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What should I do to disinfect my diapers from a staph infection?
DD developed a topical staph infection almost two months ago. The infection was isolated to her diaper area only. A wound culture indicated that this is the "easy-to-treat" staph (thankfully not MRSA). It cleared up after about 2 weeks of topical and oral antibiotic. I put her in disposables during treatment and for travel afterwards. During that time I stripped all the diapers, washed them in hot with soap nuts, and dried them on high. (I did not use bleach.)
Well, she's been back in her cloth for less than a week and it looks like the staph is back! (I'll need to take her to the pediatrician to confirm, but it looks just the same.) DH blames the reinfection on the cloth diapers. I'm wondering the same thing myself, though I didn't think the staph could survive that long on clean cloth. My alternate explanation is that the irritation of being in wet cloth makes her skin susceptible to infection from some unknown source. DD has sensitive skin already, so I think this is quite likely, even with frequent diaper changes.
Fortunately, this rash was the impetus for shifting PTing into high gear, and that's going well. BUT, I'm planning to keep her in diapers at night for a while. More importanty, we've got a LO on the way in February who I don't want to infect!
Any expert direction out there for this one? Could the staph be living in the diapers? I've been unable to find definitive information through web searches. I use a combination of large, unbleached cotton Sandies and large FB pockets with synthetic absorbant inserts.
One last request, please don't post your advice if it is based solely on your speculation. I'm quite concerned for the health of my family, since staph infections are extrememly contagious, and I need solid information please! |
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Solid information on topics like this are almost impossible to find, I know from experience. There are lots of natural disinfectants like steam, tea tree oil, grapefruit seed extract, undiluted vinegar, garlic, colloidal silver etc... and they all work pretty well. But I've found very little information on exactly how effective they are against more 'serious' infections like that. The little bit of info I've found showed that vinegar or tea tree oil (I can't even remember which, sorry) was indeed highly effective but not quite as effective as bleach. The only well documented disinfectant is chlorine bleach, that is pretty much a sure stuff.
As I see it you have two basic choices. First choice go for the sure stuff - bleach, and you're sure you've got it done once and for all. Second choice - take your chances on the more natural alternatives. For what it's worth, one bleaching shouldn't lead to permanent damage to your diapers (especially on cotton - it's looking like it's tougher than bamboo), just do it carefully and make sure the bleach is well diluted before it comes into contact with the diapers (and don't rely on a built-in bleach dispenser for this, they don't always work as well as they theoretically should). Then again, the natural alternatives should be effective enough, especially if you combine a couple together.
Sorry, don't suppose that was much help.
Karen. |
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| How much bleach do I need to use? I have a FL washer, so I'm wondering whether I need to soak the diapers in bleach in the bathtub. |
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I don't think that's necessary. Bleach is pretty darned effective and as long as the diapers are wet with water containing bleach then they're being disinfected. I'd just pour diluted bleach into the bleach dispenser (about a cup for a full load is a pretty typical amount I think) and just run the longest cycle you can. Use the hottest cycle you can as well since heat helps bleach work better. If you have a sanitary cycle of some sort you could use that too, just for good measure. I'd also make sure the diapers were really really well rinsed afterwards as well since bleach can irritate skin.
Karen.
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You’ve got me thinking now...my son had a staph infection in the diaper area a few weeks ago as well, and in the last couple of days I’ve been thinking it might be back as well. I’ve read that the staph can really only infect skin that is already open. With my son, it seems that a yeast rash has lead to the staph infection both times. The yeast weakens/opens the skin and by the time the yeast clears up there are little spots infected with staph. From a website referring to towels (not diapers) it said to wash the towel in hot water (and soap) and dry fully in the dryer on hot. I am using this routine for diapers as well (along with 20 drops of tea tree oil in the wash cycle, since I am dealing with yeast as well, and vinegar in my pre-rinse). I had stopped drying in the dryer last time I thought the yeast and staph had both cleared, but perhaps I need to continue the routine longer after it seems to be gone (I had never dried in the dryer before, and want my diapers to last, but also want healthy skin for DS!)
I’m not sure what else you’ve already found out or tried, but some other things I came across include: be sure to use bath towels only once (and treat them with hot wash, hot dry), protect the skin from breaking down and becoming susceptible to infection (you mentioned this), fastidious hand washing before AND after diaper changes.
Of course I also came across bleach in my research, as well. But I was thinking that in a hospital they use bleach for each wash. With a one-time bleaching for diapers, wouldn’t the diapers be back where they were before the bleaching as soon as you put them back on that child if the infection is not completely cleared up? Perhaps I will try a one-time bleaching after everything is completely healed up, to help prevent reoccurrence, and prevent spreading anything to the next baby.
I hope your baby’s skin clears up soon...it’s no fun dealing with a whole bunch of creams etc. Oh, that reminds me, before putting the cream on, my Dr. recommended washing the area with a solution of "buro-sol", an antiseptic powder mixed in water.
As Karen said, a sure thing is hard to come by, and these are mostly just tips.
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Thank you for the input on the bleach. I'm not opposed to bleaching in a case like this. In fact, I bleached my diaps when I first bought them on FSOT. I just use it so infrequently that I didn't have any on hand. I also thought the hot water-hot drier combo would do the job. It may be that the combo did the job (see below), but I'll still bleach the diaps as a precaution.
As of this morning, it looks like the staph recurrence may have been a false alarm (fingers crossed). Hopefully what I saw was nothing more than skin irritation due to friction with the wet diaper. I really think she needs her skin to stay uber-dry right now. Besides the staph, she had thrush followed by mouth ulcers (all the way down her throat). It was a bad two months. She's healthy now, but I'm wondering if her system is still sensitive from the cumulative effect of the three illnesses in a row. Fortunately, she's in dry panties all day. I put her back in a disposable last night, and I may just stick with that for a few more days. The stay-dri liners weren't keeping her skin dry enough during the day, let alone over night.
Lori, don't you feel like you are washing your hands and doing laundry NONSTOP? I know I do, but you are totally right about keeping everything clean (towels, bedding, clothing, diapers). As for your thoughts on bleaching I think sanitizing at the end would be critical, but sanitizing during the bouts would also be important in order to keep the wounds/ulcers clean. Otherwise, we are reintroducing contaminants whilst treating the skin with the topical antibiotic. The real question is whether we are getting the diapers clean enough without bleach. I'm hoping we are, but I'm not completely convinced. Even if we switch to bleaching and hot drying with each wash for a month, I think the diapers would hold up. My aunt said she always bleached her flats with every load when her kids were in cloth (they are all parents themselves now). I know ME diaps are more expensive to replace than flats, and that is part of why we don't bleach them regularly. But I do find it helpful to hear what mothers did "back in the day."
By the way, I found a post on another forum with a question similar to my original post. One responder claimed to be some sort of research scientist and said that blood-born and respiratory pathogens don't survive long on clean clothing (my pediatrician said usually only 8-12 hours max), but the scientist-poster said staph has been observed to survive seven months in storage or longer if protein is present. I don't have a source for the claim, but it has major implications for CD as well as hospitals and nursing homes. If I find out anything else I'll pass it on. |
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