Diaper Rash

My poor little Olivia has managed to get diaper rash already!  It doesn't seem to bother her too much, but it REALLY bothers me.  So for the last few days I've been hyper-vigilant about diaper changes and applying diaper rash cream.  Everything I read says the best thing to do is to leave the diaper off and let the air get to the rash, so for the last few nights I've been sitting with her with a cloth pre-fold in case she decides to go, which she did, frequently.  When I got tired of being pooped on, I decided to slather on the diaper rash cream.  As a mother of 4 I have to say that the BEST thing I have found for diaper rash, isn't a diaper rash cream at all.
It's actually lanolin, the ointment they give you in the hospital for breastfeeding.  I use it with all the kids as well as myself.  I use it every night on my lips to keep them from getting chapped, on Caden's eczema, on Ellie and Vince's small cuts, dry skin or minor irritations.  It's MAGIC!  I use it in the winter when my hands get so dry they crack and it only takes a day or two until I no longer have bleeding hands.  I use Lansinoh, but there are other brands.  I HIGHLY recommend this product, whether you have kids in diapers or not. 

The other recommendation I read was using cloth diapers.  I'm a big fan of cloth diapers, but I use disposables until the umbilical cord falls off (the cloth are too bulky and cover the cord).  Vince was so much bigger than Liv that once his cord fell off, he pretty much fit in the cloth, but she's so tiny, they come halfway up her torso!  My friend, Aimee, started using cloth with her little girl, but didn't like them because they are so bulky.  I had forgotten how big they are on little ones.  Liv wears a newborn size, but in the cloth she fits into all her 0-3 month clothes.  They may be bulky, and they really DO help with diaper rash!  Vince only had a problem with diaper rash once or twice, and I really attribute that to his cloth diapering.  Within about half a day of switching to the cloth, Olivia's rash was visibly healing.  I really DO love those cloth diapers!  They're a pain to wash, expecially with a newborn that goes through a TON of diapers a day, but it's worth it, to me, to feel like I'm doing something to help keep my little girl rash-free and away from the chemicals in the disposable. (For the record I'm still using the Honest Company Diapers which as far as disposable diapers go, I really like (they're super cute too!) but they're still not as good as cloth.  I still have a ton of diapers to take down to the curb (yes, Evan, technically YOU take them down to the curb, but I'm speaking metaphorically!) and it costs me $80 a month for diapers compared to the slight increase in energy and water cost to wash my cloth diapers.)  So even though I was tempted with the disposables for awhile, I'm still planning to stick with my cloth.  I'm excited to get back to the Breastfeeding Center and get some pink diapers so my little girl doesn't have to wear all of her brother's boy diapers!