J.G.
My son wasn't able to were Huggies for more then a few days. Actually we use to by Huggies for my dauhter & Pampers for my son (they are only 15 mo. apart). Huggies leaked less for my daughter, but my son would get diaper rash if we left him in them to long. Daipers absorb different & the companies use different things to make them, so different kids will react to them. Yes, getting cheap diapers is nice and I tried them all with my son - for him Pampers was the only ones we didn't have to deal with diaper rash from... he could wear the others safely for about 2 days, but after that he was SOL. So, sometimes we would have to use his sister to get to payday, but only if it was only a day or two away.
Good luck finding the problem... remember it can take a body up two 3 days to react to something they are allergic to. So, try to think back atleast 3 days when you notice the brake out & see if anthing was different.
As for fabric softner... I didn't use it with my little ones. My daughter broke out from it - she is now 5 & we are just now able to use it.