Persistent rash a bum rap

“You better come in here,” my husband yelled from the bathroom.

Usually this meant one of two things: he wanted me to get the baby out of the tub and get him ready for bed (a sly move, I might add), or he wanted me to check out something regarding our son.

I popped into the bathroom.

“What’s up?”

“Look at his butt,” he said.

Now, my son is 18 months old, so his bum is the size of a postcard — not a lot to see.

I squinted and looked closer.

“I suppose it’s a little red,” I said.

Within two days, that “little red” problem turned into the most vicious case of diaper rash east of the Mississippi. It was red, blotchy and angry.

I called the nurse hotline for advice, which recommended baking soda baths to help with the irritation, an antifungal cream treatment in case it was a yeast-based infection, a larger diaper size and … air drying.

I paused on that last suggestion.

“You mean …,” I trailed off on the phone.

“That’s right,” she said. “Letting him go commando.”

“But, don’t you realize that he has a firehose?” I asked. “I mean, that thing could spray anywhere.”

I started going over how much it would cost to re-carpet the room.

“The longer he air dries, the better the skin can start healing,” the nurse explained.

I was sure she was plotting against me … and my carpet.

It was my husband who came up with the idea of taping towels to the sides of our son’s crib. And for three nights, I dutifully took them down and replaced them and the sheet and washed everything.

And for three nights the diaper rash continued.

Finally, after a week of frustration and the ongoing agony of our little guy, I brought him in for a doctor’s visit.

“Use Bag Balm,” the pediatrician said.

I failed to see how a product originally created to soothe cow udders could help this situation, but I had exhausted all the other over-the-counter options.

What happened over the next two days was nothing short of miraculous.

My son’s puffed up bottom healed quickly and he was back to his old self, implementing his mischievous ways.

But what was even more miraculous is that he gave me what I’ve yearned for since the day he was born: At the age of 18 months and nine days, he said “Mama” for the first time.

— Sarah Leach is content editor of The Holland Sentinel. Contact her at (616) 546-4278 or sarah.leach@hollandsentinel.com.