Cloth diapering a baby with sensitive skin can be extremely frustrating for caregivers! Some babies suffer from skin irritation while wearing disposable diapers due to dyes and chemical found in most disposable diapers, so families turn to cloth diapers hoping it will help clear up rashes. Did you know that disposable diaper companies are not required to disclose thier ingredients or test the safety of thier products? Infant diapers are not regulated by the FDA. The fact that makeup is FDA regulated, but not diapaers that are in direct contact with your babys's skin is extremely alarming. With cloth diapers I know exactly what fabrics are touching my little one skin. Most of the time it is an easy transition and their baby's skin will clear up; however, there are some little ones who are sensitive to certain fabrics and even elastics.
I used cloth diapers off and on with 4 of my children. We never used cloth full time with any of them, just when we were home and sometimes at night. When I was pregnant with my 5th baby I decided that I was not going to use cloth. I was working full time and was already constantly behind on laundry. Around 8 weeks old I noticed she started getting a few patches of eczema. Two of my older girls have eczema so I put some lotion on her and did not think much about it. As the weeks progressed her eczema became severe and at that point I knew we had to make some changes.
We quickly made some diatery changes and switched to cloth diapers. Her skin cleared up pretty quickly, after a few weeks I noticed we were still having problems with diaper rashes. The diapers we were using were lined with sued cloth and I began to wonder if the material was irrating her skin, so I started looking into all wicking jersey lined diapers. These were not around when my other children were in cloth and I thought they would be great for our hot Texas summers! After spending hundreds of dollars on different types and brands of diapers I finally figured out she was sensitive to elastics. So we swapped our stash around one more time in hopes of clearing up our baby's skin. Our current stash consist of preflats and elastic free covers. We have only found a few diapers with elastics that we can use without breakouts.
You may be wondering how to cloth diaper a baby with sensitive skin without spending hundreds of dollars like I had to. This is exactly why I started The Diaper Basket! I wanted a place where families could come to try out different brands and types of diapers without having to pay for multiple shipping cost and spending hours going through hundreds of different websites. I always recommend buying a variety of diapers to start with. If you already know what type of cloth diaper you want to use, I still recommend buying different brands to see what fits and works best for your baby. Most diapers are lined with either AWJ (all wicking jersey), seude cloth, or microfleece. I would grab one of each kind to see what works best for you little one. Our Build your own variety pack is a great way to try out different diapers.
What if my baby is sensitive to elastics?
If you are noticing rashes where the elastics are touching your baby and you are sure that you don't have detergent build up, your little one may be sensitive to elastics. Here are some great elastic free diaper options:
Preflats-requires cover
Prefolds-requires cover
Flats-requires cover
Wool covers
Combo covers
Fleece covers
I have found that my little one can wear the Bells Bumz breeze wrap at night. It is a loose fitting cover so the elastics are not super tight around the legs and waist. I also think the fleece lined elastics help.
It is important to remember that even with using cloth, babies will still get diaper rashes. Most will see a decrease in the amount rashes, but from time to time one will still pop up. It is a good idea to have a cloth-diaper-safe rash cream on hand. There are tons of option on Amazon. We love Pain in the Butt rash cream, but it does have zinc oxide in it which can stain your diapers. I like to keep a few fleece liners on hand for when we need to use creams with zinc oxide. They are also a great choice if you need to use a prescription strength cream or ointment on your baby.
Cloth diapering a baby with sensitive skin can be difficult and there may be times that you want to give up. I always like to stress to families that cloth diapering does not have to be all or nothing! If you find a disposable that works well for you sensitive baby it is okay to do cloth part time. It is also okay to take a break from cloth diapers if you feel that you are overwhelmed. At the end of the day, you need to do what is best for you and your family!
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