Saturday, December 3, 2011

Diaper Frustration

We had bought our Fuzzibunz One Size cloth diapers with the intention of diapering two children with them from birth to potty training.

We may not make that goal.

Impetigo. It sprang up on R's privates earlier this year, and has lingered ever since. It would come and go with the help of prescription strength anti-bacterial ointment, but I am incredibly frustrated that it is not yet GONE. I made a last ditch effort in November to get rid of it once and for all. I bleached the tub and the bath toys, I bleached the changing table, I bleached the cloth wipes and diaper inserts, then, finally, I stripped all wipes, inserts, and covers with Dawn and Thieves cleaning solution. I line-dried everything for days in the cold outdoor air (that's gotta kill bacteria, right?). R was in disposable diapers being cleaned with disposable wipes for at least three weeks to get it fully off her body. Then. Then. We put her in the cloth diapers again, and surprise! The impetigo rash came back. GRRRRR!!!!

I walked into the Cotton Babies store today on a MISSION. The very helpful assistant there recommended I use color safe bleach on the diaper covers as well. In my laundry frenzy I would have loved to have bleached the covers, but I didn't think you could. They have, you know, colors and stuff. But this lady said it could be done; it will soften the colors a little, but bumGenius actually recommends doing it every month. I am so relieved: I have another step to try! I am not currently the owner of color safe bleach, so a trip to the store is in order, but I cannot wait to see if this works. Please work!

Cloth diapers are an investment. You put your money and your hopes into them and it's a damn shame if they let you down. I'd hate to stop short of being able to diaper another baby with these diapers, but I also wouldn't want to knowingly give another baby a bacterial infection. Because that's another thing: after diapering OUR two children, the goal was to then sell the diapers to other parents to recoup some of the cost. But how could I sell these diapers with this impetigo bacteria still on them???

So, one more round of diaper bleaching and stripping, and then... I don't know what. If the rash comes back, I hate to say it, but the diapers may just have to be thrown away. I sincerely hope not.

UPDATE:
R is three days back in cloth and the impetigo has not yet reared its ugly head (or blisters). The color safe bleach must have worked! W00T! Such a relief. Now I can prewash the additional hemp inserts I had bought on my Cotton Babies excursion. I didn't wash them right away out of fear that I would have to abandon cloth diapering. Why buy more inserts when they won't get used, right? But it looks like, happily, that these diapers will continue to work for us, so let's get more absorbent action!

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5 comments:

Julia Brueggemann said...

Did the bleach end up working long term? My son had impetigo and he's been in disposables for 6 months. I want to get him back in cloth, but have been a little scared. If the bleach works I will totally do it!

Unknown said...

Yes, the bleach works! I keep it up and add bleach every month when I strip my diapers. The impetigo went away and never came back. Our second daughter, Poppy, is wearing the same diapers Rosemary did, and she hasn't had any diaper rash.

Julia Brueggemann said...

Ok thanks! I am bleaching everything and then going to dry them in the sun for a day or two. I am also going to put tea tree oil in my wipe solution for an antibacterial and in my washes. I am going to put him back in cloth in a week or so, thanks to this post!

Julia Brueggemann said...

I know I must be bothersome haha. But I washed all my diapers with bleach in hot water, like I do a regular load of diapers. Recently I read hot water is bad for bleach. I already put my son in his diapers, but I heard bleach will not work properly is used with hot water. Not sure if that's true or not. Did you use hot water?

Unknown said...

Not bothersome at all! This is the reason I blog... to share experiences like this with other people. :-) I do use hot water. I had never heard of hot water rendering bleach less effective, so I looked it up. According to this, http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=1006042104511 hot water will evaporate some of the bleach, and a few of the people recommended using warm water instead of hot. I think I'll probably continue using hot as I haven't noticed it doing anything bad. Glad to hear your son will be back in cloth soon!

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