After reading every article ever published on yeast and cloth diapering (okay that might be an exaggeration but not that much) I have settled on a routine that works for everything but the most stubborn yeast infections. I treat Kai with a generic lotrimin. I have had no problems using a thin layer of this even with my cloth diapers and have never had build up issues or repelling. With that said, do this with caution since just because it works fine for me, I don't want to be responsible for ruining your diapers.
I treat him for 3-4 days even after the rash is completely gone. Yeast is a resistant little bastard. I also sometimes put baking soda in his bath water to help clear it up even faster. Okay that is all fine and dandy you say, but what should I do with my diapers.
I have found I can leave him in cloth most of the time. It is so expensive to have to pull him out of cloth and put him into disposable diapers for weeks at a time. Especially since when I do use cloth I really prefer
Seventh Generation bleach free diapers. They run somewhere between 30-45 cents each which quickly adds up when he is in them for a week or more. I do a wash routine like this:
Warm quick wash with 20 drops tea tree oil, 20 drops grapefruit seed extract.
Cold rinse (this is more because to do a warm rinse my washer automatically follows with a cold rinse and I never catch it in time to stop it. You could skip this.)
Hot normal wash with about 1 1/2 tablespoons Rockin Green hard rock (read an article that this particular soap can help against yeast?) and half a cap of Calgon (due to hard water)
Cold rinse.
Hot quick wash as a rinse with a half cap of Calgon
Cold rinse. (All these rinses are mainly because we have hard water and my diapers are prone to detergent buildup because of this.)
I then lay them out in the sun for a few hours to help kill any remaining yeast spores.
After this I dry them on high for 20-30 minutes and finish drying them on low if need be.
This has really helped me not have to take Destructo out of cloth and not have to bleach my diapers as much. Since I started this routine, I have only had one resistant yeast infection that I had to pull him completely out of cloth and bleach all my diapers for. If I get the rash on his bottom cleared up, and it immediately comes back I usually bleach at that time since I assume my other method isn't working.
Hope this helps you battle the yeastie beasties. What do you guys currently do if you get a yeast rash? Also if you guys have any tips on things I can change diet wise to decrease the yeast in his system, comment away. I really feel it is diet related.
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