Mom Blog and Baby Blog | Baby Bunching

baby bunching battles: diaper rash

My first two years of Baby Bunching were an endless stream of, among other things, diaper rashes.  Two babies meant that someone was always either teething, trying a new food for the first time, or ill with a stomach virus or cold that messed up the pipes.  Heaven forbid it was something contagious, in which case BOTH bums would be red as fire engines.  It was then that I discovered the value of a Costco membership for diapers and wipes (and later, formula), but could never quite find a diaper creme that could nip a diaper rash in the bud.

The funny thing about diaper cremes is that it's one of those weird things that people seem to have brand loyalty to.  Desitin was the ointment of my childhood,  my pediatrician recommended Aveeno, but my son's daycare director swore by A + D ointment (had to be original formula).  A friend recommended Boudreaux's Butt Paste, another used Bert's Bees and a third insisted on Balmex.  In my quest to conquer a two-year long diaper rash, I tried them ALL - never fully settling on one that worked without fail every time.  Until my friend Jen introduced me to her secret recipe, which worked EVERY TIME - frequently after just the first application, but always after 2 or 3.  A friend who is a NICU nurse recently confirmed that she was able to con the recipe for the NICU's "butt paste" out of the pharmacist and it similar, with one slight variation.  I share this with you today, my friends, in the hopes that I can save you from the expense and waste of a drawer filled with pseudo-effective butt products.  Happy pasting!

No-Fail Butt Paste

Combine equal parts:

Lotrimin (or some other athlete's foot or anti-fungal cream - or Polysporin is another alternative)

Desitin (original formula)

Cornstarch mixed with a bit of water to make it pasty

Stir all three together until evenly blended and pasty.  I get a small plastic dish with a lid and make a small "batch" to have on hand for the duration of the rash spell.  But like I said - I've never had to use it more than 2 or 3 times on any given rash.

ubi changing lots of diapers, make it fun

We're always so excited when we see cool gadgets geared specifically to Baby Bunchers. OK, this isn't geared for us, but it should be.  I saw this on the Today Show last week and actually "oooed and ahhhed" out loud: the Ubi Baby Changing Table . What immediately made me love this is that it's portable. As Baby Bunchers we don't often have the luxury of leaving the floor to change baby or toddler. This is awesome since you can carry it with you around the house. If you have a playdate going on in the living room, just sit this in there. If you're hanging out on the floor with the fam, bring it along. It's actually a great gift idea for doting grandmas who just spent a bunch on gear (6 months ago) and don't know what else you could possibly need. (Ask for this.)  

Even better, you can actually store the diapers in the seat. Now, this feature probably wouldn't be helpful when you're doing two sets of diapers (since you likely can't tell the difference in the holder), but when toddlers get wiggly, it would be great to have something there to help do the deed faster before your baby crawls away. Yes, you could totally just use a blanket instead of this, but that wouldn't be any fun. And we Baby Bunching moms need to make this "two in diapers" as fun as possible.

cloth diapering your bunch

By Brenda Massung

When you hear the words - cloth diaper - does it make you cringe? Does it remind you of giant white towels that you watched your mother somehow fold onto your little sibling, or the horrid thought of sticking someone with a pin?  For me, when I first heard about cloth diapers, I thought it was nuts.  I began nannying a set of twin girls who were wearing them, plastic pants and all.  It wasn’t terrible, it wasn’t as bad as I thought, and then they switched over to the world of high connivence cloth diapers.  Where all you had to do was snap a diaper around the child - and they were set.  It felt all too good.

But to be honest, it WAS good.  I learned that one disposable diaper sits in a landfill for about 100 years.  I learned that using cloth really does cut down on costs, and the best part it’s great for the bum of my precious baby.  So when our first little lady “announced” her arrival on the lovely little pee stick, my husband and I decided that we would venture into the cloth diaper world.

Entering the world of cloth diapering can be like walking into a foreign country - where people use words like, prefolds, snappis, one-sized, pocket, the list goes on and on.  So my advice to you is to find a website, such as the very helpful storkwarehouse.com, and look at cloth diapering 101.  There, you will determine what the needs of your family are and how to go about the process of cloth diapering.

I know what you’re thinking - “oh, no I”m going to have to rinse the poo out in the toilet, my husband won’t even touch regular poopy diapers.”  Well with the technology of today’s washers - you don’t even have to let that diaper touch the toilet.  You just toss it into a dry bag designed to hold the diapers, and wash within 3 days. Seriously it’s that easy.  Once your child has started forming solid poos- you just toss the solid into the toilet and put the diaper into the bag waiting to wash.  It really is simple.

The best part about baby bunching and cloth diapering, is for those who used sized diapers, you are most likely to have you children in the same sized diaper within several months after baby #2’s birth. The investment cost can be upfront higher, however you can use the diapers you bought for baby #1, on all your babies to come, and even better, if your diapers are still in usable condition you can pass them on/sell them to a friend!

Our family uses sized fuzzi bunz, which come in small, medium, and large - and currently both my girls are in mediums, which is great for the diaper bag.  Now don’t get me wrong, we still use disposable diapers too, when we go on trips, and some nights.  But as you will find with cloth, you aren’t having to run out to the store to do a
diaper run, you are seeing less/NO diaper rashes, and all around know that what you are doing is better for the environment.  Trust me, it’s not as scary as you think.

Brenda is a Des Moines, Iowa - Baby Bunching, part-time “take the kiddos to work with” mom to two girls, 28 month old dolly who arrived 15 weeks before her due date, and a 11 month old dolly who arrived right on time.