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I will never forget the day. My little boy had just turned 1 year old when small red spots suddenly appeared on his tiny body. At first it was just one…
then two…
then more and more.
We took him to the doctor. Chickenpox.
As a father, my heart sank instantly. Not because I was afraid, but because I couldn’t bear watching him suffer. He cried through the night. His small body felt warm, and his tiny hands kept trying to scratch the itchy spots on his skin. Every time he whimpered, it felt like my own heart was being scratched along with him.
That night, my wife and I barely slept. We took turns holding him. Sometimes the only time he stayed quiet was when his head rested on my shoulder. In my heart I whispered:
“If this pain could be transferred… let me take it instead.”
Our elders always said when a child gets chickenpox, the skin should be kept cool and calm. So we tried a traditional remedy passed down in the family.
1) Homemade Bedak Sejuk
I mixed traditional cooling powder (bedak sejuk) with a little water until it became a soft paste. Slowly, gently, I applied it on the spots on his skin. I got the bedak sejuk from my grandma, she made it herself. You can find homemade bedak sejuk at nearest pharmacy, usually they have it. Every time I touched his skin with the cool paste, he would stop crying for a moment, maybe because it soothed the heat and itch. For me, those few seconds of silence felt like a small victory.
2) Neem Leaves
I took several neem leaves, washed them carefully, and soaked them in his bath water. We used that water to gently bathe him. The smell was strong, but elders always said neem helps cool the skin and reduce itching. Amazingly, all the tiny bumps came out quickly after the neem bath, all the way to the tips of his fingers and the soles of his feet. People say that once they appear on the soles, it means all the bumps are out. After that, they dried up quickly.
The Moment That Broke My Heart
At one point, he looked at me with tired eyes. He couldn’t talk yet.
He couldn’t explain what he was feeling. But his tiny hand gripped my finger tightly.
In that moment, I realized something that hit me deeply… This little boy trusted his father to protect him.
Even though I was just a man trying my best.
Days That Tested Our Hearts
For several days, we cared for him carefully.
✔ Keeping his nails short so he wouldn’t hurt himself
✔ Making sure his skin stayed clean
✔ Applying bedak sejuk to soothe the itch
✔ Bathing him with neem leaf water
The spots got worse before they finally started to dry. And then one morning he woke up with a small smile.
The first one in days. I almost cried.
The Biggest Lesson About Being a Father
Before becoming a dad, I thought a father’s job was mostly about providing for the family. But after that experience, I realized something deeper. Sometimes being a father means:
Staying awake the whole night.
Holding your feverish child in your arms.
And silently breaking inside when you see them in pain. Because a father’s love isn’t always spoken. Sometimes it’s shown through the small things we do to ease our child’s suffering.
If you’re a parent who has gone through something like this, you’ll understand this feeling. When a child is sick, it’s the parents’ hearts that hurt the most.
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Badrulamin Luthfi (mobamil96@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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