Despite that, I never actually bothered to buy any, as I saw it very much as an ideal of the 'totally crunchy' mamas, and didn't think it would really be that useful for me.
Then, last week, a group of other cloth bum mummies in NI were having a chat about coconut oil and I suddenly decided I needed some in my life. Isabelle has had a very persistent little rash on her chin which nothing has been able to shift, and the warm weather means her little bum is sometimes redder than I would like, so after some chat with the more knowledgable mummies, I decided that coconut oil must be bought.
I was totally fleeced by Holland and Barrett, but I did come away with a huge tub of the stuff. Coconut oil is a weird thing - it comes in a jar, and in some cases a bottle, but it's a solid at room temperature. It melts very quickly on your finger to be liberally applied to any part of your body though, so it's been really easy to use.
I think it would be fair to say I am now obsessed with the stuff. It really can be used for almost anything - from bum cream to cooking, from toothpaste to reducing the itch of a bug bite. It's antibacterial, anti-fungal...There is seemingly nothing it can't do! Here is a list of 101 uses of coconut oil, just in case you're curious...
So far I have applied it at every nappy change, leaving Izzy's bum deliciously soft, coconut smelling, and rash free. I have also been applying it pretty liberally to her chin as well, and I definitely think it has helped start to clear up her little rash. I stuck a whack into her bath these evening, and now her skin is perfectly baby soft (and yes, the whole bath is greasy), and I've used it as a lip balm on myself. I have a persistent patch of eczema on my forehead, and after reading it could help with that, I've been rubbing some in to that too.
And we've only been had it for 2 days....
I now feel that this use of coconut oil has moved me up to a whole other scale on the crunchy scale. My little cloth bummed, (extended and exclusively) breastfed, 'baby worn', amber wearing, baby led weaned girl is now also covered in coconut oil. And, as far as I can tell from the very reliable (and hilarious) 'Crappy Moh's Scale of Crunchy Mamas', I am coming in around a 7. But trust me, I don't think I'll be progressing any further at all...