Poor, poor Garrett. Every time I look at his little face and the back of his neck it makes me want to cry. He has this awful rash that has spread all over his face, ears and the front and back of his neck. It is worse on the back of his neck but I wasn’t able to get a picture of that because he was sleeping. These pictures were taken Friday. Today is Saturday (I started this post yesterday but never finished it) and today it is looking a lot better but many of the bumps are still there. The rash is definitely made worse with skin contact, such as his head resting on my forearm when nursing. So I try to keep a burp cloth between his skin and mine. I can’t believe what a warm blooded little guy I have. He stays so warm!
I’m really hoping that this is prickly heat rash because it should clear up in a few days if it is. Otherwise I am assuming that the rash is due to an allergy to me eating dairy and I’ll have to cut dairy out of my diet. His rash looks like all the other prickly heat rashes when I googled it though.
It is kind of weird that he got this rash because I don’t dress him in a lot of clothing, just a onesie. I’ve been keeping him in only a diaper now and have given him a few baths in lukewarm water, which is supposed to help. He does sweat a lot though and prickly heat is caused by blocked sweat glands. For awhile I had used some Eucerin cream on his rash because I read somewhere that it would help with the friction that makes the rash red and “angry” and it helped a lot at first but then made the rash worse because it clogged up his sweat glands even more.
Really hoping I don’t need to cut dairy. :)
Here is my poor sweet boy with his ugly, awful rash.
UPDATE
January 26th, 2013
Dear Readers,
I think it is important to update you and say a few things. First of all, my son is now 4 1/2 years old. My son had prickly heat rash. We live in a desert and it was 105 degrees the day he was born. I was putting too much clothes on him and keeping him swaddled with a blanket and had a hat on him. His immature skin had pores that got clogged easily and he had very sensitive skin. His rash resolved within hours by keeping him out of clothes and keeping him cool and taking him into lukewarm baths with me. To this day he still sweats a lot but doesn’t get rashes anymore from sweating.
Someone stole my image and used it as an image for measles. What an awful thing to do to parents. He never had measles and has never had any type of vaccine preventable illness. We don’t vaccinate, either.
He did have food allergies later on in life but we have been able to clear up many of them with an alternative allergy therapy called N.A.E.T.
Please keep in mind that your child could have a similar looking rash and be experiencing something COMPLETELY different. All though the rash looks like it, this wasn’t hives. I am very familiar with hives as I have kids that are prone to food allergies. This does look like some of the reactions they’ve had in regards to food.
In my son’s particular case this was heat rash. I wish you the best of luck in diagnosing your babies rash and getting to the root cause.
Journey To Here 
Thanks for the update. I has been researching measles and this popped up, so it was nice to read through and have the clarification. :-)
I have done much research and believe firmly in vaccination. I have seen and heard of others whose children have caught, for example, measles and it resulted in disabling the children for life, and it more severe cases, killing them. It’s about playing the odds. Those who don’t vaccinate say things like ‘i don’t vaccinate and my child has never had any issues’. That’s down to luck. They can still catch diseases, they’ve just had the good fortune not to. Probably because the majority of the population are vaccinated, so diseases are not rampant anymore. I have spoken to poor parents who wish they had vaccinated and blame themselves for what has happened to their child. And so they should. Pregnant women are also put at an increased risk. Look at the facts people, please, and not at scare stories from people who want to blame all their childs problems on getting a shot.
What a horribly demeaning response to those whose children have suffered documented (by mainstream doctors yet!) vaccine reactions.
You are right about one thing: it IS about playing the odds. But the odds are not what you imply.
Many of us who don’t vaccinate choose that path because when we DID vaccinate, our children had severe reactions. Others choose not to after they’ve seen what happened to our chdren.
I have yet to meet a parent who regretted delaying or turning down a vaccine. But I have met dozens who regret vaccinating.
One always needs to question the value of a practice based on an entire industry that uses fear-mongering to bolster profits.
