There is truly nothing worse than the painful cry of a baby that has a sore bottom from diaper rash. If it isn’t healed up quickly the child will cry every time he soils or wets his diaper. This can make life miserable for the little one, as well as the adults in the household. We hate it when, despite all of the hygiene measures we take, our little baby suffers from this painful condition.
I had an extremely difficult time the first few months of my daughter’s life dealing with diaper rash. I actually had to take her to the pediatrician when she was only three days old because she had such a terrible rash that she had to be prescribed an ointment. It was for a yeast infection that she had contracted when she was born. This had to be treated with a special medication. My poor baby’s bottom looked so sore and raw. I felt terrible every time that I had to change her diaper.
There are other types of rash beside a yeast infection, but most rashes are caused by a combination of the baby’s feces and urine being on the skin, covered by a heat-trapping diaper. When the baby moves and the diaper rubs back and forth on the skin that is already sensitive a rash can develop. Babies are especially prone to diaper rash when they are taking antibiotics. This is because the antibiotic sometimes causes diarrhea, which is even more caustic to the baby’s delicate skin than just urine or regular stools.
After treating my daughter’s initial diaper rash, she was only rash-free for a few weeks before we were dealing with it again. I had spent a small fortune on over the counter treatments and ointments and with each one I had to apply it numerous times before seeing any results. Sometimes I never did notice any positive results. I would get one rash cleared up only to find another had developed a few weeks later.
My mom finally stepped in with some motherly advice. I have to tell you, I first thought that she had lost her mind. She told me to put a heavy skillet on the stove top and to scorch about a half cup of flour in it. She said to let it cool and then pat it gently on the baby’s bottom. At this point, I was willing to try anything even though I really didn’t think that this would work. I was very skeptical, but I gave it a try. I did the flour scorching before I bathed by daughter at her bedtime. By the time we were finished and she was good and dry the floor had cooled. I scooped some up in a saucer and patted it liberally on her bottom. It sure didn’t smell too good. I knew it couldn’t hurt her so I put her diaper on, said prayers, and put her down for the night.
To my amazement, I awoke to find that my baby’s previously raw and rash-riddled bottom was just barely pink. I was so excited, that I immediately washed her diaper area and applied more of the scorched flour before putting on a clean diaper. I continued with this regimen throughout the day and by bath time that night her bottom was completely clear. I was extremely thankful that I had finally found something that was able to clear up her diaper rash.
I called my mother the next day and thanked her profusely. I told her that I would never again scoff at her home remedies. She was excited too. Her granddaughter was happy and she, once again, was able to say “Mother knows best.” After that I always kept a plastic sandwich bag in my diaper bag with scorched flour in it. I would use it at the first sign of any redness. Yes, I would get some strange looks sometimes when someone had to get into my baby’s diaper bag for something. After explaining what it was for though, the person always wanted to give it a try on their own baby. I’ve heard of many other positive results and we continued to have success with the diaper rash battle.
