roasted baby anyone?

true story:
18 day-old baby admitted with what looked like severe skin infection over his face and neck. it was all red and angry looking, with a few areas peeling off. his eyes were shut closed with gooey purulent discharge, and he's got crusts all around his mouth as well. the parents initially claimed they too have no idea how their baby got that bad. then later they offered us this little info: their lil one was crying non-stop, driving evryone crazy.. so they took him to a 'bomoh' hoping he can help them stop the baby's crying. the bomoh then gave them a mixture of coconut oil + onions + black pepper, and told them to smear the mixture onto the baby. and so the 4-time parents did. all over his face, esp around his eyes, and mouth (cuz u know-crying..mostly involves the eyes and mouth? the tears and the wailing? i dunno-this my theory) and never washed it off, in fact, kept on reapplying it daily onto the poor sucker's face (sucker-get it?cuz he still breastfeeds?harhar)-one coat of seasoned oil after another.
we're talking about a pair or parental unit here, who's had 4 children- basically 'marinating' their lil one cuz he cries a lot, and cuz the bomoh tells them too.
why cant people follow doctors' orders like that-no questions asked.
i mean these parents, after finally letting us know this important piece of information, actually asked us afterwards: u think this might be related to whatever is happening to our baby?
um..yee-ah!
why dont you try smearing the same ingredients all over your thirty-sth-yr-old skin and see what happens. i mean, the kid was just past a week old at the time.
sheesh..
course, i didnt say that to the parents. i'm just a doctor, not a bomoh. i cant just tell people what i want.
instead, we washed the poor baby's face off - start him on antibiotics, and he got better after a few days.