Lately, I’ve been seeing a question pop up a lot from cloth diapering moms. Is it safe to use cornstarch on cloth diapers?
In a nutshell? Yes. But, as always, there are details, et cetera, to consider.
When Cornstarch on Cloth Diapers is Fine
When you’re doing your normal diapering routine, it’s perfectly fine to use cornstarch on cloth diapers. It’s a great way of absorbing moisture to help baby stay dry. This is especially important when it’s summertime or when your baby is in the beginning phases of a diaper rash. It’ll rinse clean, so cornstarch on cloth diapers won’t cause a residue build up or contribute to diaper funk issues. It’s also relatively cheap. You can also get travel sized cornstarch baby powder to keep in your diaper bag, so you won’t have to worry about mess.
When Cornstarch on Cloth Diapers is Bad
There’s one really big and key time that you should absolutely avoid using cornstarch on cloth diapers: when dealing with a yeast rash. Yeast is a beast. It can take a while to treat on both the baby and the diaper stash. Cornstarch is a carbohydrate (just like the flour that we use in baking), and the yeast will feed on it and get worse. In this instance, it’s not so much that cornstarch itself is a bad thing for the diapers (because it’s not), but the natural flora that lives in your baby’s gut has managed to escape and start thriving on the skin. Until you are absolutely certain that the yeast beast has been vanquished, avoid cornstarch, flour, or any other carbohydrate type treatment on the bum.
Have you used cornstarch on cloth diapers? How did it work for you?
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I had no idea this was a possibility. I will pass this along to my little sister who uses cloth diapers. My kids are all older now 🙁
I don’t do cloth diapering.. Bu I can see the Moms who are cloth diapering wondering about this.. I will certainly this post with them.. Great info! 🙂
Amazing tips and tricks to make cloth diapering easier and/or more efficient are always great!!
Interesting, I was told not to use cornstarch with cloth diapers. But I’ll keep this in mind now.
I didn’t realize that cornstarch was safe to us on cloth diapers- Definitely good info to know! Its also good to know that cornstarch is bad for yeast rash. I can definitely use this in my cloth diaper routine.
Using cornstarch never even occurred to me but I’ll keep it in mind!
I had no idea! We are battling a nasty rash right now, I might have to give this a shot!
Thank you so much for answering this, I see this question on so many cloth diapering pages! I’ll be bookmarking this to share in the future.
My babies rashes almost always end up being yeast so I have never tried cornstarch. I would rather just give them naked time and clean up any messes.
I have never heard of this! I’ve been CD for a little over 3 years now and am on Baby #2 with cloth. I will have to give this a whirl! Thanks!!
this is great information to know. i am going out and buying some cornstartch tomorrow i had just assumed it was always bad… thank you
Wow I never linked the carbs in corn starch being bad for yeast infections. Thanks for the heads up! I also always wondered about using corn starch with cloth diapers and have forgone it not knowing better 🙂 glad to know it’s ok.
Thanks for the post! Cornstarch works great on my daughters rashes.
Ive never heard of using this before. thanks for all the great info. I will def pass this on to all my cd friends. and I want to try it on my LO soon
Occasionally our day care will add cornstarch to my son’s bottom. I see it on his diapers when he comes home. Not too worried — we use grapeseed extract in our cloth wipes solutions, which helps battle yeast.
This is very useful! My grandson lives with us and he gets heat rash as soon as the weather got was – especially on his lower back and I have wanted to use cornstarch but my daughter was pretty sure you could Not use it on cloth diaper areas. Thanks for the information. I thought it would be fine because cloth diapers and cornstarch have been going together since the beginning of time lol.
A lot of things about cloth diapering have changed over the years, but that’s one thing that hasn’t!
Cornstarch always gave my daughter a rash. Now, we believe it was a corn allergy. Arrowroot starch was my go to.
Poor kid! At least you found something that works. 🙂
Thanks for this – I am just now learning about cloth diapering and so any advice I can seek out is much appreciated!
Thanks for the advice! I’m trying to get all the facts straight on what products are safe to use or not for cloth diapers.