Diaper Rash Bath Time Infusion

 Earlier this week, I tried some all-in-one diapers with little man and the results were unfortunate.  When the rash wasn't healing up quite as quickly as I expected, I pulled out my skin soothing herbs and made a wonderful infusion to add to his bath water.  It worked wonders.  The herbs started soothing on contact and with in a few hours the inflammation and redness had reduced significantly. I gave him two of the herbal baths, but in reality one would have been sufficient.   

Diaper Rash Bath Time Infusion

• 2 TBL chamomile
• 1 TBL nettles
• 1 TBL green tea leaves
• 1 tsp Epsom salt
• 1 quart boiling water
• 1 TBL slippery elm

Measure the chamomile, nettles, tea leaves, and Epsom salt into a one quart, heat proof container. If your child has any broken skin, omit the Epsom salt.  Fill container with boiling water and set aside to brew.  When the mixture cools to room temperature, stir in the slippery elm.  Let stand at least 30 minutes longer.  Strain the herbs and add liquid to warm bath water in an infant tub or the sink and give baby a good soak.  Do not rinse and allow baby to air dry.  Apply Soothing Salve or coconut oil just before re-diapering.  

For magickal results, don't forget to charge your herbs before starting.  I also charge the bath water when I add the infusion.  

Taters? You Know, Taters

...boil em, mash em, put em on a burn.

Yesterday, Miss Busy decided to put her bread into the warming oven and burned her forearm.  It wasn't a serious burn, but my immediate response was to slap a slice of potato on it. That's what my parents and grandparents would have done, plus it works.  Laying a bit of potato over a burn provides immediate relief and prevents the blistered, pussy mess many burns turn into when treated with other methods. 

Here's the deal.  For household burns, simply lay a piece of fresh potato on the damaged skin as soon as the burn occurs.  For small ones like Miss Busy had the other day, I simply cut a slice and score it so that the juice is released.  For more serious burns like when Superman spilled a whole bowl of boiling soup on his leg I grate about half of the potato and spread it across the area as a poultice.  The potato will provide immediate relief and begin cooling the burn.  As this happens, you will notice the temperature of the potato raising.  When the potato is no longer providing relief 5 to 10 minutes, remove the first one and apply a second. This second application will provide more extended relief and can be secured with a gauze bandage if the patient wants to get about doing their planned activities.  Like before, it should be removed once the potato warms and is no longer soothing.  I am sure that the poultice could be removed and reapplied several times through out the day, but have never found it to be needed more than twice.  Simple.  Effective. Always on hand.

Folk remedies are great and this is one of my favorites, but I got to wondering why it works.  Unfortunately, nobody with an advanced science degree has wondered the same thing or at least not cared enough to find out why.  The obvious reason that it works is because it cools the burn duh, but I simply cannot find any source to provide the why.  Therefore, I am just going with the "because my Papa said so" answer.  Give it a try,  it works and even if I was lying, you wouldn't be out anything and could just go run some cool water over the injury.