Isn’t it amazing when there’s a groundbreaking discovery. Something that changes our lives beyond recognition. This week we hear that a baby girl has been cured of the HIV virus in America which, although the tabloids seem to have sidelined this story for a piece on the Queen having a tummy bug, has to be the start of a life altering solution to a worldwide epidemic.
Well over the past week, I have also made a groundbreaking discovery of my own. Not necessarily something that will warrant headlines, change the world, save lives, or change the pattern of history. But something that will make a difference to the day to day for mothers of young children everywhere. Now don’t get me wrong, I am assuming when most of you read this, you will have already heard of this 'discovery', and my astonishment will pale into insignificance.
And just to add the disclaimer now, this wasn’t something I discovered alone. In fact it was information passed on by one of my mum’s friends, so really, I have just been the grateful beneficiary of an old wives’ tale – but I don’t care, I’m sharing!
Since Erin (our seven-month-old little lady for you new arrivals) was around two months old, she has had the dreaded cradle cap. Having a lot of hair, the poor thing either looks like Colin from the Brittass Empire (all under 25’s stop looking confused) with large flakes of skin falling from her head or sticking up tempting you to pick them, or she looks like she’s being treated for first degree burns after I’ve lathered her with E45 cream.
I’ve asked numerous people, looked it up on the internet, asked the doctor, brought all the recommended creams and shampoos, and persistently tried all these remedies, with no success.
But then last week my mum happened to mention something her friend tried out, an old wives’ tale that suggests if you cover the baby’s head in Vaseline (or Tesco own brand petroleum jelly as us cheap skates tend to favour), leave it for a day, then wash it off (which will also take about a day) and it will go and never come back.
With my sceptical head on, I assumed this would have no more affect than the very expensive creams, shampoos and treatments I had already tried. But willing to give anything ago, I duly paid my 57p and put those old wives to the test.
Aside from Erin looking like she was walking around with a cling film hat on, it wasn’t as messy and slimy as I expected it to be, so I was happy to leave it for the whole day.
I was shocked to discover half way through the day that the scaly skin on her head appeared to be just lifting off. Without touching it, Erin’s head was starting to shed its load of cradle cap. My scepticism was subsiding with every hour, and I am ashamed to say I was finding myself excited about bath time, wondering whether we could wash this damn stuff off.
Well, despite it taking almost a bottle of shampoo to remove the Vaseline, which had hardened a little to form a bit of a moulded plastic cover, I can report that...it went. The cradle cap just disappeared. So far we have no signs of it returning (she says crossing fingers and toes and gripping on to the nearest wooden chair).
And this made me think that maybe we should pay less attention to what the books or the websites say, or fall less for the expensive branded lotions, potions and solutions, and rely a little more on ‘what grandma used to say’ or the ‘someone once told me’.
I asked some of my friends about the old wives’ tales that had worked for them, or that they believed in.
A mixed bag of responses, ranging from ‘sitting on a cold wall will give you piles’ (or bottom grapes as it was so beautifully put), to ‘don’t pull a face just in case the wind changes’, and even ‘never look a gift horse in the mouth’.
All of these I think, even following some pretty solid evidence as to their effectiveness (or in reality questionable anecdotal evidence at best), I will choose to ignore. But it did make me start to think that perhaps paying attention to the old adages every now and again, and not believing the modern way is always best, could be a far more open-minded approach to life.
Don’t get me wrong. The minute I have a question about motherhood, I will follow my usual pattern of research – Google it, text my friend Tracy, call mum and at last resort, hazard a guess, or even trust my inexperienced, but reasonably sensible judgement.
But after this experience, when one of the old ladies in my grandad’s nursing home starts a sentence with “you know in our day” I may just pay a little more attention this time. Of course, many of the people in the nursing home have the exact same conversation with me every time I go, or have more to say on the evening’s dinner menu than anything of any substance. But just occasionally, in some brief moments of clarity, I may have been missing some little gems of advice.
In fact, all jokes aside, it has made me feel a little arrogant to think that me or any other twenty something (I’m hanging on to being able to say that, even if I have just days to go) would know better than any of these ‘old wives’.
And I would like to have it confirmed to me at some point, just how old you have to be to dispense first hand old wives’ tales. I’m hoping to build up a few myself over the coming years, and I just don’t want them to be too diluted or even forgotten while I’m waiting too long to become old enough to be an old wife (any sniggering from that husband of mine about the fact that I am soon venturing into my fourth decade, will be duly ignored and given short thrift.) Answers on a postcard to...
In essence this blog entry is dedicated to Tracy, my mum’s friend with her tub of Vaseline and probably numerous empty bottles of baby shampoo.
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