Diaper Rash GONE! {Updated}

Amber 19 Comments

After eight months, it finally happened.  One of the four little bums was struck with a dreaded diaper rash!  We change diapers about every three hours during the day and use Vaseline as a liquid barrier.  However, with babies who sleep all night long, they can sometimes sleep in a damp diaper.  All that all night snoozing got to poor little Sydney.  We used several different diaper creams without any success.  They seemed to keep the rash at bay, but it just lingered for weeks.  I even tried fellow quad mama, Rebecca’s tip of using hair dryer at every change to make sure Sydney’s little hiney was completely dry.  No avail.

I finally caved and checked with Dr. Knapp.  He has a recipe for what he dubbed, “Boo Boo” cream.  It’s a mixture of equal parts: hydrocortisone, Lanacane, bacitracin, and A & D Ointment for treating diaper rash.  This was not exactly an inexpensive treatment, but it really worked well for the rash.  I noticed an improvement within one diaper change.  We learned you have to mix it really well and use sparingly!  I recommend using this only for difficult to treat diaper rash, not daily use.

These are the four creams we used to make Dr. Knapp's boo boo cream.

These are the four creams we used to make Dr. Knapp’s Boo Boo Cream.

Dr. Knapp also does not recommend using commercial baby wipes.  According to Dr. Knapp, the commercial wipes contain too many harsh ingredients that are harmful to babies and promote diaper rashes.  Instead, he suggests using plain ol’ toilet paper!   I’m sure toilet paper would get the job done, but the thought of using dry toilet paper for baby blowouts times four makes me cringe.  George and I compromised on this and found several recipes for homemade baby wipes using paper towels.  Over a few weeks we experimented with several different ones found on Pinterest.  We also tried a handful of containers and liquid ratios  until we found the sweet spot.

We use: a roll of select a size paper towels (so far Bounty is our preferred brand), 1.5 tbs baby wash, 1 tbs baby oil, 3 c. water

You will need: 1 roll of select a size paper towels, 4 cups water, 2 tbs. baby wash (any kind), and 1 tbs. baby oil.
Note: since the original writing of this post, I began adding 2-3 drops of tea tree oil and 2-3 drops of lavender oil, which are not pictured. The tea tree oil has antiseptic properties that heal and prevent diaper rash, and also help prevent the wipes from molding. The lavender adds a nice calming scent. You could use essential oils for whatever scent you like.

Here’s the step by step process:

1. cut the paper towels in half (other recipes have you cut about 1/4 off the top, but if you get a shorter container you can make two cans of wipes with one roll of paper towels). We found that the Felli Flip-Tite 1.4 L containers are a good size.

1. cut the paper towels in half (other recipes have you cut about 1/4 off the top, but if you get a shorter container you can make two cans of wipes with one roll of paper towels). We found that the Felli Flip-Tite 1.4 L containers are a good size, I have also seen Oxo containers that would work great too.

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2. Stuff half of the paper towels into one container and the other half into another. Then, pull the cardboard out of the center of the paper towels.

Whisk the 3 c. water, 1.5 tbs. baby wash, and 1 tbs baby oil together.

3. Whisk the water, baby wash, baby oil, and essential oils together.

Pour the liquid mixture over the paper towels.

4. Pour half of the liquid mixture over the paper towels in one container and the remaining half into the second container.  My cousin said she prefers to pour the liquid over the paper towels before taking the cardboard out.  We’ve tried both ways and prefer to take the cardboard out first because it can get too soggy.  Either way works!

With this size container, we pulled a small wad out of the middle to get them to dispense properly.

Ta Da! With this size container, we pulled a small wad out of the middle to get them to dispense properly.

I’ll be honest, I was skeptical of using homemade baby wipes and only tried them because we could not clear a diaper rash.  To my surprise, these baby wipes work just as well as the commercial ones, and now I prefer them.  They don’t take more than five minutes to make,  and really seemed to help clear Sydney’s diaper rash.   As an added bonus they smell great.   For travel, we use Ziploc bags and toss into our diaper bag.  We make one batch of baby wipes per week, costing us only about $1, which is the fraction of what we spent on commercial wipes.

Hugs!

Amber

P.S. When we make our baby wipes, we use an entire roll of paper towels so we have one container for each nursery.  If you only need one container, be sure to divide all other ingredients in half, and save half of your paper towel roll for later.

19 thoughts on “Diaper Rash GONE! {Updated}”

  1. Thats good you found out a way to treat it. We use all sorts of stuff to treat diaper rashes like Desitin and also Triple Paste. The Triple Paste worked out really good, but was also expensive. We received a free tub of it in exchange for a blog post, which turned out to be worth it. They had started a program for families of triplets ‘n more to receive $200 welcome package for free. You should check into that. You can read our post about it and I believe the link still works to sign up for it. http://www.mccleary-family.com/2011/08/triple-paste/

    Also, one of your pictures shows up really tiny. Its the picture of cutting the paper towel roll. Good luck in the Top 25 Moms of Multiples contest, we keep voting for you.

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    • Triple Paste has an awesome program now! Too bad they didn’t have it when your quads were babies. I seriously don’t think we’ll need to buy any diaper cream!

      That picture was tiny and weird…no idea why. That’s what happens when I post after midnight!

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  2. If you pour the liquid in first, the cardboard will just slip right out after its soaked!

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  3. Amber,I just voted for ya’ll,but how often can i vote? I’m leaving Thursday,to go to camp,but I’ll be back Sunday

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  4. 11c each! That is crazy! We spend around 2c per wipe, I get the pampers brand through amazon mom and they are even cheaper. This sounds like a fun solution to play with some scents, “classic butt” gets old (and especially when you use the wipes for more than just cleaning butts, like cleaning hands and faces after solids…)

    I’ve started having the babies have some regular naked play time when Banana started developing diaper rash. 3+ times a week I have them play on the floor (on puppy pee pads) for about 30 minutes, totally naked. Then they get a bath because they pee all over themselves haha. But her rash went away! And they love being naked!

    Glad to hear the rash situation has resolved. Diaper rash is really a bad time.

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    • LOL- I am a goober. I should not post anything at midnight. Our wipes weren’t .11 each, George told me it was more like .02. =)

      Agreed, playing with scents should be fun. A friend (whose kids have very sensitive skin) said she adds a few drops of essential oils to hers. I also like the idea of using these wipes on faces rather than the other ones.

      Sydney would love some naked time, but I don’t think I could puppy pad the place up enough to control the wee wee around here. I’ve got four pee machines with one who is a crawler and one army crawler.
      We were lucky this was a one time deal for us and didn’t even happen until 8 months.

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  5. What a great idea to make your own wipes. Thanks for the detailed photos. I can’t even imagine what it must be like to have 4 babies. Sounds like you did well to go 8 months before your saw any diaper rash.

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  14. Thanks for the recipe! The triplets are coming very soon, and DH approves of no commercial wipes as they smell so potent of alcohol here. This smells nice to him, was easy to make, and with 3 butts to diaper, cheap is good. Then it’ll be onto sleep training.

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