Vaseline supreme

Natural stuff, that's what you gotta use on your perfect, brand-new, fragile baby's skin, right? Because 'natural' is always safe and healthy, isn't it?

Well, that's certainly the media message we have all got loud and clear. It's so authoritative-sounding that it's hard to disagree because it makes you sound like the kind of mom who doesn't care how many 'chemicals' you rub into your helpless baby. But I have a pet hate for the misuse of words like 'natural', 'organic', 'chemical' and so on, each of which can describe a product that may be either good or bad for you, depending solely on what the product actually is and what else it contains.

It's true that many cosmetics, from very cheap to very expensive, contain substances we probably don't like the sound of. For most consumers, this is because we don't have a degree in chemistry, and so we just don't know what the substance in question actually is, or how it works to do whatever it does. And because science is contantly learning more about the effects of technical creations, some of those substances turn out to do additional things we don't want, especially when combined with many other substances in other products we use.

However, it's worth thinking about why any manufacturer would put something into a product. Usually, each substance does something handy, like change the texture from lumpy to smooth, make it thicker or thinner, stop it degrading on exposure to light or contamination with water, add a pleasant scent, and so on. Also, because animal testing was legal for many decades before vivisectionists began their successful campaigning, there are lots and lots of substances available to manufacturers that are known to be fine in human products because they were once extensively tested on many other mammals.

Such substances are not natural, in the sense that they have been synthesised or processed in a factory or laboratory, but that is often all to the good. If you splosh pure essential oils (which are certainly chemicals) into a hot bath, it will float on the surface, and be heated by the water, and could thus burn the bather hoping for a luxurious wallow. Many natural substances are poisonous, from belladonna (it used to be popular in eyedrops because it dilates pupils, which makes women look aroused and therefore more attractive to men) to arsenic (it used to be used as a treatment for syphilis).

But I digress. As a new mom, I was urged to use olive oil on my baby's skin. because it's natural. Not Vaseline, because it's made from fossil fuels, and who wants that stuff on their baby? Well, I didn't like the way my baby got all slippery and smelled like a rancid Italian hors d'oeuvre. And it didn't help at all with cradle cap.

Now, Vaseline has been used for decades, especially on baby skin. It's a wonderful, stable, scentless, cheap barrier cream, promoting skin healing. And by the way, it occurs naturally (yes, naturally) alongside other petroleum byproducts. Its raw material - before purification to make it clear in colour - is already a good skin healer, and was used by oilfield workers.

I find it's great to use all over my baby after her bath (the water's very hard in our area). And it cleared up cradle cap in just a few days. It's good for preventing nappy rash too.

What we did on our summer holiday

We went to a lovely Tuscan agriturismo (farm with self-catering apartments) for a week. We thought, as it was the Hungry Mouth’s first trip away, even a week might be too long if she couldn’t cope with the heat or got ill. But in the event the weather was much cooler than we expected for mid-September. We landed in Pisa in 32 degrees but as we drove off to find a supermercato, a hailstorm - of the kind that dents cars - hit us! Very dramatic, but the tiny tot just slept through it all. She also coped very well with the flights (a little yowly at first, but then she fed and slept).

Podere Capiteto (http://www.greve-in-chianti.com/capiteto.htm) is essentially a farmhouse set in a huge olive grove overlooking Florence. In every direction were fabulous cypress-studded views and guests can wander at will over the farm and eat al fresco under the olive trees. Mario and his wife, our cheery hosts, invited us to pick fresh figs, plums, grapes and pears from their trees and vines…they also make some tasty wine besides their olive oil. The pool is large (12 by 4m) enough for the three apartments and there are a variety of comfy sunloungers, swingseats etc to enjoy the sun on. The pool is not fenced and there are some nasty steps that wouldn’t suit a toddler, but luckily the Hungry Mouth has only just reached the sitting-up stage (a holiday milestone in fact).

On the Saturday we went to the nearby market at Impruneta and also to Greve in Chianti, which was conveniently having its annual wine festival. For 8 euros we got a large wineglass and 8 generous tastings of chianti classico or riserva or vin santo from the producer’s stall of your choice. At the market we stocked up on vegetables and fruit and bread and slices of the regional specialty of roast pork. Because of the Hungry Mouth’s bedtime routine, we did not go out to eat in the evenings. The open-plan kitchen had no oven, but we managed to cook delicious pear- and artichoke-stuffed pasta with pesto, asparagus, fried chicken etc and for breakfast we enjoyed various cornetti, pancakes, scrambled eggs and pancetta, fruit and yoghurt.

The rooms are very spacious, and Mario kindly supplied a beautiful traditional cot and lots of linen. The windows have those excellent Italian shutters that allow you to keep out bugs and let in as much light or air as you wish. Our bed was delightfully firm, thanks to Ikea expanding into Italy. There was only a shower, no bath, so we tried various ways of washing the Hungry Mouth: first the bidet (a bit of a tight fit), then the basin (slithery) and finally the shower, with one of us sitting cross-legged in it to hold her while the other polished her (she seemed to like the spray, so that was the winning solution).

Although it’s possible to catch buses to and from Florence, we were so glad we hired a car. It would have been a long 3 km walk with baby and groceries from Impruneta’s Coop, too. One day we drove to visit Volterra, a pretty fortified town set in classic Tuscan countryside that has alabaster mining and carving as its unique selling point. Indeed the porous, translucent white stone is very lovely, and there are some workshops where you can watch carvers at work – we went to Alab’Arte, where Roberto kindly presented the Hungry Mouth with a tiny alabaster dolphin that we’re sure she’ll enjoy chomping on later. So touristy is the town that we were actually able to eat pizza for lunch, but delightfully, not to tourist standards – the pizza was perfect.