Chemical Overreactions

You may be surprised to learn this, but here it is: the old man and I occasionally have our differences on the eternal questions of child rearing. For example, what to do for a sore bum. Little Coco, unfortunately, is pretty susceptible to diaper rash. Her mama, I should note, is more than a little susceptible to intense parental guilt and needless worry.

We’ve had fairly good luck with an over the counter product which contains petrolatum. Christian (who’s pretty positive on fossil fuels generally speaking) is a devoted fan and advocates applying it with abandon. I get a little nervous about putting hydrocarbons on my kid’s rear end and would prefer to use something more natural.

I’ve found quite a bit of conflicting information about petrolatum on the web. On one hand, you have the folks who say it’s a carcinogen (its use has apparently been restricted in the EU since 2004). On the other, you have sites that tell you the cancer thing is a myth and go ahead and slather the stuff on. Anyway, the truth is, it’s hard to get away from it. Petrolatum, it seems, is in just about everything--including pretty much every skincare product recommended by my pediatrician. My sister, also a pediatrician, uses all the mainstream stuff on her kids. But I have crunchier friends who wouldn’t let these industrial products anywhere near their precious offspring’s behinds. I found a nice product at the health food store: olive oil, beeswax and yarrow or something. It seemed to help but cost a fortune. We went through the tiny $10 jar in two days. Someone suggested cornstarch, but I’ve read that that can actually do more harm than good if there’s any yeast in the picture. What to do? I suppose for the time being, we’ll stick with the tried and true and hope the Europeans are wrong. It’s certainly happened before, n’est-ce pas?