I have long thought about the possibility of switching to cloth diapers for my little one, because of chronic problems with rashes. She is allergic to just about all of the ones available.

But if she is that allergic would she have problems with the detergents used to wash cloth? It seems a huge outlay to risk her being allergic.

Honestly, I don't know...but I think it's at least worth a try to see if it goes over better.

I wish I had some better advice to offer you, but allergies can be a difficult problem to work around sometimes.

About all I can do is wish you luck, and hopefully somebody else here can tell you more.

Does she show allergies to her bed clothes and regular clothes? You wash all of them in detergents I assume. There are plenty of more natural detergents from brands such as Seventh Generation and dye/perfume free options from All, Tide, etc if you are worried about reactions.

I use Tide since the husband is allergic to many oddball detergents too and we didnt want to chance it with the little one. I would check to see if its only her diapers doing it or not, narrow it down one by one if you have to so you know for sure what it is.

Well for a start there isn't supposed to be detergent left on the diapers by the time you put them on your child. You are supposed to rinse to the point that it's all gone, because otherwise it can cause rashes when the urine hits the cloth and reacts with the detergent.

But a child can even be allergic to the cloth-some kids are allergic to the fleece that is used as a dry liner-my daughter is that way. She was fine at first with fleece liners, but developed an allergy, and I had to in the end use only natural cotton on her. No water proof covers either! Only fleece or wool, which is water resistant rather than water proof and lets the baby's skin breath better.

If she is so sensitive I suggest giving Elimination Communication a go!

Then again, you should be safe with cotton. I would just get a dozen prefolds to try at first. I was my diapers in washing soda, borax, and oxyclean, and run an extra rinse with vinegar. Very low allergy possibility.

I've always used Baby Dreft or some equivalent to that to wash my little ones clothes in. Is your daughter allergic to that detergent as well?
If you wash her clothes in a baby detergent and she is fine I would think washing diapers in it would not bother her.

Well no she isn't allergic to her clothes but then she doesn't pee in them ;) The rashes occur where the pee hits the diaper, and reacts with whatever chemicals are in it.

Ok so I don't want to shell out a ton of money. Has anyone ever tried making flats out of towels, or something like? Or is there somewhere I can get good prefolds for cheap-I'm not interested in the Gerber ones, they are sponge filled and just awful.

Not really sure where you could find any, but I would love to know as well. Its getting really expensive to keep buying disposables now.

I bought my diapers from a seller on ebay - granitesmith, I think. I bought indian unbleached prefolds, for about $25 for a dozen premium sized. They are awesome, so much softer than the chinese prefolds.

I have made fitted diapers using an old cotton flannel sheet and the filler was microfiber towels from costco. They work great too!

There are many that you can try but for some cheap ones I would try indian prefolds from Little Lions. They are the cheapest I have ever found but the quality is still great. Buy a snappi for it, rather than pins, and get a cover that is nice and breathable.

I have to third the indian prefolds, they are wonderful. I used prefolds and covers for my kids for...oh....wow, almost 6 years all told, and they really worked out great.

How many prefolds would you need to get started, and what size should I buy? I've seen some really cute dipes with all this looking...

And how hard are they to wash-what was/is your laundry routine?