Herbal Burn Balm & Cloth Diapering Package GIVEAWAY!

Well friends, this is the last of the MommaWords First Birthday GIVEAWAYS! What a busy month it has been with so many giveaways! Thanks to all our sponsors. The last giveaway consists of two Cloth Diapering Packages. I recently wrote about our struggle with ammonia build up in our cloth diapers, how we treated the diapers, and how we treated our twins for the ammonia burn diaper rash. I wanted to help any parents who might be in a similar situation. So…. I put together two packages! The packages consist of 1) The herbal burn balm (Ching Wan Hung) that I got from my acupuncturist, 2) A homemade bath soak consisting of oatmeal & chamomile tea (enough for 8 baths), AND 3) Hand cut fleece cloth diaper liners (8).

Krystal of Blue Jasmine Acupuncture and Herbs has sponsored the burn balm included in these two packages. I am thrilled that Krystal agreed to sponsor this giveaway because she supplied me with an amazing healing balm! This burn balm works for burns, sores, blister, eczema, and psoriasis. The tiniest amount goes a long way which makes this balm a long lasting steal at $6!

When my twins were recovering from the ammonia burns I was at a loss for how to heal their bottoms as quickly as possible. My daughter had blisters where her skin was exposed to the diapers! I was scared to even take her to the pediatrician. Do you know that the pediatrician was as much at a loss about this “rash” as I was? Because she didn’t have much, if any, experience with cloth diapers, she couldn’t help me. All she could do was take a culture of the rash and later tell me it wasn’t yeast. After digging around on the internet, a fellow cloth diapering momma suggested that the blisters could be an ammonia burn. BINGO! I had even told family members “This is an awful rash! It looks like a BURN!” My point. I told Krystal about this ammonia burn that day and she said she had a great burn balm. It is brown in color, smells like sesame seeds, and works like a charm. I brought it home and applied it that afternoon after nap. Only 24 hours later, the burn looked 50-75% better and all blisters were dried up. At the 48 hour mark there were some completely healed areas and all of the blistered areas looked markedly better. By day three the worst areas were just a thin layer of skin peeling off (like after a sunburn). It was AMAZING. I applied the burn balm 3 times a day, at waking, before nap, and after bath – before bed. Please read the directions on the box and consult your doctor and/or cloth diaper manufacturer with any questions. I used disposable inserts while using this product.

The other treatment I used to heal the ammonia burn (it helps with all diaper rashes and any skin irritations like eczema, as long as there isn’t an allergy to the ingredients) was a bath soak. I used the Aveeno soothing bath soak a couple of times but then found a recipe for a homemade bath soak! I have included this bath soak in the giveaway package! The bath soaks are meant to be placed in a warm bath (not hot!)  and swished around until the water looks milky. The soak bag can be used to gently wash baby’s skin. My daughter’s hair and skin felt super soft after using these bath soaks. The bath soaks are also great for any time baby has irritated skin such as, heat rash or a sun burn. I hope we all avoid sun burns! If your baby has very sensitive skin you may try using this bath soak instead of baby wash to clean him or her during bath time.

To read the complete post on “How to heal and ammonia burn and terrible diaper rash” click HERE.

Now I’ll talk a bit about the fleece liners. There are many reasons to get into cloth diapering. Some parents have chosen cloth to stay away from the chemicals like SAP (super absorbent polymers)  found in disposable diapers. Many of these parents choose to use only cloth diapers made from organic all natural fibers. If this is the case, you may not be interested in using a fleece liner. I have tried using all organic cotton or bamboo soakers only in my children’s diapers and found that their skin felt very wet when I changed them. I also use another soaker that has a fleece top liner which did not leave my children’s skin feeling so wet. So for all my soakers or AIOs that do not have a fleece liner, I have cut fleece liners from fabric bought at my local fabric store. I have found that these liners are helpful in many regards. First, they keep my kids feeling dry. Second, they make clean up of poopie diapers easier because I can simply lift this liner and dump its contents in the toilet. Third, the liners keep our diapers looking nicer which means less work to get stains out.

To enter to win this GIVEAWAY you are required to do the following:

“Like” Blue Jasmine Acupuncture & Herbs on Facebook AND “Like” MommaWords.com on Facebook and tell me in a comment on this post that you have done so. If you do not have a Facebook account and would still like to enter, you may leave a comment on this post telling me what other product or treatment you are interested in on Krystal’s Blue Jasmine Acupuncture & Herbs website.

To qualify for extra entries you must leave a comment on this post stating that you have done one of the following for EACH entry:

“Like” Biker Baby on Facebook (this is another sponsor of our birthday giveaways!)

“Like” Fassett Photography on Facebook (this is another sponsor of our birthday giveaways!)

“Like” Baltic Amber Baby on Facebook (this is another sponsor of our birthday giveaways!)

“Like” bebe bubbles on Facebook (this is another sponsor of our birthday giveaways!)

Follow MommaWords.com via Google Friend connect or tell me if you already do. Please give your screen name for verification of winners.

Follow MommaWords on Twitter.