To the “concerned parent” I hate careless parents who neglect doing their research but rather just follow everyone else and what the government says to do. Grow a set. My cousins have never been vaccinated (oh sorry my one cousin was forced to get a tetanus shot after burning his hand a week later developed scarlet fever. No more issues. Then my cousins on the other side got vaccinated. One has ADHD, one has Down syndrome that developed in toddler years. Then the ADHD one never got chicken pix but about 6 months go got shingles (he is 25 now) you can tell us kind of parents how a lot of research has been debunked but as a military wife I know the governments ability to make things disappear and cover things up. Politicians jobs are to lie. And you trust them with your and your child’s well being? Shame on you.
You can’t contract down syndrome or “come down with it.” You are born with down syndrome. It is a genetic abnormality.
His body is detoxing the vaccination toxins, that is why it is worse in high sweat areas…
Sorry, I read u did not vaccinate, afterall)
To all you people that have read this blog and looked at the picture of this baby, well take a look at the baby used on this webpage and you will see it is the same baby being used in the webpage that I have copied below, which is a write up about measles. Listen to your doctors and dont bother with advise over the internet, as most of the time people only think they know. Every baby is different and affected in different ways. And most of the rashes all look very similar. Take the advise of your professionals and if problems persist go back and see your doctor again.
http://www.brecorder.com/world/europe/101653-measles-deaths-fall-by-over-70-in-last-decade-who.html
WOW! They STOLE my photo. That is a picture of MY son that I took in my own home. He never had the measles. The reason you can’t believe the internet is because people steal photographs. This is ridiculous. I will be contacting that website. Messed up.
My son is 4 1/2 now and has never had any vaccine preventable illness and has also never been vaccinated in his life. If you look around at my blog you will see many more pictures of the same baby.
Sickening that people will steal pictures to promote what an illness looks like that doesn’t even belong to that illness. Wow.
cradle cap can be treated also with topical niacinamide since it reduces inflammatory response and also increases skin healing.’
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i believe the author wrote that it was due to severe food allergies. two of my three sons had this at the same age, etc. I wrote my story on my blog here: http://www.rajovilla.com/2012/08/our-food-allergy-story-part-one/
there are two posts that i wrote, anyways, it is most likely food allergies in all these cases. If anyone eliminated one food from the diet, it may be another food or multiple. ask your doctor about going on an elimination diet.
This doesn’t look like prickly heat to me. And judging by how quickly it went away… Ever heard of sixth disease? Aka roseola? Check it out :0)
Heat rash can be remedied by using a cold compress as well as some cornstarch to keep the affected area dry. ,.”**
Have a great day! http://www.healthmedicinelab.com/cold-sore-stages/
My 10 month old baby has just had this exact rash all over her body, even on soles of her feet. Pin prick red dots, a little hard, turning a tiny bit scabby, more so on face and behind neck.
She came out in a rash on a hot train, so I thought at the time it must be heat rash. I’m a bit prone to this too. She had had heat rash before but never all over her body. All advice suggests heat rash (prickly heat) goes after a few days but the rash persisted for nearly two weeks – the rash was a bit itchy too and moved about – worsening when she was hotter. The doctor ruled out chicken pox or measles, but wasn’t sure what it was.
My daughter was breast-fed for 9.5 months, introducing a formula feed at 6.5 months. She is eating 3 meals a day and I have very very very slowly weaned her onto 3 formula feeds over the past 3 months. She also had all her jabs, including a TB jab at 2 days as TB is rife in west London.
I worried that it might be a dairy allergy, but am now sure in this case it was heat rash. It has cleared up over a week by keeping her cool, regularly bathing with little product and using only simple aqueous cream in the driest of spots, so as not to clog her pores. The spots are nearly completely faded, though are a little dry and in need of moisturising. I did not change her milk formula immediately as I wanted to rule out heat rash first.
