My 10 month old daughter developed a rash a week ago Monday. It was mostly on her shoulders, chest and a little on her back, dark pink and blotchy, not raised. I took her to the pediatrician Thursday and she thought it might have been orange juice that my babysitter fed her when I was out of town Mon/Tues. Well, a week has passed and the rash doesn't seem to be easing. It is weird because it seems to come and go....sometimes she'll wake up from a nap and it has disappeared, other times it seems worse. It periodically shows up on her cheeks as well. It does not seem to be bothering her from the outside- i.e., she's not scratching at it. However she has been getting increasingly cranky (she has a top tooth coming in though too so it's hard to separate the issues). Of course I'll take her back to the pediatrician but I'm wondering if anyone has experienced something similar? We've gone through every single thing we can think of to see if anything has changed and so far nothing. It seems like an allergy but I can't for the life of me figure out what it is. No new foods, no new drinks (except for that oj once which we never give her- no juices yet), no new soaps or detergent. Also, does anyone have recommendations on how to figure out what it is? Or even better, what it is? Oh I should mention that about a month ago she also developed rough skin on her cheeks- not visible, but you can feel it. We are using a lotion (can't remember name) that ped suggested when I was there on Thurs and so far no improvement. Not sure if they are related.
Other things to note: She has not had any fever and the rash is not flakey/dry at all. It's actually very subtle- sometimes almost hard to see and if she wasn't so fair skinned, I am not sure I would see it at all. We bath her every night (partly because she loves the bath) but keep the water warm- not hot. Maybe that's it? Her bath soap is Medella, which we've used from the beginning. I just went out and bought Dreft detergent. Thanks so much in advance for your insights!
Did she ever have a fever at all? Sometimes a rash appears in conjunction with a virus and lingers a few days after the fever is gone. It might also be heat rash. If you're concerned it's an allergy, maybe see if benadryl or claritin clears it up? But yeah, I'd take her back to the doctor just to be sure.
Good luck.
Hi B.,
Try giving her some Benadryl, about half a tspn. That will help if it's an allergic reaction to something. For the rough patches, try Aquaphor - it works wonders on dry skin, rashes, etc. I swear by it!! I use it on our kids all over their bodies and I even use it for my hands. It will definitely help with your daughters rough patches on her cheeks. When my son (8 months old) gets them Aquaphor clears it up right away.
Good luck!
-Char
B.,
My little girl had pretty much the same symptoms at a young age. We came to find out that a large part of it was heat rash! She got overheated often...after napping, playing outside, even if the bath was just a bit to warm. She also had rough cheeks and dry skin. We started bathing her every other evening (bathing to often washes away the skins natural oils) making sure to lather her up with lotion (hypoallergenic, sent free etc. Aveno works wonders!) after each bath. I put lotion on her every day NO MATTER WHAT! Dreft was horrible for her, it is supposed to be hypoallergenic but I have serious doubts about that…....we changed to a laundry detergent that is free from everything, and still use like products to this day (she is 8 yrs. now) If your Daughter is itchy or cranky a small dose of children’s benadrayl at bed time couldn’t hurt. I even went as far as writing down everything she ate (changing the menu weekly) to see if the reaction was from anything that I was giving her. Bottom line for my situation is that Hannah has uber-sinsitive skin and getting overheated was not a good thing for her. I don’t know if my experience helped you at all, but any information is good information huh? LOL! Good luck to you…keep us updated on her progress.
Peace~Love~Light
V.
My son had eczema when he was little pretty badly and that's exactly what it sounds like. He still has it but it's worse in the winter and doesn't cover as many areas or break out as often as it did when he was little.
I found that the Aveno lotions worked best for him when he was small (and if you can afford them, the Aveno bath stuff) but you can also just find fragrance and color free soaps. I also use color and fragance free laundry detergent which I pick up at Costco pretty cheaply under the Kirkland brand.
On the worst patches I would put a little bit of cortizone but only if it was bothering her or was looking like it was about to crack. I would check with a pharmacist (I never ask a doctor about medicines because they only say what they're told to say about medications) to make sure your daughter isn't too young for cortizone. I don't think she is but I would check it anyway.
For prevention, I would use soaps with no fragrance or colors and lotions that are the same and try not to bathe her too often (if she isn't visibly dirty or stinky) because that actually makes it worse. (wash hands and face but try to use a minimal amount of soap when you do. Soap is the biggest culprit for drying my son out and resulting in those scaly dry patches and rashes) My son also has very fair skin and I have to be very diligent (even now) about applying sunscreen too with a high SPF to EVERY exposed part.
He has for the most part outgrown it but it was something we dealt with pretty much every day since he was about 8 months old the worst being when he was around 6-8 years old. (that's when his hands were cracking from washing his hands too much)
