Grandma El's Diaper Rash Remedy

Looking for the CJ's BUTTer Giveaway?
Go here! :)
***

Back in January, Audrey's Pediatrician said she didn't know what else to do about Audrey's chronic yeast infections, so she sent us to a Dermatologist.

The Dermatologist told us that not only did Audrey suffer from chronic yeast infections, but she also had severe eczema on the diaper area.

And to top it all off, it was all infected; Audrey also had impetigo.

We were given 3 different prescriptions to help her, but we were warned that the yeast infections and the eczema would flair back up until Audrey was potty trained.

But we were told to use a Vaseline on her bum with every diaper change, as a barrier. Audrey was also lactose-intolerant and her hypoallergenic formula caused her to poo more than she peed, in fact we usually only saw 1 pee diaper a day, the constant poo irritated her bum.

Vaseline was not a good option for many reasons. I know some of you probably dislike Vaseline, I've read that it's not good for your skin. However, our reason for not wanting to use Vaseline was simply because it's not good for cloth diapers.

So we bought some Grandma El's, because it was suppose to be cloth diaper friendly. I've used it with Fuzzibunz, Kawaii's, bumGenius, and Mother-Ease (both Sandy and One-Size.)

NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER use it with Fuzzibunz. It clogged them, and I had to strip them about twice to get it out.

Everything else it has worked great with, absolutely no problem, it's a great barrier. As my daughter's issue is not a diaper rash, I'm not sure how effective it is at alleviating actual rashes, but it certainly doesn't make it worse, which is always a plus. ;) It's my favorite to use at night, as it's nice and thick.

I really like Grandma El's, and it's available through Amazon, and I can use my free 2-day shipping!! It's awesome as a barrier, it comes in a big tub, and a little goes a long way. I like the smell too, I can't really explain it, it doesn't have a definite smell, but I like it all the same.

CJ's BUTTer Giveaway!

**This giveaway is now
CLOSED!**

A new shop called Petite Bottoms sent me some goodies this week! It was truly a pleasure working with Kim to come up with this giveaway and review some fun diaper products! Her shop offers free shipping on orders over $50, and and also offers a FREE prepping service! It's always nice to not have to prep your diapers before you use them! :)

I love CJ's BUTTer, do you remember my review?

Well, they also have a formula meant to help yeast infections!!

I called it yeast formula, and my husband teased me saying that it sounded like I was giving my baby yeast. Silly.

It has great timing, another infection just flared up a few days ago.

So while I play with my new goodies and formulate an opinion, we're going to have a giveaway!

Kim, from Petite Bottoms is giving away 1 4oz CJ's BUTTer For Yeast and a CJ's BUTTer Sample pack of 6 yummy scents.

The scents are:
1. My Pixie Pie
2. Monkey Farts
3. Oatmeal, Milk & Honey
4. Warm Vanilla Cake
5. Lullaby Baby Lotion
6. Cucumber Melon

How to enter:
**MANDITORY ENTRY**
(You have to do this one first before any of the other entries)
Follow A Whole Lot of Fluff, and then comment here.
(go to the right sidebar to follow.)

Other Entries:
1. Like A Whole Lot of Fluff on Facebook, and comment on the wall and comment on the wall about the giveaway, and then leave a comment here.
2. Like Petite Bottoms on Facebook, and comment on the wall about the giveaway, and then comment here.

1 comment per entry. If you already follow or like say so in your entry. You MUST have seperate comments per entry. Total of 3 entries per person for this contest.

ALL entries must have your email address on them.

This contest will end May 7th, 2011 at 11:59 PM.

What's in a Wrap?

Right now my favorite diapers are Mother-Ease Sandys and Mother-Ease One Size. I have quiet the stash of them right now. I have formed an addiction to Diaper Swappers!!! I love a good deal, and when I see Like New Sandys for sale for $7 I just can't help but buy them!!

My biggest obstacle was finding a good cover. I first paired my Sandys with a Thirsties Duo Wrap. I've said it before, but I am not a fan of Velcro, I avoid Velcro at all costs. I was glad that Thirsties Duo Wrap had a choice for snaps. Unfortunately, that's the only good thing I can say. The size 1 was too small, on it's largest setting, and the size 2 was too big, on it's smallest setting. I don't like the bunchy elastic in the front, my daughter is a tummy sleeper, and the bunchy elastic paired with a diaper that is on the bigger side makes for night time leaks!

A friend suggested Bummis Super Brite, and I love these diapers, dispute the fact that they are Velcro. They work great!!! After I figured out the size issue (my daughter is apparently a small, not a medium.) I am also not a big fan of sized diapers, I don't have the money to buy 3-4 of each size! I love things that are one sized.

I also tried a Bummis Super Whisper Wrap, which I give two thumbs down. It also has heavy duty Velcro (this diaper actually caused my thumb to bleed when I was taking the diaper off my girl!) and the prints are really cute, but they goods end there. Every time she wears the wrap and her fitted diaper gets wet, her wrap gets wet. It says it has PUL, but the PUL seems to be totally ineffective. I'm not a fan.