Subscribe to MommaWords.com via RSS to receive email (or the reader of your choice) notifications when a new post is up.

Tweet about this giveaway and include the URL in your comment. (Limit one per day)

Post about this giveaway on Facebook AND tag MommaWords.com in the post. (To verify a tag, go to the MommaWords.com wall. Your post should be visible. Limit one per day.)

Blog about this giveaway and leave the URL in your comment.

This giveaway closes Friday September 2, 2011 at midnight. Winners will be drawn on Saturday September 3rd, 2011. I will post the winning results as soon as I can that Saturday! I will also notify winners via email. Please check your spam folders! Winners will have 48 hours to reply before a new winner is chosen.

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.

Treating ammonia build up in cloth diapers

Photo via http://www.diaperswappers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=373844

Months and months ago I noticed that our cloth diapers just reeked of ammonia after they were peed in. Let me assure you that, if you are nearly knocked out when you dump your dirty diapers into the washing machine, you have ammonia build up. It may just initially smell bad, but, if left untreated, this build up will LITERALLY BURN your baby’s bum. I had never heard of this being a possibility! So, if you have stinky diapers, this post is for you. And, if you plan on using cloth then you need to know the signs of ammonia build up.

After a diaper has been peed in, it should just smell lightly of urine. If it smells of ammonia, then it’s time to start treating the diapers. How do you treat diapers for ammonia build up? I found a couple great websites that were full of helpful info! The first is Pooters and the second is All About Cloth Diapers. These are both great resources if you would like to use a method other than the one I chose. I went with the method I could use without buying any new detergents or cleansing agents because I wanted to start treating my diapers the moment I learned what the heck was going on.

Backstory:

My twins had suffered red bottoms 3 times before I figured out what the problem was. I took my dear daughter (DD) and dear son (DS) to the pediatrician because I thought for sure this was a yeast rash, since it was so persistent. I treated the diapers for yeast (see post HERE) once with tea tree oil, stripping and oxiclean and then a second time with bleach (which you aren’t supposed to use because it decreases the life of the diapers). The pediatrician swabbed DD’s rash to check for yeast and gave us a prescription for a prescription anti-fungal. After we put both kids in hybrid diapers with disposable inserts and used the prescription cream, the rash started clearing up. After having treated the diapers, I thought I was in the clear to start using them again once the rash was completely gone. Um, not the case. Why? It wasn’t yeast! The culture swab came back negative for yeast.

I put DD in cloth again and 3 diapers later she had a serious burn AGAIN. I was very upset. What was I doing wrong? What else could this be, if not yeast? I started reaching out to fellow cloth diaper users on Facebook. After several suggestions that the twins suddenly BOTH became sensitive to our detergent (which I found very unlikely), someone suggested that I boil the diapers. This sounded like a good idea to me. I started boiling diaper inserts (not my AIOs) and continued to research online. The next morning I checked Facebook and found a reply saying that it sounded like ammonia burn. This immediately felt right to me because when I saw how bad the rash was, I thought “this looks like a burn!”. DD had blistered! (See the post HERE for how we quickly healed the ammonia burn/rash.) I then had some specific information to look up. I found the above mentioned websites and began to treat. Since I was already boiling diapers, I continued using that method.

Boiling Diapers:

Use the largest pot you have and fill it 3/4 the way full. Use long tongs to add and remove diapers. After water has come to a boil, slowly add one diaper or diaper insert at a time. (I’m just going to say that this is a crucial point. I got lazy after a few pots of diapers and added too many at one time. The pot boiled over, I had a flooded stove, and the water spilled into the cabinet below onto all my pots and pans and the floor. Then I had to keep two toddlers out of the kitchen, with a hot water covered floor and clean up everything. Spare yourself and add the diapers slowly.) You can boil between 15-30 minutes but if you are boiling anything with PUL I’d go with 15 minutes. Longer may damage/melt your diapers. Pooters also suggests that diapers older than 2 years shouldn’t be boiled because it may damage them beyond repair. I then removed the diapers one at a time and placed them in a metal rubber coated bowl. Make sure your container won’t melt with the heat of the diapers! I then took the diapers over to the sink and placed them in a colander to drip. After they cooled off a bit, I took them to the washing machine.

After boiling I rinsed the diapers in cold. I have a front load HE washer and I will give you the setting I used along the way. After rinsing, I washed the diapers with the Kirkland biodegradable liquid laundry detergent and put vinegar in the laundry softener compartment. I usually use Tiny Bubbles Detergent because it is specific for cloth diapers. If you use a non-cloth diaper specific detergent you can get buildup from the detergent in your diapers that can cause stink and other problems. I set the washer to Hot/Cold, heavy soil, extra rinse, and water plus. After this cycle was complete I added another rinse to total 1 pre-rinse and 3 post-wash rinses.

I REALLY didn’t want to boil my AIOs, for fear that the waterproofing layer would melt. Instead, I washed them separately on the sanitary cycle with Tiny Bubbles Detergent and then washed according to the above directions. After DD had one pee in the unboiled AIO, I could smell ammonia (not as strong as it was before but still). So, I got over my fear and boiled my AIOs, three diapers at a time, for 15 minutes each set followed by the post boil wash routine from above.