I heartily recommend an oatmeal bath for inflamed skin conditions. Avena cream is good but does not compare. Fill an old sock with oatmeal, letting tap run through it into bath water – at end of bath wipe problem areas directly with sock. This cleared up in 2 days a horrific skin condition my daughter had as a six week old baby. She had a bright red raw sore rash around her ears and neck, which was caused by milk, and thick bright yellow crusty cradle cap all over her face. The doctor prescribed antibiotics for the inflamed red rash on her neck, as she thought it was infected. However, I wanted to avoid such a dramatic fix, especially as the doctor wasn’t even 100% sure it would work. The oatmeal bath cleared up the milk rash in 2 days. The cradle cap took 2 weeks, using a brush and moisturising with plenty of Cetraben.
Good luck!
Hello!
My baby is 3 months old and he has a rash that’s very similar all over his face. By any chance, do you know what it was and how long it took to clear?
Thanks.
I did go back to diagnose the rash and he said it was baby acne with prickly heat rash but I do believe baby acne is caused by an allergic reaction most of the time. He didn’t give her any shots she is scheduled to go back on Jan 2nd for shots but I really want to hold off on vaccines with it being flu season. I am not on anything except prenatals and fenugreek supplement to produce more milk. I don’t take anything like tylenol because I am breastfeeding and don’t want it to pass to her. I don’t have epilepsy anymore so I don’t take any of those meds either and I refused the DTaP and MMR because I wasn’t sure how it would affect me. I tend to get sick with any of those and my hb is in the military so I am not near family right now for help and didn’t want to be sick alone.
Thank you for all your help!! I hope cutting the dairy will be the trick to make this rash go away and so far it has subsided.
As much as I am against the hep B vaccine, I don’t think it would have taken that long to kick in.
But that doesn’t mean that the vaccine isn’t somehow a factor.
I would wonder more–have you been back to the pediatrician for a well-baby visit since birth? The pediatricians often give more vaccines between 1-2 months.
Or has she had an ear infection? Or been on any meds? Tylenol?
Or, if you are nursing, are YOU on any meds? Anti-epilepsy meds, like Dilantin? Or did you receive any vaccines? (Sometimes after childbirth, doctors will administer a flu shot, a DTaP, or even an MMR if they fear that the mother is not immune.)
Expect a fight from your pediatrician at your next visit, if you want to delay shots. :( Come prepared with research, i.e., peer-reviewed studies from PubMed, reports from VAERS, showing that
1) some vaccines are okay to delay and
2) kids with family history of epilepsy are at major risk of vaccine reaction
Good luck.
You do not have to have research for ur pediatrician. Tell him to taking a flying hike if he has a problem. My sons first pedi “encouraged vaccines but its ok to wait” now his new pedi (first one moved) “encourages vaccinations but does not give her children them” why tht say? It’s the pediatricians job to “encourage” it….
They did give her the vaccine with my husbands consent in the hospital I was delirious and he said yes where I would have said no. I had very bad reactions to MMR, croup and epilepsy, and I also don’t find it necessary for a baby to get Hep B. Is there any way to see what the allergic reaction is from? She got the vaccine when she was a day old and didn’t break out in this rash till 6 weeks could it take that long to kick in?
My daughter is 6 weeks old and I am taking her to the pediatrician tomorrow and she has the same rash. It started after I got the flu and tried supplementing with formula when I couldn’t produce enough because I was dehydrated. After the flu was gone I stopped the formula all together and noticed a rash that is now worse, this was about a week ago. She also had very bad diarrhea. While it looks like this prickly heat rash it screams milk allergy I also was allergic to dairy as a child. Any suggestions for me? I am cutting dairy out of my diet for now to see if that makes a difference.
Amanda, unless you are foregoing or delaying vaccines, your daughter’s rash could very well be from vaccines. Hospitals routinely give the hepatitis B vaccine to infants on the day of birth–when the mother is too exhausted to realize what’s going on. Or, like in my case, when I was in the shower. Sometimes the nurses will even give the baby the vaccine WITHOUT parental permission (which is illegal, but it happened to my child).
At one month, babies are given a second hep B shot.
Some pediatricians will give the second hep B shot at 2 months, along with RV, DTaP, HIB, PCV, and IPV..
Our pediatrician did not know that vaccines could result in rashes, nor that those rashes could be the start of an autoimmune disorder.
