Friday, April 1, 2011

Diaper Rash Part 2

I heard a thump followed by some crying. Not your every day tantrum crying, or painful screaming, but more like the dreadful moaning of the end of the world. So I went to investigate.

You may remember Harvey's horrible diaper rash. Well it has cleared up for the most part again. In case you were wondering the doc has no idea what it is since the cultures came back negative.

We have found, however, the best way to fight this rash is to prevent Harvey's sensitive bottom from getting the more ordinary kinds of rashes. Doing so requires lots of naked time, patience with accidents, but mostly a but load of diaper rash ointment. The best kind for Harvey so far has been A&D ointment, which is primary made out of petroleum jelly.

You may be wondering at this point how this all relates to the screaming. Tuesday I made the executive decision to try the generic petroleum jelly and save us a few bucks. It is about $.75 per ounce cheaper than A&D Ointment. So far it has been working fine and I was happy with my frugality.

That is, until I went to check on my poor moaning toddler. I was all ready to tell him to go back to bed and in doing so pick him up gently and set him on the bed. I wasn't prepared for what happened next.

Harvey was sticky, and not just on his face, but over his entire body.


That's right you guessed it. He had covered himself in the petroleum jelly. The generic stuff comes in a tub, which makes it easier for me to use, and apparently easier for Harvey to get into. He had covered himself in it and when I came in he was trying to remove it with his blankie.

For the record Harvey has no problem with dirt, food, or most other foreign objects on his body, but for some reason he can't stand being sticky. I think it has to do with how much cat hair we have floating around the house.

So Harvey happily took a bath, delaying his nap time while I went and cleaned up the room. Luckily for me, he didn't get any petroleum jelly on the carpet, so it was fairly easy to clean up. FYI if you are trying to remove petroleum jelly from a red Book of Mormon with spray degreaser the color will bleed off onto your rag. But other than that everything was fine.

Except for Harvey. After his bath was over he had to go back to taking a nap, only this time without his special blankie.

So the question for you all is, Do you think that if I picked up another jar of petroleum jelly, that Harvey will have learned his lesson and leave well enough alone? Or will this disaster just repeat itself? Honestly, I'm not sure it's worth saving $3 to tempt fate.

3 comments:

Judy K said...

I remember a young Leslie coating the couch in petrolium jelly then trying to scrub it gone...

I fully suspect Harvey would investigate another bottle of petrolium jelly

Anonymous said...

I agree with Judy. If it were she or her brother, he/she would regard a new jar of petroleum jelly as a fresh chance to try again.

Anonymous said...

IF you get another jar, use the kind that the lid screws off (like a peanut butter jar) instead. Maybe that will help?