What do I need to do with my cloth diapers if baby has a yeast rash?

If your baby gets a rash that is suspected or confirmed to be yeast, it's important to treat your cloth diapers so that baby will not be recolonized by yeast that may be hanging out in the diaper.  Usually, your pediatrician will prescribe an anti-fungal ointment to use on the rash.  Many people will put baby in disposable diapers for the duration; in this case, the cloth diapers need to be treated as follows one time before you start using them again.  If you choose to continue to use cloth while the baby is recovering from a yeast rash, you will need to take these steps every time you wash the diapers during and for one week beyond the baby's course of treatment:

• Proceed with your usual laundering of the diapers (cold wash with no detergent followed by a hot wash), but add chlorine bleach to the hot wash cycle along with the usual amount of detergent.  Use no more than 1/4 cup of bleach for a top loading machine and no more than 1/8 cup of bleach for a front loading machine. 
• You may need to run an extra rinse to ensure all the bleach comes out of the diapers. 
• Ideally, dry diapers in the sun as the UV rays will also kill yeast.

Once baby's course of prescribed antifungal ointment is completed, you may wish to use an occasional light layer of MotherLove Diaper Balm, which contains an herbal anti-fungal to help keep yeast at bay.