Our pediatric dermatologist, however, advised us to hold off on more vaccines until the rash completely went away. He also said that he gets more business from vaccine reactions than from anything else, including teen acne.
Here is a list of side effects to the hep B vaccine: http://www.drugs.com/sfx/hepatitis-b-vaccine-side-effects.html
Unless you yourself are carrying the virus, it is extremely unlikely that your baby would be at risk of GETTING hepatitis B, as it is primarily a sexually transmitted disease.
@ kahlia miles: If your son is only 7 weeks old, it’s not too late to breastfeed. You might want to consult a lactation specialist.
Having done both breastfeeding and bottle feeding, I can assure you first-hand that the difference breastfeeding made to my baby’s health was absolutely astounding–and there is nothing, NOTHING, more important than a baby’s health. Not convenience, not a job, nothing.
my 7 week old son has had this exact rash for about 2 weeks now. it gets worse when he is hot , when he cries or when he’s feeding. he is on a soy formula as i believe he was allergic to his milk based formula. i took him to the dr and she said it was a skin allergy and not to use fabric softener or washing liquid.. so i don’t know if its a heat rash , allergic reaction , or baby hormone rash but i hope it goes away soon!!!
So what has the conclusion been? What worked? My 4 week old has exactly the same thing. Your pictures look just like him. His rash is in all the same place. I thought it was aggravated due to all the spitting up he does. those are the areas that are touched by the spit up the most and pretty much the most damp on his body. So what actually worked. I have read not to put any lotions on it. I give him baths everyday with baking soda and that really helps but doesn’t last. Anyone want to chime in. This post is from a long time ago. I’m curious how long it took to clear up…
my baby has this rash he is 7months old he went swiming on tuesday for the first time i wonder if it chlorine reacation? he is neve rver heated at night me myself i think he has german measeals !!!!!!
Hi I have a 6 week old son and he has developed this rash last week sometime. I tried rubbing my own breast milk on it it seemed to have made it go away a bit. But then I just recalled days ago that my middle child had this 11 yrs ago when she was a few months old and Dr’s suggested so many things and no avail. I then started to use my dove conditioner on her head and face on every day basis and it dessapeared and nv came back. Now Ive started to do the same with my son and already see progress… Hope this may help anyone…
I have a 5 month old that has developed this rash. I freaked out and was about to bring him to the ER because I thought it was an allergic reaction to some baby food. You would think that a mother of 3 and 2 step children (all under 8) would have seen this “prickly heat” before, but I havent! It scared me, but I put him in an oatmeal bath and it cleared it up in 24 hrs! The oatmeal bath is only for 6 months and up, but I used it and it worked.
Hi, I know its been a while since anyone has posted here and your baby is grown alot by now :) I have a 10 month old son. He has had all his vaccinations and was born in a hospital. He is on gentleease enfamil formula. (I breastfed for the first 3 weeks of his life but never produced enough milk no matter how much I tried) When My son was 3 months old, He got a rash Exactly like that on his forehead face neck and shoulders. I took him to my pediatrician. I was told it is baby ecxema. It was also summertime so heat was contributing to it. Ecxema is affected my heat, friction, laundry detergent,and lotion(Anything scented) I changed his laundry soap to Tide free and gentle and downy free. I also bought aveeno lotion for babys and aveeno cream wash for babys. Once all his bedding clothes and anythiong coming into contact wth his skin was washed with the new detergent and I used nothing on him but the unscented aveen wash and lotion his skin started clearing up. I also kept him cool and well lotioned to keep the excema from getting to dry. the pediatrician even said I could put crisco on it because ecxema needs so much moisture. Wellwith in a couple weeks his skin was completely cleared up! Even when I would mistakenly wash a blanket in another detergent his skin would get irritated. Just some personal experience to share with future moms looking at this page! good luck with your little one
My baby is a month old today and we have pictures tomorrow and I want to cry cause his face still looks like that picture and has for a week. When he was 2 days old he got the newborn rash really bad all over his body and when he got mad and hot, it got worse. I wash all his stuff in the baby soap and have tried different kinds of lotions and soaps but still no help. Today I bought the unscented aveeno wash and lotion, I hope that will help. The pediatrician has helped with a soluction just says it will clear up but it hasn’t. Tomorrow I’m going to get Tide free laundry soap and try that, he also uses the Gentlease enfamil, but maybe that could be a problem. I did just quit breast feeding about a week ago and it has gotten worse.
