Friday, July 15, 2011

Whoops! CDs and Diaper Rash Cream Don't Mix!

We LOVE our Gro Via Hybrid cloth diapers.  I can't say there's been anything to complain about {except the time it takes to dry them, but during summer, I just leave them out all day on the rack and that works perfect}.  So we've been surprised that lately, the daycare has been complaining that Rowan leaks right through his cloth diapers.  They've tried a number of their own methods for trying to fix this, including putting the pad in backwards, and just not using cloth diapers at all.  However, we've been skeptical because we NEVER have this problem at home...

Until today.

I picked Rowan up from daycare at 11:30 am to go to our company picnic.  They had just put him in a clean CD and I didn't change it during the picnic {he didn't seem to be fussing or wet}.  As I was carrying him towards the car, at 2pm, all o'sudden I felt a big wet spot on my shirt.  Lo and behold, his entire pee had soaked right through the diaper!  WTF??

I was seriously starting to panic a little.  I mean, we spent a small fortune on these diapers.  What the hell is going on?

The whole drive back home, my brain was turning.  How did we ruin our diapers?  I ONLY use Charlie's Soap for ALL our laundry.  Then it dawned on me!  Daycare uses a shit-ton of diaper rash cream {I can't blame them, since I actually authorized use of diaper rash cream, though I didn't expect them to use it as liberally as they do}.  Diaper rash cream is water repellent.  Diaper rash cream + cloth diaper = water repellent diaper. SHIT.  Over time, the diaper rash cream has worked it's way into the Gro Via inserts, making them, basically useless!!!

So why don't we have this problem at home?  Well, we don't use much diaper rash cream at home for starters and when we do, it's pretty much only at night, with a disposable diaper.  Also, we mostly use prefolds inserted into the Gro Via shell {we spare the Gro Via inserts for daycare since they're easier}.  I guess when we do use the Gro Via inserts at home, we've just lucked out using ones that weren't as contaminated with diaper rash cream.

I was still upset.  Solving the puzzle didn't make me feel any better about my whole {$$$} stash of CDs that don't work anymore.  So I got online, of course, and searched for ways to clean diaper rash cream from cloth diapers. I mean, this HAS to be a common problem.  And lucky for me, it is.  There's a whole bunch of info about stripping diapers of unwanted contaminates.  You have to be careful though, 'cause some methods don't jive with certain brands.  That's why I went straight to the Gro Via website for my info.

I smothered five of my inserts with dish soap and hot water and scrubbed away.  Then I rinsed. Then I soaked them in boiling water.  I'm still planning on running them through a hot, detergent free wash cycle. I am crossing my fingers that this will work.  I think I'll cry if it doesn't.

AND, from now on, we and daycare are on strict orders to use ONLY the Gro Via Magic Stick diaper rash cream, {which is made by Gro Via, for Gro Via} so this doesn't happen again!

1 comment:

  1. This is great info and kudos for figuring it out. I have read so many diaper posts and I have never seen this! Another piece of info to file away for future use!

    ReplyDelete

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