Homemade Diaper Spray

I’ve written before about my daughter’s diaper rashes. Her skin is sensitive, and she breaks out very easily, depending on the type of diapers and wipes we use. This rash isn’t simply a little redness or some bumps. It’s a full-blown, red, inflamed, scabby, awful rash.

We had a system that was working well for us. We had her diaper rash under control. That all changed when she started teething. I’m not sure why teething affects diaper rashes, but I know that it caused hers to return. I again found myself trying and testing new methods to see what would work for her.

I did a little research, asked around, and tweaked our system a bit. I’m happy to report that so far, so good. We continue to use bumGenius 3.0 One Size diapers and Pampers Sensitive Wipes. The new addition?: A spray bottle of homemade wipe solution.

A friend of ours uses this solution on her cloth wipes. She puts two cups of water, one tablespoon of olive oil, two tablespoons of baby shampoo, and two drops of tea tree oil in a spray bottle. Each time she changes her baby’s diaper, she sprays her wipes with the solution.

Since we had a bad experience with flannel wipes, I decided to try this with our Pampers Sensitive Wipes. I made a trip to the local drugstore, stocked up on supplies, and headed home to make the spray. Each time I changed our daughter’s diaper, I’d give the wipe a few sprays of the solution, or I’d spray a little right on her butt before I wiped.

Her rash went away within two days, and it hasn’t come back. As always, I’m not sure if what we are doing is what made the rash go away or if it would have gone away on its own. All I know is that she had a rash we couldn’t get rid of, and as soon as we started using the spray, it went away.

Ready, Aim, Poop!

“Ready, aim, fire!” I’m convinced that if my daughter could talk, she’d be saying that phrase every time I change her diaper.

During her week-long stay in the hospital, she successfully pooped on my mom, my husband, the nurses, and me. She’s a pro at fooling people into thinking she’s done pooping. She’ll let out a bunch of grunts, accomplish a few good poop explosions, and everything will be calm for quite awhile. “Time to change her diaper,” we’d all think.

The unsuspecting victim would calmly slide a new diaper underneath her, undo the dirty diaper, and get ready to wipe. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the changer would feel a warm, wet spray, and her hands would be covered with mustardy goo.

It was funny at first. Now that I often change her on our bed, however, it the laughter has turned to fear. I have enough to do during my day without having to add “wash sheets and comforter” to the list.

I suppose I could be better prepared. I could change her on a changing table, or lay a blanket underneath her to protect the bedding. I could always have a diaper partially covering her in case of an aftershock.

No matter how many precautions I take, however, there are always a few moments when I am utterly vulnerable. These are moments when she is in prime launching position, when all odds are in the favor of a successful mustard attack.

These are the moments when I’m holding both of her legs up in the air and I’m ready to wipe.

There’s nothing protecting me during these moments, and there’s no way around them. I have to lift her behind up in the air to be sure I’ve completely cleaned it. I can’t cover it up or I won’t be able to see if I’ve missed anything. I can’t keep my face partially turned away, or I won’t be able to get a good view. No, I have to face my fears, and allow myself to be in the most dangerous position possible.

I think she can sense my nervousness. Sometimes she lets a little gas escape, just to keep me on my toes. Every now and then, she’ll sneeze, making me cringe in anticipation of what the force of the sneeze might push out the other end.

Rent a suspense-filled movie on a Friday night? Nah. We’ve got diaper changing to keep us at the edge of our seats.

We LOVE BumGenius Diapers!

It took my husband and I quite awhile to decide which route we were going to take when it came to cloth diapers. After much research and deliberating, we decided on the bumGenius 3.0 One-Size Pocket Diapers.

It may have been the best decision we’ve ever made.

I can honestly say I don’t have a single complaint about these diapers. They are awesome.

First of all, they are adorable. Yes, they are bulkier than disposables, but they come in a vivid array of colors: yellow, orange, white, as well as different shades of green, pink, and blue. Our baby happens to be a girl, and when she wears dresses, we often skip the little matching underwear that comes with the dress and go with color-coordinating diapers.

Second, they expand according to your baby’s size. That means your baby can wear the same diaper from birth to potty-training.

Third, they fasten with Velcro and stretchy tabs. I’ve heard people say Velcro doesn’t last as long on a cloth diaper as snaps do. For that reason, we purchased a few Fuzzi Bunz, which fasten with snaps, just to see if we’d like them better. Don’t get me wrong, FuzziBunz are nice diapers, but the snaps are not our favorite by any means. What is the problem with snaps? Half of the time, our daughter is between sizes. That means we either have to have the diaper on her a little too tightly or a little too loosely. Too tight, and it hurts her. Too loose, and it leaks. With Velcro and stretchy tabs, you can get the perfect fit every time.

Fourth, they are easy to care for. Rinse the poop off, throw everything into a dry diaper pail, and wash every couple days. You have to use a detergent free of dyes, perfumes, and whitening agents, but it’s probably better for your baby’s skin anyways. You also have to do two wash cycles and an extra rinse at the end, but it’s really pretty simple.

Fifth, our daughter rarely gets diaper rashes when she wears them. When we put her in disposables, we have to coat her butt with diaper rash cream to avoid her getting a horrible rash, and she sometimes gets it anyways. But, with these, she almost always has a rash-free behind. Why? I give credit to the material the diaper is made from. The part that is against her skin wicks moisture away from her bottom and onto the inserts, keeping her nice and dry.