My son, who is now 9, had the same rash for the first 3 months of his life. Once dairy was cut out, not only did the rash clear up but he became a much happier baby and definitely slept better. So did we.
He is still allergic to dairy including eggs, and all nuts.
hello,
Please look into NAET which can test and in some cases cure allergies. It uses Kinesiology and acupuncture. Look online for someone in your area who does NAET. I know of one case where the baby was weaned and could not tolerate any solid foods. The parents were very pleased with the results.
Hello,
My daughter was 2 months old and had a rash that looked identical and I didn’t think anything of it. I thought it was baby acne. But when I brought her to a check up they said immediately she was allergic to soy. So no dairy and no soy for her. She’s now on Neocate formula and rash free.
Hi,
My two months old has a similar rash. It appeared after coming back from the beach (two weeks now). The doctor told me that it was heat rash. But I was wondering, how long does your son’s rash lasted? How did it dissapear?
I dont think I read all the posts but my first son had this as soon as we came home from the hospital and found out that he had allergies to the laundry detergent and baby soaps we tried. i ended up using cetaphil and basis soap bars for washing him, and washing clothes in just plain water. hope this helped
My daughter had the rash it was celiac disease. It is identical, I can send you pictures via email. Her celiac tests were negative but through genetic testing it was positive.
Hi guys,
My daughter has this exact rash aged 4 – 7 months. The rash was diagnosed as baby exema and she was prescribed hydrocortisone (spelling??) which cleared it up within 2 weeks.
She has an egg alergy, however there was no indication that the excema was related to this.
It has not reoccured since 7 months old and she is now 2 years.
the one thing we did notice is that a variety of things made it worse including : sunscreen, baby lotion, baby oil, E45 Cream
Hope this helps
Hi,
This is a really good article and thank you for sharing. My son has the same symptons now and I am very worry.
Does it heal without the med in your case? How long does it take to heal?
Thank you,
Dover
Thanks for posting this pic! My son is 4 weeks and has a rash similar to this on his face, eyelids, ears, hairline and around his neck. We’re in the middle of February but I suspect that this is also due to contact with my skin while BFing. Thanks for the tips!
Hi – my question is mostly for the pediatrician who responded to someone else’s post recently…
my one month old daughter developed a similar rash as this pix about a week ago – it was initially only on the sides of her face, but has since spread to include her entire face, both ears, and neck. It started as little bumps, and has become confluent, and feels rough. She is not disturbed by it, except over her ears and the edges of her nares, where she has yellow dried (?) discharge – honey-like (looks like impetigo, but med school was a while ago, so I could be wrong)…
the pediatrician saw her last week right after it started and said it looked like a combo of baby acne and cradle cap, but now it looks so much worse and doesn’t really look like either to my (untrained) eye – what do you think?
To mom&MD it sounds like classic Seborrheic Dermatitis. It is called cradle cap when it is on the scalp. Typically settles in creases where yeast like to colonize, such as creases of the ears and neck, flares of the nares, and eye brows, but it is not limited to these areas. In fact it can affect the entire body. It can be dry and flakey or thick yellow and greasy or crusty. Atopic Dermatitis is another possibility however, if it seems to weep yellow discharge it is a sign of infection.
Hi,
My son is 22mths old and currently has a rash very similar to this on his torso, covering his front and spreading around to his back. I’m on an elimination diet with him so will hopefully know in a few weeks if it is food related. Like many of you have said it gets worse with heat and also chlorine when he’s been in the pool. Also he’s a warm boy and sweats alot – we live in a humid climate and it’s summer here now.
Have you considered it could be a reaction to something you are wearing on your skin like perfume or deodorant or the soap you use?