I knew this had worked once I put the kids in a diaper and smelled didn’t smell the ammonia aroma from a soiled diaper! No red bottoms! I wish that ammonia build up was talked about more as a frequent problem. I have heard of several moms who happily cloth diapered for over a year, and suddenly had to give it up because of severe diaper rash. I’m thinking ammonia could have been the culprit.

Because of this discovery, I have changed my wash routine. I now, pre-rinse cold (I used to just push the prewash button), wash Hot/Cold with Tiny Bubbles Detergent & 1/2 scoop oxiclean, use the heavy soil, water plus and extra rinse settings, as well as add one more extra rinse at the end. I also wash monthly with the Kirkland detergent mentioned above to prevent buildup. I used to wash every other day but am now washing every day. I read a BumGenius recommendation stating that 12-15 AIOs are considered a full load for an HE machine. Yikes! I was totally overloading my machine! I think I was washing 16 AIOs plus the same amount of inserts AND cloth wipes too! I’m now also soaking the overnight, nap time & poopie diapers in a wet pail with water and a few drops of tee tree oil.

After all this I started asking around to see if any fellow cloth diapering mommas had experience telling the difference between a yeast rash and an ammonia burn. One mom suggested that if you put a cup of baking soda in baby’s warm bath the rash should improve if it is not yeast. If it remains the same by the next morning, then it may be yeast or a bacterial infection. I’d say, if you take baby to the doctor and the doctor swabs the rash, the results will give you the best information. In our case, the swab came back negative for anything. This makes perfect sense since it was an ammonia burn and not a bug of any kind.

It amazes me how much there is to know about parenting, cloth diapering, and life in general. I hope I have made this cloth diaper journey a bit easier on at least one of you! What’s your wash routine? Is it working for you? Share in a comment on this post and help save someone else from reinventing the wheel!

I just came across two great sites to add to this post and I wanted to add them! The first is a thread about washing, detergent and buildup and is REALLY informative. Click HERE to check it out. The second site is for a recipe to make your own cloth diaper detergent. Check out The Eco Friendly Family for this recipe!  For my latest wash routine update click HERE.

How to heal an ammonia burn and terrible diaper rash

We have been dealing with this NEVER ENDING diaper rash in our house! I started to REALLY research what else could be wrong. I thought it was a yeast rash. It wasn’t. Not only did I treat my diapers for yeast twice, but my dear daughter’s (DD) bum tested negative for yeast when the pediatrician swabbed it for a culture. So what the heck was causing this blistery rash that looks WAY too much like a burn? I mean, I was AFRAID to take DD to the doctor the first time because this rash was SO BAD!

So, what have I learned? I have learned that it probably was a burn. Apparently, if ammonia builds up in your cloth diapers, it can cause a burn. Ouch. Ammonia build up sucks. I will write a blog on how I got rid of the ammonia at a later time, once I have made sure that it is really GONE FOR GOOD. I am waiting for my DD and DS’s little bottoms to completely heal before I attempt to write about how to fix the problem.

What I do want to write about is how to help heal this burn. The first thing is to get them out of those diapers while they are healing and treat the diapers. We have been using a biodegradable, disposable inserts in our GroVia AI2s as well as GroVia biodiapers. Second, get some Ching Wan Hung Soothing Herbal Balm. I was telling my acupuncturist about this ammonia burn rash and she said, “I have this great burn balm!” Great? You can say that again! I have applied half a pea sized dab on my daughter’s ammonia burn area 4 times now. As of the third application she was 50% healed over most of the worst area and almost 100% healed on the less affected areas. Wow. Ok, so that’s not all I’ve done, but I give the herbal balm most of the credit. I also started using GroVia’s Magic Stick and Aveeno’s Soothing Relief Bath Treatment. I also read somewhere along this blog-o-rific journey, that you can make your own soothing bath treatment. Um, yes please! I’d love to save some money!

Homemade soothing bath soak for diaper rash, burns, and skin irritations:

1/2 cup whole oats, 1 Chamomile tea bag or spoon full of loose tea, wrap in a small square of cheese cloth and tie off.

Use a new bag with each bath. Do not reuse the soak!

Place in a warm (not hot) bath and swish around to release oat milk and tea. My DD’s hair and skin has been super soft as an added bonus!

So, to recap, I have been applying the Herbal balm when the twins wake, before nap, and before bed (after the bath soak). Because they have been in disposable inserts, I have covered the balm in either Aquaphor or Magic Stick (remember that you shouldn’t use Aquaphor in cloth because it can decrease absorbency of your diapers), and use the Magic Stick alone for all other diaper changes. This is the quickest this type of rash has EVER healed, and I am super excited to give you another option for those of you that are dealing with similar problems!

For those mom’s that dealt with burns from some of the chemicals in overnight disposable diapers, I would think that this concoction would greatly help you as well!

I’d love to hear your feedback in a comment on this post!