2 Days to a Rash

Early Wednesday morning we welcomed Molly to our family.  Baby number 8 for us, she is rewriting the rules of the household already.  She is our smallest baby at 6lbs, 12oz.  My labor with her was one of my longer and harder labors, but we are recovering nicely and she is a champion sucker and has taken easily to breastfeeding.

Now all of my children have sensitive skin, so hers was really no surprise, except for how fast it showed itself.  Her second night was spent in the NICU as we tried to discern the nature of a heart arrhythmia.  Thankfully the heart arrhythmia is completely benign.  The tape they used for the tests, however, caused quite a reaction.

I thought I would share some of my thoughts on diapering a newborn, before I forget all about them again.  In bullets because most of my thoughts are brief and fleeting at this point postpartum.

• I bought chlorine free disposeable diapers, knowing I wouldn't feel much like doing laundry for a few days after her birth.  These cost a fair bit more than generic diapers, but I figured it was worth it to keep things more chemically simple for her newborn skin.
• The NICU we were at used Pampers diapers.  These were so heavily scented that I felt like I couldn't even smell my baby at all.  Just walking near her, all I could smell was that stupid diaper.
• But after less than 48 hours in those two kinds of diapers, everywhere they touched her skin was angry, red, and raw.
• So just as her little pee and poo factory was heading into full steam ahead, we switched her full time back to cloth, tossing out our expensive disposables.
• She generated her own load of diapers in just over 24 hours.  Need to get those washed quick, before she poops on another cover!!!
  
• Miss Molly likes to poop without a diaper on.  Any no matter how long I wait to start wiping her, she will poop more as soon as a wipe touches her butt.
• One diaper change took me through over 12 wipes (I stopped counting!) prompting me to dig out my cloth wipes as well.  Most of my babies haven't tended to use this many, but some babies just seem to make a big mess every time their diaper is off.  What freedom to not have to view these kinds of changes as money lost as your baby pees on each diaper as soon as it is set under their bottom!
• Kissaluvs Size 0 are still my absolute favorite newborn diapers, especially since Molly was so much smaller than my other kids.
• Having a newborn around is a very special time, but no matter how many times you do it, there is always a learning curve for this particular baby.