I ask this because my son had the same kind of rash pop up over one side of his face and on the back of his neck twice when he was much younger and was still cradled. Both times it was after one of his nanna’s (the same one both times) had been holding him in her arms and the areas that were affected were the ones that were contacting her skin and clothes. I noticed both times that she smelled strongly of perfume. I could isolate it because she lives interstate and rarely visits. The rash only appeared after her visits and after she’d been holding him.
At the time I put it down to immature skin reacting to a cosmetic product but I think it could be an indication of a predisposition towards allergies or sensitivities.
I don’t yet know if my son has any allergies or the like but looking back he always sweated profusely around his hairline while feeding (bottle or breast), and took himself off the breast at 4mths. He screamed blue murder and arched his back and absolutely did not want to go near my boob! He’d been doing it more and more leading up to then but not as bad. Now he frequently goes into hysterics, screaming the house down and biting down with his teeth and shaking in rage. Something beyond temper tantrums I think, hence the elimination diet.
I’d love to know if anyone has had a similar experience and what was the cause.
Bree,
The back arching and screaming while feeding is a hallmark sign of reflux. The babies arch their backs to try to elongate their esophagus to ease the discomfort of the acid backing up. I don’t believe your son was refusing the breast, just any type of food would have set him off. My daughter had this at birth and it finally subsided at about 7 months. We had her on prescription liquid Zantac and it did wonders.
Maybe the screaming and rages are signs that he is in pain?
This answer is for Shelby, as I’m sure Garrett’s rash disappeared years ago.
This looks like a combination of two benign rashes:
1. the red splotches without many bumps as seen on face is commonly known as “baby rash” technically has a scary name erythema toxicum neonatorum. It is a common rash seen in babies a few days after birth to about 2 weeks of age and it is from the skin getting used to being outside of the amniotic fluid. Totally innocent, causes no problems, NO relation to dairy, immunizations, autism.
2. In the neck region, it looks like prickly heat, another benign rash caused by hot weather, babies sweating before their skin is ready, and our over-protective wrapping the lil ones up so they won’t be cold. Treatment is have the child only have one more layer than the adult is wearing for the weather.
Shelby, hope this is what your baby has too, I could probably tell you if I had a picture.
My baby is two weeks and have red spots on forehead and eyelid. What could it be. Please mail me @ sayspreet@gmail.com
my baby has this exact same rash. The dr’s keep jumping around about what it might be. Any ideas? She is 6 weeks old and has had this rash for about 2 weeks. Its winter here so im guessing its not a heat rash. :D And it seems to get worse and then better..and then worse again. please email me with any ideas…shelbywetz@yahoo.com
The funny thing about this picture is that all three of my kids were breastfed and they all had the same thing. I live on a tropical island and I’m not entirely sure if it is or was heat rash with a combination of infant acne.. I now have a three week old and his looks just like the baby here. I have been trying to keep him cool and give him cool baths.. I also found that terry clothing and blankets and material such as mink irritated his skin even more.. The doctor told me his rash was some sort of dermatitis from me making him sleep on his milk soaked blankets or from the milk and saliva getting on his face.. WHAT AN IDIOT! does he really think I take care of my child like this?? IF that was the case then how did it get on his head?? All I’m saying is , with a newborn , it’s trial and error.. Parents we know whats best.. stick to your intuition. If you should go see a doctor and you don’t believe what they say, there is always other doctors.. I can’t wait for this strain of rash to go away..
My middle son also had this, and it appeared within 24 hours of his 4-month vaccines–and lasted for 10 months on his face and body, and continued for years on his face and elbows. I tried going off dairy and gluten while nursing him (he had only breastmilk for 10 months), in case it was a food sensitivity or allergy, but it didn’t seem to make a difference. The pediatrician called it baby eczema, but the dermatologist said it was clearly a drug rash. The only drugs he’d received were vaccines.
Oh, and it was much worse with heat–but it was not a heat rash.
However, when I had to go off gluten myself, 9 years later (which made the entire family almost gluten-free, say, gluten-lite), his rash finally went away. When we tried gluten on him (twice), it returned with a vengeance. He is now gluten-free and rash-free.
