Unless I’m baking I pretty much curse yeast every time I see it. What I have concluded thus far is that John is more prone to yeast infections when teething. Our first flare up was with his first round of teeth. He cried a lot and I cried a lot and he cried some more and I tried different remedies and I cried a lot and teeth popped up and we made it through it. With the second round of teething, I had a bit more knowledge and we handled it better… at least with a whole lot less crying. A lot of things will suggest starting your baby on yogurt, but that is the one remedy I didn’t try because our Pediatrician strongly suggested that I wait on all dairy (even yogurt) until a year… and I’m a go-by-what-the-Pediatrician-says-kind-of-gal.
My swift yeast combating skills involve preventing poop from touching baby. I do this by generally know when he’s going to go. Then I cake on (literally cake on) diaper rash cream and put on a disposable diaper. If I do hear him/notice him poop without diaper rash cream protection I change him immediately! I also like to use baby powder (actually corn starch). I figure our Grandmothers used it for a reason. Yeast thrives in moisture so the better you keep your baby’s bottom dry the less likely yeast is to have a home to thrive. That being said, don’t make the mistake of thinking you can put baby powder on your kiddo and it will keep him dry for 5-6 hours. I use baby powder occasionally and I use a little amount when I do use it. And I use it with cloth, not disposables.
And after that if I’m still struggling then I result to naked man time and lots of baths. When John wasn’t mobile this was easier. I put him on a towel in the kitchen with a few toys and yeast was defeated. I could see/hear very easily when he went so I cleaned up and he continued to play. Once he got more mobile, I really couldn’t do naked time unless it was outside… or I followed him around with a towel & a few prefolds all day.
I used everything from Grapefruit Seed Extract to Bleach to ensure that yeast didn’t stay in my cloth diapers. Grapefruit Seed Extract seemed to work initially but the yeast persisted. I tried a whole list of essential oils, in addition to prescription creams (on John with disposables), all to no avail. Bleach (in laundry) worked great… even after the yeast persisted, but the problem with bleach is that is hard on PUL. What I do now is make sure I’ve used enough laundry detergent (cloth diapering sites warn about using too much, but I think they scare you into not using enough) and then I like to do a vinegar rinse and a nice long dry on high. If he’s having a bad outbreak I will pull out the bleach, but only sparingly now because I get nervous about the PUL.
I’m not sure we’ve seen the end of our yeast days and I know our methods for removal aren't typically found on cloth diapering sites, but this is what works for us. I feel significantly more empowered than I did the first time John had an outbreak, but it was a steep learning curve... and I pray that you never have to deal with yeast.
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