Before attending antental classes in the weeks leading up to the birth of my daughter, I had bought several tubs of sudocrem in the assumption that it was an essential piece of kit that I would need for my baby. However, the midwife at the antenatal classes had different advice. She advised that in order to prevent nappy rash you should a barrier cream such as this Zinc and Castor Cream one as the initial step to protect baby's delicate skin. Only if the nappy rash persists or gets worse, should you then move on to the stronger Sudocrem, according to the midwife at antenatal. When I said to my mum about this, she said that Zinc and Castor Cream was what she had used years ago as well, rather than sudocrem.

So, although initially I had trouble sourcing this product, I think it is actually available in more of the bargain shops rather than your upmarket chemists. I bought mine in a local discount chemist for just over £1 for a 225g jar of this cream produced by the company Healthpoint. Much cheaper that the equivalent Sudocrem jar.

On the back of the jar, it states that this cream has been formulated to 'soothe your baby's skin in a soft and gentle way'. It is a protective cream that acts as a barrier to keep skin from irritation as it comes into urine etc in the nappy, although obviously the very first port of call is to change your baby's nappy regularly.

Initially when my baby was born, I didnt use any cream, but I did start to notice after a couple of weeks, her skin looked very slightly red around her bottom, and so I started to use this as a barrier cream, so she wouldn't get irritated, and I now use it quite regularly when I think her skin is showing any sign of redness. The cream itself is white and easily spreadable, and reminds me of the aqueous cream that I use on my own skin. It does seem to protect my baby's skin and stop it from getting any worse, and only once or twice have I actually used sudocrem if I thought it looked slightly redder, however for the most part, this particular cream seems to work well at keeping nappy rash to a minimum if not protecting baby from it altogether.

Another plus point about this cream is that for the very reasonable price, it seems to last for ages. I have been using it for well over a month now, and there it hardly looks as if I have used much at all, and I expect his product to last me months and months before I need to replace it.

All in all, as a first step in protecting your baby's skin from nappy rash, this is a great, reasonably priced product. If nappy rash persists or gets worse then sudocrem is the next port of call for me, but I will certainly keep using this in the expectation that it will continue to protect my baby's skin from irritation.