Don’t Neglect When Wet: Diaper Rash and the Diaparene Sample Set

For the month of November, the museum has selected to highlight the set of from our collection. November 20th is the anniversary of the United Nations adopting the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1954 and later the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989. World Children's Day helps to promote awareness, collaboration, and advocacy toward children and their welfare. Diaparene was a subsidiary of Sterling, Inc., that focused on caring for newborns and young children. In the early twentieth century, they curated a gift set meant for a child's first pain in the butt and, potentially, a new parent's first health hurdle: diaper rash.   

The box of samples includes three containers of dusting powder, two rinse tablets (pre-crushed), two bottles of baby lotion, two bottles of Cradol, one tube of ointment, and one tube of Peri-Anal. Each item in this powder blue box was a product developed by Diaparene to help prevent and treat diaper rash. Diaparene sent these sets to expecting parents as a gift while they prepared to welcome their bundle of joy. But what exactly is diaper rash? And why did Diaparene include these specific products to help prevent and treat it?   

What is Diaper Rash?   

Diaper Rash, also known as Diaper Dermatitis or Ammonia Dermatitis, is caused by a wet and soiled diaper. It is common amongst young children and infants but can affect anyone who wears a neglected diaper. How common, you may ask? According to the Cleveland Clinic, “more than half of babies between 4 and 15 months of age will have a diaper rash at least once in a two-month period.”  A variety of factors, such as allergies, food allergies, and yeast infections, can cause diaper rash. However, the rash is most often caused by the buildup of urine and feces within the diaper.  

The rash will develop where the soiled diaper is in contact with the skin, which then causes inflammation, redness, and sores. This rash is the most common skin-related irritation amongst infants and children – so much so that a medical industry has grown around treating and preventing it. Diaparene was an early company within this industry, and its sample boxes were a critical part of this history. So, let us get to the bottom of this rash and soothe your curiosities surrounding this thoughtful gift set. 

Treatments You Can Get Behind   

Treatments for diaper rash may seem self-explanatory, but let's review the basics. Generally, the treatment for the rash is to change the individual's diaper more frequently to prevent unnecessary moisture and ensure that the skin has time to dry. Health providers also recommend cleaning the area with fragrance-free wipes and is patted dry. It is imperative that the area not be scrubbed as this may cause more skin irritation. Over-the-counter options for this pain in the rear can include baby powders, cleansers, and rash creams/ointments with a "zinc oxide or petroleum jelly." Others might use more herbal and homemade remedies such as Chamomile and breast milk. Due to the sensitive nature of a baby's skin and the affected area, experts recommend seeking medical attention if the rash becomes more severe. Because of how common and painful this condition is, it is no surprise that medical companies were eager to develop marketable solutions. 

Diaparene's Cheeky Products Meet Booming Demand   

The 1950s saw both a Baby Boom and a boom in capitalism. As soldiers returned home to their white picket fences at the end of the Second World War, the population exploded, and the Baby Boom began. With their first accepted trademark in 1950 and more in the 1960s, Diaparene started catering to the increase in children with the development of their line of products to prevent and treat diaper rash. Beyond merely creating products, the company developed a plan to directly address the needs of new parents by sending them a gift set before their baby was born.  

With the tagline "like the first hands a newborn feel," the products included in this gift set were designed to help care for a newborn's sensitive skin. The main ingredient for almost all the products was Methylbenzethonium Chloride, an anti-infective also found in cosmetics.   

An advertisement from Diaparene explains the uses of some of the products included in the gift set: 

• Dusting Powder: This powder functioned like modern baby powder. Using a cornstarch base, it absorbed moisture.  
• Rinse Tablet: They advertised these tablets as “eliminating the cause of diaper rash by impregnating the diaper with Methylbenzethonium Chloride, an antiseptic that destroys urea-splitting organisms...prevents the formation of ammonia... [and] reducing mildew in diapers.”   
• Baby Lotion: This lotion was designed to cleanse the area while soothing and softening the skin. Diaparene’s lotion provided an added layer of protection by including methylbenzethonium chloride. 
• CRADOL: This product was designed for seborrhea capitis, aka “cradle cap,” rather than diaper rash. It loosened the crust build-up on the crown of the head that caused a “cradle cap.” Seborrhea capitis can cause diaper dermatitis, but the product was not advertised for use in those particular regions. It does, however, include Diaperene’s special ingredient Methylbenzethonium Chloride.    
  • Ointment and Peri-Anal: Both ointments were used to soothe inflammation, kill bacteria, and add another layer of protection using – you guessed it! – Methylbenzethonium Chloride. 

Collectively, these products aimed to alleviate a common source of suffering for newborns – and their tired, anxious parents. The Diaparene Gift Set demonstrates what types of products were created to address infant ailments and the methods medical companies created to serve potential customers within an unprecedented population and economic opportunity boom.

If you’d like to see more examples of child medicine, please visit our collection in the . 

Work Cited  

• Benitez Ojeda AB, Mendez MD. “Diaper Dermatitis.” StatPearls. (Jan. 2024)
  
• DIAPARENE. Patent 72135640. Filed Jan. 11, 1962. Issued Jul. 09, 1963  
• DIAPARENE. Patent 71556580. Filed May 08, 1948. Issued Aug. 22, 1950.
• Diaparene, 1962-1964, advertisement, Ebling Library for the Health Sciences Collection, University of Wisconsin--Madison. Accessed November 20, 2024.
  
• Diaper Rash. Mayo Clinic. Accessed October 20, 2024.
   
• Diaper Dermatitis. Johns Hopkins Medicine. Accessed October 20, 2024.
   
• “For every child, every right.” United Nations. Accessed November 23, 2024         
  
• Home Remedies for Diaper Rash. Pampers. September 26, 2024 
  
• National Center for Biotechnology Information. "PubChem Compound Summary for CID 5702238, Methylbenzethonium  chloride" PubChem, Accessed 5 December, 2024.
  
• Srivastava, Janmejai K et al. “Chamomile: A herbal medicine of the past with bright future.” Molecular Medicine reports 3, No. 6 (2010): 895-901. doi:10.3892/mmr.2010.377