So I think there is a link between vaccines and food sensitivities/allergies.
I really hate to say this, but if your baby was born in the hospital (rather than a home-birth or at a midwife clinic), and was ever out of your sight, it is quite possible that they gave him vaccines without your permission.
That is exactly what they did with my middle son. The nurse brought in the paper for me to sign, I said, “no, I do not want him to receive any vaccines until he’s a little older,” and she sort of looked uncomfortable and said, “I’m sorry, we already gave him the shots while he was in the nursery.”
When my third baby was born, while we were in the hospital, I never let her out of my arms unless my husband was there to hold her. The nurse actually yelled at me, and said that I wasn’t allowed to fall asleep with her in my arms.
Just wondering–are you on any medications that might be getting into your milk? Or were you given rhogam before the birth?
Also, is there any possibility that it is a viral rash? Did it appear 4 or 5 days after a mild fever? (It doesn’t look like the viral rashes I’ve seen, but just trying to rule out all obvious possibilities.)
Hi Alison,
Thanks for the comment. Garrett was born at home and has never had a vaccine. I had a very uneventful and unmedicated pregnancy, etc. I was also not on any after his birth. This particular rash I do believe was just heat rash.
However, Garrett does have multiple severe food allergies that we are dealing with. He is now 13 months old.
Thank you so much for posting those pictures. I’m a new mom to a two month year old and my son developed identical rashes when he was about a month. I am so careful with him so I didn’t know what it could be. Ive been vegan for almost my whole life but (unfortunately) I gave my son milk formula because I was told he would need it. I have since switched to soy based formula. He still gets the same rashes on his face and his back but not as bad. I put pure petroleum on him 3 times a day. I dont know it this makes it better but i dont want to stop in case it is. It’s heart breaking seeing such your beautiful baby like this. Did you ever find out the cause?
Thanks for posting this. My daughter developed a rash almost identical. Doc told us to use Eucerin which we did vigorously. It didn’t seem to help. Thats when I started researching it. It makes sence now. I live in FL and at the beginning of the summer season is when her rash became real bad. She has always been a warm baby. Once again, thanks.
I will say that my daughter’s face and head looked just like this when she was 2 to 2.5 weeks old. It was a severe dairy protein allergy. Ped even tried to say it was baby acne. One week after I went off dairy totally, the rash cleared right up. I have had to keep her off dairy and soy and she is now 8 months old and still not yet outgrown it.
my 14 mth old has this same rash? from reading what you said, it sounds like i might need to take dairy out?
I came across these pictures trying to find out whether my 4 year old daughter has a heat rash. although her rash does not look like this, my three year old had a similar rash when he was vaccinated as an infant. i was told it was a result of his measles vaccine. the rash started showing within 24 hours of his shot. i realize that your baby wasn’t vaccinated but this may be of help to others who are searching for answers. good luck to all!
Hi, thanks for posting these pics. My 6wk old daughter has this rash and we decided it is prickly heat. Yesterday was the hottest day of the year so far and while she has had baby acne and millia off and on since birth she became really bumpy the last few days. yesterday she started rubbing at her eyes (lots of bumps all around them and on her eyelids) and the skin turned quite red and then they swelled up. needless to say, it was awful. we put in an air conditioner ( the cool cloth wipedowns and laying naked on a cotton blanket wasn’t getting her cooled down enough, even with a fan in the window) and today she is looking better, but still has some welts from where she initially rubbed scratched at her eyes before I got some mittens on her.
My daughter is breast fed. I have Celiac’s disease and follow a very strict gluten as well as dairy free diet. I really don’t think this is an allergy issue. just wanted to share. thanks again!
My daughter had the same look. I think it was related to the vaccine (Hep-B with 12.5 mcg mercury). She is autistic.
Thank you Jim. I am sorry to hear about your daughter.
My son is completely unvaccinated (he is now 9 1/2 months old) so this rash/prickly heat was not caused by a vaccine. He now has severe food allergies though (including many foods that cause him anaphylaxis) so it makes me wonder if this “rash” was a tip off to this.