The last wrap that I bought was an Econobum. I was a little weary as it was about $4 less than all the other wraps I'd seen, but it was a One-Size with snaps, so I was sold, I bought 2. I was very surprised by this wrap! I was extremely worried when I put it on her, it was thin feeling and the PUL felt kind of cheap. I wasn't planning on ever trying this diaper at night time, but everything has been leaking, so I figured, why not? Econobums haven't leaked on me ever, and everything else that felt thicker leaked. Econobums are the best wrap ever!!! I just ordered two more. These are my favorites!!! The first night we only had a tiny leak, and she slept about 15 hours that night. But the tiny leak was much better than the finding my baby completely soaked every morning.

Though, I had a thought, if I bought a Large Size Bummis Super Brite and added snaps (I own a snap press) could I turn the Large into a One-Size? I'm going to try it, and get back to you with a tutorial if it works! :)

If you've got a favorite wrap, please let me know!!

Baby Food

We're expanding our horizons a bit :)

I am always up for saving a few bucks, and a SUPER easy way to do that is to make your own baby food!

At the beginning of each week I go to the store, buy fresh produce and make baby food out of it, all while Sydney is at preschool.

This week Audrey will be enjoying carrots and bananas with strawberries.

Every once in a while (today) I can use the fruits that I recently purchased. We had strawberry/banana smoothies on Saturday.

Currently I own a magic bullet, which makes it SOOO much easier, but a month ago I was doing this with an old school blender that my mother received as a wedding present. It can be done.

This week was super easy, all I had to do was boil the carrots until they were soft. While I was waiting I was cutting up bananas and de-top'ing strawberries. Always wash your fruits and veggies!!

Blend them up. We don't have ice trays in our house, we have one of those commercial water coolers (we bought the base and our own 5 galleon bottles, and we fill them each month) so I bought a Baeba, I adore it. But you could totally use your ice cube trays! After it's blended, pour it in, and freeze.

I also have some freezer safe Tupperware that I use, after they are frozen I pop all the food cubes out into a Tupperware so that I can use my Baeba for the next batch. I own 2 Baebas, so I only have to do this process twice (Audrey eats 4 cubes a day.)

Today I bought 6 bananas and 3lbs of Strawberries, for a weeks worth of food I will use all 6 bananas, but I will only use 8 strawberries. I also bought 2 packages of 1lb of baby carrots.

6 Bananas $1.47
3lbs of Strawberries $3.00
2lbs of Baby Carrots $2.00
Total: $6.47

This makes 7 cups of baby food.
It's hard to convert cups to oz, as a cup is measured in volume, not weight. However, Audrey eats about 4 of those each day as well.

BUT I discovered I that a 2 pack of Gerber fruits is $0.97. For $6.47 I could have bought 6.6 packs (so 13 containers of fruits.)

I spent $6.47.
28 containers of Gerber fruits $27.16
I saved $20.69

A great place to find information is called Wholesome Baby Food. I have never purchased a book on how to make baby food, not when this is a great website!

Happy Monday everyone!

California Babies Products

Okay, I'll admit it, I'm a collector. I have several books on my book shelves that I never intend to read, but I like have a complete set...even if I didn't like the first few books.

This brand has the bonus that I see it every time I go down the aisle of Target. And every time I do, I want to buy them all!!

Up until a few weeks ago I would always look at the lotion and the body wash.

But I wouldn't buy them.

I was afraid I would love them too much, and then I'd have to buy them all the time!

Non-Burning Diaper Area Wash- This was the first thing I bought. I love it! When I first bought this I was using a water/soap/baby oil mix for my wipe solution, and I would spray the Diaper Area Wash on the new diaper before putting it on Audrey. It does a pretty good job of keeping flare-ups from happening, and it smells so good too!

Calendula Cream- I thought this would be a good addition to my stash. And I adore it! It works great on cuts, eczema flare ups on her belly and legs, and (for me) it has been cloth diaper friendly when I've put it on the diaper area. It also smells pretty good, and it doesn't seem to bother Audrey when we put it on the open sores in the diaper area.

Diaper Rash Cream- For Audrey I think it works the best. We've tried several things, but I really like this. This cream does a great job of calming her rash and keeping it from spreading and healing what is already there. Since I started using this, it's always the first thing I reach for when we have a nasty flare up.

