine and will burn skill. I personally like BioKleen detergent for our diapers–we rarely have to strip. Also, vinegar added to the wash cycle makes a nice difference for getting ammonia out–and we also use baking soda. These are natural laundry boosters that don’t add a build-up and get a lot of the “stuff” out of those diapers! I HTH! Good luck. :)

burn SKIN, not skill–little typo there, lol.

My son has this same problem. He’s been in CDs since he was about 2 months old (he’s almost 7 months old now), and periodically we see this pop up. I don’t know exactly what it is, but I have to think it’s got to be something about the wetness against his skin, combined with friction (i.e. tummy time) and possibly detergent residues. He does not have the same problem when we put him in disposables.

Our answer has been to give him frequent air-dry time, and change him even more often. We also found that the fleece-lined pocket diapers pose less of a problem, so he wears those at night when he’s going to be in a diaper longer (we use hemp and microfiber inserts in these).

Hope this, and the other advice you’ve gotten so far, helps!