9 Month Old with Acne

Hi H.,
My little 3 month old has the same thing. It's eczema, not real acne. I bf her and found that cutting out dairy entirely as well as onions, garlic, and peppers helped keep it from flaring up so badly. Also, I only use a damp rag to wash her face and switched to using Cetaphil gentle non-foaming soap and lotion-- you don't even have to use water for it to clean. Just put it on and wipe it off. The last thing I did was start washing her stuff in dye-free and fragrance -free laundry detergent. The combination of all this is that she only gets a little flare up if she's too hot or I'm sweaty. Your son just has sensitive skin. The best thing we did was the switch to Cetaphil and not giving her a full on bath except once a week. Otherwise, we just do the baby "sitz" bath and wipe her face off with Cetaphil and damp rag.

I hope this helps!

1 mom found this helpful

My son has the same problem and I use the 1% hydrocortisone OINTMENT as oppose to the cream. It seems to work better also I sometimes layer it with Aquaphor to seal it in. That's only if it gets really bad. I put it on at night before he sleeps. He still gets it once in while, but it was much better than before. Please note that the hydrocortisone is only used if there is visible signs of the acne or ezcema I would not recommend to put it all the time because from what I read that it sometimes bleaches the skin, but that is with over usage. For maintance I put Vaseline CREAM. I did also cut out dairy from my diet and am just taking calcium pills. Hope that helps!

1 mom found this helpful

Hi H..
One of my twin daughters has had the same as you describe practically since birth and she will be 16 months tomorrow. My doctor recommended the same and it did nothing. Then he suggested that I take her to a dermatologist when she turned a year old. My dermatologist does not specialize in pediatrics. He got the diagnosis right (he even pointed out that she has little bumps on the back of her arms that are colorless but I never realized it) but gave us the meds to dry it out. It is a form of eczema. It is a sign that she is prone to asthma, hay fever etc.
My friend's dad does specialize in pediatric dermatology and he said that it needs to be clean with water only, no soap, and then once a week an anti bacterial soap and moisturize it a lot every night. I used Cetaphil cream and now he has given us a couple prescriptions to try. If treated properly, it will go away for good.

It has gotten worse and better and worse again. It could also be an allergy. I suggest you see a dermatologist.

Good luck.

1 mom found this helpful

One of my friend's children had baby acne while she was breastfeeding also. My children never had it so I cannot comment on what we did, however, I believe she used Phisoderm on her little girl and it eventually went away. Her daughter has no scarring and beautiful skin. I agree with one of the other women though, I'd find a pediatric dermatologist. They would know better.

My husband just reminded me that our daughter did have baby acne. I'm trying to search my memory bank for what we did. :-) With each kid, I lose more memory. If I remember correctly-- it came around the time she had thrush and the Dr. had prescribed oral Nystatin. Again, if I am remembering correctly we just rubbed a little of the oral Nystatin on the acne and it went away. I know we did not use the Phisoderm but my friend did.

My son is a year and gets little red bumps on his chin and cheeks. It's mainly from his saliva. His ped calls them "slobber bumps." She doesn't recommend hydrocortisone for the face because it tends to thin the skin. Any barrier cream/ointment helps. I find that plain old Vaseline or Aquafor after each feeding/cleaning helps a lot. Good luck.

Infants often have bad skin. (My three had more of the cradle cap issue, but had some acne also.) It's more their own body adjusting to oils in their skin, etc, than anything you eat. He will grow out of it, and it's important to remember that it's just a cosmetic issue...nothing more.

My son used Proactiv Solution as a teenager, and it cleared up his skin and kept it clear. It is pricey, but it works. However, I do not know if it is safe to use that on infants. You might try their website (www.Proactiv.com) to see if it gives any information on using it on young children. If you do decide to try it, be warned that because of the peroxide in it, it will bleach out any towels and bedding you use for your son.

H.,
Let your pediatrician know how things are going. They might change the plan of treatment and diagnosis.

A.

It's very possibly something you're eating. Also - are you washing his face with cleanser? That might be too much and cause pimples also. I'd look for normal things in your diet that would cause you to get pimples when you were younger & start there.

Perhaps it might be an allergic reaction to his own saliva? My 1 year old used to have bumpy skin, mostly on his cheeks, that particularly got bad when he started teething. I used Eucerin calming cream and that helped. The skin itself might be irritated from too much cleansing. I recommend cleaning with just water morning and night and then using the Eucerin calming cream. Good luck!

Hi H., My pediatrician told me that when using hydrocortisone cream you need to make sure it gets completely rubbed into the skin to be effective. I hope this helps!