How to Treat a Yeast Infection in Your Cloth Diapered Baby

Your little one has a diaper rash that just won't seem to go away with your typical remedies.  The rash is red, raised, and splotchy.  There may even be some open sores.  If you notice any of these things, he or she most likely has a yeast infection. 

While I was hesitant to even do this post because of the thought of my future 16-year old son googling himself and getting furiously upset with me {"MOM - WHY DID YOU BLOG ABOUT MY DIAPER RASH!?"}, I know that probably the reason you're reading this right now is because your little one has a yeast infection and you don't know what to do.  So, 16-year old Charlie - by blogging about your diaper rash, I hopefully helped some other sore baby butts out there!!



First - How did this happen?  Generally, yeast infections show up after a round of antibiotics in either the baby or the breastfeeding mother.  More simply though, it's an imbalance in the natural bacteria in your body.  I honestly have no idea how Charlie got his - neither of us had been on antibiotics and nothing in our diets had changed.

How do I know that it's yeast?  Without going to the doctor, the best way to know that you're dealing with a yeast infection is to wait a few days after first noticing the rash.  If, after your best efforts to treat diaper rash, it's not any better (or most likely, is worse), you probably have yeast on your hands.  The rash is also pretty distinguishable - red, "beefy" skin with raised lesions, and often open sores.

Ok, it's yeast.... now what?  If you are a follower of my blog, you know that running to a doctor is certainly not the first (or second) course of action around here.  We always try a natural route first, then not-so-natural home remedies, THEN if nothing is changing, we see the doctor.  I am happy to say that with a mix of mostly natural remedies and one not-so-natural home remedy, we were able to knock out the yeast infection completely in less than a week!  Here's how we did it....

First Steps

Get the cloth diapers off that baby's bum!  The cloth is going to harbor the yeast (yes, even when you wash them), and just keep passing the infection back to the baby.  Also - the not-so-natural cream that we used (Lotrimin) is NOT cloth diaper friendly!  So, you have two options here.... if you just can't bring yourself to buy disposable diapers (me... at first), you can cut out pieces of fleece to line the cloth diapers with, creating a barrier between your baby and the cloth diaper.  The other (much easier option) is to break down and buy a small box of disposable diapers to use while you're treating the rash.  The chemicals in the disposable diapers quickly pull moisture away from the baby, not to mention the once-only-use, will keep the yeast from passing back and forth from baby to diaper.

Strip your diapers!  You'll need to strip your cloth diapers to rid them of the yeast infection.  If you're not sure how to do this, here is a tutorial.

Natural Remedies

Baking soda baths!  This will not only help to dry out the yeast, but it is also very soothing for a sore, itchy bottom.  In your child's bath water, sprinkle about a 1/4 cup of baking soda in and mix it in.  Do this twice a day or more as needed.  In the FIRST bath - also mix in about 1/2 cup of distilled white vinegar.  This is anti-bacterial and will give that yeast a good, strong kick in the rear (pun intended).  This can quickly dry out baby's skin though, so only do this on the first bath.  Keep in mind, the baking soda is drying out the yeast infection, but also the rest of your baby's skin (especially true if you're doing this several times a day).  Just make sure to lather baby up with lotion on the rest of their body after bath time.

Enjoying his baking soda baths!

Coconut oil!  This is great for all diaper rashes, but it works here too.  Very soothing and cooling, as well as anti-bacterial.

Tea Tree oil!  Ok, you want to be careful with this stuff.  It's great for getting rid of fungal infections, but it can also irritate anyone's skin, especially baby skin.  I did mix a few drops of TTO in Charlie's bath water, but I decided not to put any directly on his skin, even when mixed with a carrier oil.  If it had been anywhere but his bottom, maybe... but I didn't want to irritate that area any more than it already was.

Probiotics!  If you don't have any probiotics on hand, get some organic yogurt.  (Tip: if baby will let you, you can actually just smear yogurt right on the rash!)  If you're breastfeeding, you can eat some too!  This will help re-balance the natural flora in the body.

Naked time!  Let your little one spend as much time naked as possible.  This will help keep the area dry and prevent rubbing/chafing which is very uncomfortable (obviously).

Not-so-natural Remedies
Anti-fungal cream.  Like I said, I'm typically one that waits around and tries natural remedies first.  However.... Charlie was so obviously in pain; and I wasn't going to wait around testing things out with such a sensitive area.  So, in addition to the natural remedies mentioned above, we also bought Lotrimin - an over-the-counter athlete's foot medicine.  At naptime and bedtime (because he was naked any other time), we slathered some Lotrimin on the rash and then coated that in a diaper rash cream to keep it on his skin.

How long will it take to go away?  You should start noticing a difference within 24 hours.  The main rash was gone within three days, and all spots were healed by the end of the week.  Keep baby out of the cloth diapers until the rash has been gone for about 48 hours just to be on the safe side.

*See Charlie, it wasn't that embarrassing, was it?*

This post was shared at: Tuesday Baby Link Up