Last, and definitely not least, these diapers contain blowouts like nobody’s business. Our girl will sometimes have poop up to her armpits when she’s in her disposables (and we don’t use generic brands – we use Pampers all the way). In a bumGenius, though, she’ll have poop explosions that would make any veteran parent cringe, and when I go to change her, it’s all neatly contained in the diaper. (Maybe “neat” isn’t the best word to describe it, but it’s contained nonetheless!) There have only been a couple times when had poop has gotten onto her clothes when she’s in a bumGenius, and it has only been a small amount. I know every parent out there who has changed a nasty blowout would love the idea of never having to clean one up again).

In our experience, these diapers are simply the best. We’ve never regretted our decision to use them.

My Experience With Cloth Wipes

After deciding to use cloth diapers for various reasons, I decided we might as well use cloth wipes too.

I liked the idea of using only plain, warm water on my daughter’s behind most of the time, and using a gentle, non-irritating soap the rest of the time. The thought of not having to buy container after container of wipes also appealed to me.

In the last months of my pregnancy, when I was as big as a boat and unable to do much activity (yes, I gained 60+ pounds, despite the fact that I tried to eat mostly healthy foods and stay active), I spent many enjoyable hours making my own wipes. As I cut rectangles out of old, flannel receiving blankets, I dreamed about all the ways my baby would benefit from not having harsh soaps and alcohol put on her skin every diaper change. As I sewed the rectangles together, I marveled at how much money we’d be saving because we’d be able to use the cloth wipes over and over. As I stacked the adorable wipes in the top drawer of her changing table, I grew more and more excited for our baby to arrive.

Arrive she did, and we used disposable wipes for the first month or so while we were adjusting to life with a baby. We’d gotten many different kinds as shower gifts, and I was able to form opinions on which we liked the best. Some of the strongly-scented varieties gave her a horrible rash. Some felt too rough to be using on her skin. We very much liked the Pampers Sensitive Wipes, but I knew that my cloth wipes would be even better for her.

I finally decided I was ready to start using the cloth wipes exclusively, and could hardly wait to try them out. We used them all day, and I felt so good about the decision we had made for our daughter.

I felt good, that is, until she got the worst rash of her life.

This rash was awful. It started off as bright red. “Good thing we started using cloth,” I thought, “because this must be from the disposable wipes we were using. It’ll clear up in no time with these babies.”

It didn’t clear up. It got worse. It started looking scabby. It caused her to SCREAM anytime she had to sit in her carseat. When we took her in for a checkup, which happened to be right after we started using the cloth wipes, her pediatrician took one look at the rash and said, “If you can’t get that to clear up in a few days, I’ll need to prescribe a steroid cream. That rash is going into her skin.”

I can’t exactly recall why, but we used disposable wipes (Pampers Sensitive Wipes) shortly after, and what do you know? The rash disappeared. It totally went away. Boy, was I surprised!

I’m not sure what caused the rash. It could have been the flannel material or the type of water in our city. It could be something I’m not even thinking of. All I know is that when we use the cloth wipes, she breaks out, and when we use the Pampers Sensitive Wipes, her butt is great.

So, we gave cloth wipes a good try for a few days. It didn’t work for us. I thought about trying wipes made of other materials, using a different solution for the wipes, but finally, and happily, settled on buying Pampers Sensitive Wipes in bulk.

Choosing Cloth Diapers

With the “Going Green” trend being bigger than ever, most new parents have probably considered, or at least heard about, the idea of using cloth diapers.

Although I have always known I’d like to use cloth diapers on my babies, I knew I’d need to convince my husband if it was going to work. I began reading articles on why cloth was better so as to be armed with plenty of information should he decide to argue on the side of disposable. He never did argue (lucky me!), but I gained a wealth of information on the topic.

After hours of reading, I discovered that parents who use cloth seem to do so for one (or all) of three leading reasons. They are as follows:

• It is better for the environment (just think of all those landfills full of disposable diapers!).

• It is cheaper (it is AMAZING how many diapers a baby can go through in one day!).

• It is healthier for the baby (what’s that stuff called that turns the pee into gel?).

My husband and I care about the environment, and we like to save a buck as well as the next couple, but the deciding factor in using cloth was the fact that cloth would be healthier for our baby.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a disposable-hater. We use them for convenience when necessary. For example, when we flew to visit my family, we used disposable. The thought of lugging poopy cloth diapers around the airport for hours didn’t exactly appeal to me. Neither did paying for another checked bag so that we could bring all of our bumGenius diapers and diaper sprayer along. However, there are several alarming ingredients that go into most disposable diapers that make me not want to consistently put them on our baby.

Many disposable diapers are bleached and contain dyes and perfumes. These can be irritating and harmful to a baby’s sensitive system. The scariest ingredients to me are two things called dioxin (a byproduct of bleaching diapers) and sodium polyacrylate (the stuff that turns all the pee into gel, the reason a baby can wear the same disposable diaper after peeing many times in it without ever leaking on her clothes). Type those words into Google, and you’ll find phrases like “cancer-causing,” “birth defects,” “banned in other countries,” even “death.” Put that on my baby’s soft, bare little butt? No way!

To be perfectly honest, if I knew cloth was better for my child but was worse for the environment than disposables, I’d still use cloth. If I knew cloth was better for my child but cost more than disposables, I’d still use cloth! My number one priority is the health of my child.