Non-Talc Powder- I love baby powder. When my older daughter (Sydney) would get diaper rashes, which was extremely rare, I would always use Johnson's Baby Power with Aloe and Cornstarch. I have since found out that 1) Baby Powder has been linked to several forms of cancer and 2) Cornstarch feeds yeast infections. At any rate, on the Rash Cream and the Diaper Area Spray it says to buy this, so I did. They don't sell this at my Target, I saw it at Whole Foods and bought it. It smells horrible! But it does a pretty good job, I think, I honestly don't know if baby powder can do a bad job. The rash doesn't get worse when I use it anyway! =]

Calendula Body Wash and Lotion- I really loved the Calendula cream, so I though, why wouldn't the lotion and body wash also be awesome? I was pretty disappointed in these products. These are my least favorite products I've bought, honestly. They did not help at all, in fact her eczema on her back and arms came back when I used these products. I now use the lotion on Sydney (whose eczema isn't as bad as Audrey's) and I use the body wash in my diaper spray to keep the oil and water from separating.

Where to Buy It: Target!! Whole Foods also sells them, and I've also seen them at my local Cotton Babies.

The Importance of a Bath

I was super excited about my Diaper Challenge!

But at night time my daughter kept leaking through her pocket diapers.

So every morning I would strip her bed, and give her a bath.

And then something occurred to me.

She has eczema on her diaper area!

Yes, yes, I knew this, but suddenly I realized something.

I can put her eczema lotion on her bottom!

When Audrey first started showing signs of eczema (on her face and arms) I did exactly what I did when Sydney showed eczema, bathed her every night and lathered her in Eucerin.

But it didn't work with Audrey, in fact, it made it worse. Her skin looked better if she only bathed once a week. So that's what I've been doing.

But for the last few days we've had plenty of night time leaks, and she's gotten a bath because of it, and combined with her CereVe lotion we use for her arms, face, and back, her rash is mostly gone, still some rough red patches, but mostly gone.

So, for Audrey, bath time works wonders on her bum.
(Unfortunately it makes her arms, back and face worse.)

So, I have new diaper challenge rules!
I am going to continue the diaper challenge, but instead of seeing which diapers help rashes the best, I'm going to tell you which ones I prefer for my daughter's bum, which are cost effective, durable, and what I think are the best.

Fuzzibunz vs BumGenius

There are two brands that every cloth diapering mom knows.

BumGenius
and
Fuzzibunz

There are pros and cons to both.
Some of my pros/cons are, I will admit, a bit vain, but I will include them.

BumGenius
Things I Like: It seems to be a great diaper, I've never had a single leak from this diaper, it has a great fit, and the elastic isn't horribly tight. (I feel like the elastic on some one-size diapers are too tight!)
Things I Don't Like: I am not a huge fan of just how many snaps there are on BumGenius's diapers. I don't like having to count snaps when I'm putting my wiggly baby into a diaper.

The crotch of the BumGenius is also wider than the Fuzzibunz, which was great, means less chance of a leak!

When I first looked at cloth diapering I thought, for some reason, that there were only Fuzzibunz and BumGenius (and prefolds.) How wrong I was! But I remember thinking that I wanted to try Fuzzibunz instead of BumGenius'.

I originally chose Fuzzibunz over BG because of the following:
1. I really liked the adjustable elastics
2. Fuzzibunz had more colors [vain.]
3. The inside was softer
4. Because of the adjustable elastics you don't have the snaps in front to change the size [vain.]

Now, I will address the following with my new thoughts on these "issues."
1. For some reason FB One-Size diaper has a smaller crotch than their Perfect Size diapers. This is bad. This caused leaks with my chunky legged baby. Even brand new FB didn't work.
2. Okay, well, I still like that FB has more colors. But I like that BG's snaps match the diaper.
3. FB insides ARE softer when they are first washed. After several months of washings, FB lose their softness. My BG still looks the same after a few weeks.
4. I still dislike the snaps on OS, but whatever. The smaller crotch is still a bigger problem than snaps on the front.

Where to Buy: Both Fuzzibunz and BumGenius diapers can be bought on almost every cloth diapering website. Like I said, these are the most popular and well known brands. Currently, BumGenius is offering a deal, buy 5 get one 1 Free! Check out Fluffy Cheeks for more details!

BumGenius for the WIN!

[Though I must say, I still like Kawaii's better than Fuzzibunz or BumGenius.]

The Diaper Challenge

I've been thinking a lot about all the different types of diapers, and which kind might be helpful towards my daughter's bum.

So I've ordered some fitted diapers and some all-in-ones.

Here is my challenge.

I will take a picture of my daughter's rash (in a spot that it would be appropriate to put on the web, lol.) at the beginning of the week. And then I will solely use one type of diaper. No creams. And at the end of the week, I'll take a picture of the same spot.

Here is the schedule:
April 6, 2011-April 12th, 2011 Pocket Diapers
April 13th, 2011-April 19th, 2011 Fitted Diapers
April 20th, 2011-April 26th, 2011 AIOs

I will not be using prefolds or flats, simply because I am not a big fan of them. I think they are gross, so they are not on my rotation.

Of course along the way, I will be reviewing the diapers I'm using, telling you how her bum looks, etc.

Anyone want to guess which type of diaper will be the winner?

This challenge was made obsolete with simple bathing everyday.