Battle of the diaper rash

So much for thinking cloth diapers were the answer to baby-bottom bliss! Now I know the truth … along with what NOT to do.

That’s because Chloe, it turns out, has diaper rash.

Naturally, it happened right before we took her in to have her 3-month pictures taken. So much for my coveted shot of her lying on her belly, pretty baby bottom on display. We wound up leaving her little diaper on for the whole shoot. Otherwise it would have looked like she had a tomato for a bottom.

I’ll confess, the rash came on gradually. Every so often, I’d go to change her diaper and would find her pink skin a little pinker and brighter than usual. But after the next diaper change, all would be well.

That’s why I didn’t bother putting anything on it … I thought it was going away on its own. Then, a week before picture time, the pink turned to red and just stayed.

At first, we tapped the advice of friends. They’d had a baby with a blistering diaper rash so bad they’d been secretly afraid their baby would be taken away from them.

“Cornstarch,” they said. “It’s the only thing that works.”

Didn’t work for us, unfortunately. After just two days of powder, the folds in Chloe’s upper thighs became cracked and dry and started to bleed a little.

That was about the time my dad came to visit. “She’s just dry. After all, we live in the desert.”

Good point, Dad. Out came the natural lotion.

It certainly helped. Chloe’s skin went from scaly back to soft, but it remained red.

On to the pediatrician. “Paste.” As he explained it, a rash in the folds of a baby’s skin means yeast is growing — that’s when you want powder. A rash on the skin is more of a contact issue. Paste makes a nice barrier.

The doc’s solution certainly was the best, though we didn’t learn it in time to save our photo shoot. And though it was working, it wasn’t working quickly.

So, we’re doing the only other thing we could think of: keeping Chloe in the buff. Actually, it’s a bit of a combination approach. Paste at night, lotion in the morning, and lounging around diaper-less for most of the day. It’s working — her skin looks great, and she really seems to enjoy the “freedom.”

Definitely worth it, even if it does mean a lot of extra laundry since all our towels and blankets are doused with baby pee.