Hi, I have a two month baby girl, and she had this same rash,well it looks similar to your photos. It looks like she is alergic to the sofner, I had to wash all the clothes including mine withour softner. I also treated with Clotrimazole 2% and within two weeks she was a lot better. I hope this help! Good luck!
get your child vaccinated. I hate parents that neglect getting their kids vaccinated. Making them suffer through things like chicken pocks measles is wrong.
Very nice article on acne. Thanks for the great tips!
hello my baby has this and it looks just like that it is just heat rash i live in California and it when from the 60 to the 90 in temp really fast so yea i just give her a nice cool bath before bed and dont put clothes on her and it goes away in least then a week or 2
what treatment did you do? my 6 weeker has this.
Kristina,
It is definitely not baby acne. I would also guess that a baby with acne more extensive than just a few spots on their forehead or cheeks was not really baby acne. I’m no expert or anything but a rash as extensive as Garrett’s (these pictures didn’t really do justice, especially the back of his neck) would definitely seem abnormal to me as acne. If you’ve seen babies with worse rashes I would guess they were allergic to something or had prickly heat or some other kind of rash and not baby acne. Plus, acne takes a few weeks if not a few months to go away. Garrett’s rash is about 90% gone now and he looks much better. All I’ve done is kept him naked and cool and given him some baths in lukewarm water.
Bari,
If I wasn’t so sure it was prickly heat I would cut out the dairy. In fact before I made this post I initially assumed it was a dairy reaction and cut out the dairy only to do more research and realize that his symptoms more reflected prickly heat rather than a dairy allergy. I resumed dairy and followed the advice for dealing with prickly heat and he is about 90% recovered from the rash. His skin is returning to its beautiful baby softness. I also try to stick with mostly raw dairy as well but if I notice symptoms of dairy intolerance I will definitely cut all pasteurized dairy and if I see no improvement then I’ll cut all raw dairy as well
Kristina, did you find out what this rash was?? I’m a first time Mom, and I’m making myself sick over my daughters rash, which looks exactly like this. She’s had it for over 2 weeks now, and I’ve had one doctor tell me baby acne, another tell me cradle cap… one tell me to use lotion, another tell me to use nothing. I’m so confused! How long did it take to go away and what did you do to help it? I formula feed.
It is def. heat rash. Keep baby dry and just wash once a day with water only. The sweat is being blocked from escaping the skin pores which causes swelling irritation and itchiness. If baby seems to be itching more try dabbing an ice pack on his/her cheeks to defuse the itchy sensation. Make sure you are careful with the ice pack and keep it wrapped in a towel of some sort. Don’t want to hurt baby even more! :)
Heat rash is very normal for babies and most of the time they don’t mind it at all it looks worse that it really is. Also remember to avoid lotions and soaps on the face. Water is truly the best way to clean the skin on their face during a heat rash breakout.
Last but not least prevention. Keep an eye out for if your baby is sweating. Some babies sweat more than others. Also, remember babies don’t always need layers, or blankets covering them. They are just like us and can get hot sometimes too. If your baby seems to be overheating or sweaty take off some layers, and place a fan so that it provides a LIGHT breeze over their bodies. DO NOT PLACE A FAN NEAR THEM. Keep the fan a ways away as the force of the wind can cause problems with inhaling.
Hope this helps!
Jessica,
Why not consider completely cutting out the dairy. You’ll see pretty fast if it goes away. While it takes 2 weeks to completely clear dairy, with my milk allergic son, I noticed the excema rashes cleared in about 4 days, but was noticeably better even sooner. If it goes away, you know what it is… I know you have tons of dairy free recipes, but if you need more, email me. Good Luck! Bari
My guess is that it is a version of normal baby skin adjusting to the outside of the womb world…such as baby acne, etc. Imagine you’ve spent your whole life under water, and then you’ve changed to an entirely different ecosystem. Your skin would need time to adjust. I’ve seen cases of it worse looking than Garrett’s. I could be wrong, of course…