Irritation/soars on the Neck

makes me wonder if it is yeast. is it smelly?? if so, you can use an antifungal cream. i have always used mary kay night emolient cream on EVERYTHING regarding my children's skin and it works beautifully. it's pink and clear and acts as a barrier, but if this is yeast it will not work. for stuff like this, i generally ask my pharmacist.

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How long has this been going on? If this has been going on for months without healing you should get a second opinion. Wounds that don't heal is a sign of diabeties.
Do not use Vasaline. Vasaline is a by product of drilling for oil. When we first started to drill for oil, this white sticky substance began to emerge form around the head of the drill bit as it moved further into the earth. Drillers found it worked well for lubricating moving parts and keeping water and debris out of wounds. What we use today is the verys ame same thing only sterilized and out into a pretty package. Engine oil has the same properties for repelling water and being so sticky that debris can't get throught to the wound but you would never dream of treating a wound with that. We haven't studied what effect the chemical compuonds have on our body, but by judging the effect those compounds have on plants and animals it probably isn't good for us either. There are many water based and bees wax based lubricant's if you feel you need one. Just read the labels!
Also try entertaining you child so she will hold head up, thus eliminating the creases and allowing things to be "aired out".
A plastic backed bib would work best for keeping her chest area dry though i'm not sure how you could safely secure it at the base of the chin where it would need to go to do any good, instead of at the base of neck where they normally go. You might be able to do it with medical tape on the back of the neck, you know tie it like normal but the tape it up high at the base of her hair line. She might try to take it off, but you could try.
Good Luck!

I use a cream from a brand called "Mother Love". It is a diaper rash/thrush (yeast) treatment. You can get it locally at A Nurturing Moment on Airport Rd. It is safe and I have even nursed without wiping it off. Otherwise, I agree with the others...make sure it is not a treatable infection, then keep it dry and she will grow out of it!

The caldescen powder others have mentioned is an awesome product. My son has psoriasis and we have had wonderful progress using monistat for these areas. but a medicated powder helps keep the area dry. caldescen powder repells moisture and will not let water get to it. Try it is a great thing. Good Luck!

It could be a yeast infection. Try an antifungal cream (My pediatrician recommended Lotrimin)

I had the exact same problem with my daughter when she was a baby. I tried everything under the sun to get it to heal and it just did not want to heal. I finally found that by just keeping her neck dry and wiping it to keep it dry during the day that it did finally heal. I did use the neosporin at night when the drooling was not an issue. Do not use any type of powder as it will only make it worse. I tried using it to keep it dry but was a huge mistake. Best of luck...
G.

We may have experienced something similiar a few years ago. The main thing is to keep it clean and dry. Don't use the vaseline or neosporin ointment. I would think the Neosporin cream would be good since it can be rubbed in and dries. If that doesn't help and you don't see a difference within a few days, I would call the pediatric nurse and ask her for a remedy.

Creams trap bacteria and the barrier won't let it get air to heal. Use just powders. Be careful and sprinkle the powder on your hand, away from her face so she won't breathe the powder in. Then rub it onto her neck.

If it is yeast then ask the pharmacist what is safe for babies.

My son gets like that too sometimes. My mom sprinkled a little bit of cornstarch on a cloth and dabbed a little on his neck. It helped tremendously.

My son used to get those and I used a q-tip with Lotrimin on it to get to those rashy areas. Hopefully that will help.

My daughter's creases got yucky also. Once you clean it be sure to dry it really well with a soft dry washcloth adn then try putting some yeast infection cream on there. It worked great for my daughter. Also, might try diaper rash cream. Just be sure to keep the area clean and then dry. Good luck!

you might try a 'fungal' cream - like for athlete's foot. Keeping it dry is the problem so I'd be trying to find out about the constant drool which sounds like the cause.
Blessings,
G.

Thats not an uncommon issue, and the reason nothing is working is probably because its a fungal infection (warm & wet is all it needs), and a little alcahol & tea tree oil will do the trick. If the smell of tea tree is too strong or if its where the baby can put her hands & ingest, or its an open sore, you should visit the doc and request something milder. Dont use any antibiotics or corticosteroids as they will only aggravate it and make it worse. The trick is to dry it out & keep it as dry as possible until she goes thru another growth spurt to get rid of the wrinkles (bibs and little cotton neck wraps can help soak up the excess drool). :]

looks like you already got some good advice on things to try, I don't really have anything new to say to help heal the sore, but I have some friends who have devlopmentaly delayed(down syndrom and speech aprexia) babys/toddlers who stick out their tougnes and drool. I will ask them if they have come across this problem and know anythng that might help. I will also ask my sons OT what she recominds. I do know that she has told other mothers who's babys drool to give them somthing sour, like a lime or lemon to suck on. This trains the tougne/glans not to produce so much. The only other thought I have is if she would let you keep a bandana or fancy light weight scarf on her. I had a friend from Fance who's baby/toddler always had the cutties bandanas on because he drooled. It was a great fasionable way for her to keep his cloths and skin dry. (Hobby Lobby has them in Disney prinssess, strawberry shortcake, Dora and more)

Caldesene powder helps treat and prevent diaper rash and is an important part of infant care. Zinc has been known for years by dermatologists to help heal broken, irritated skin. By applying zinc in a powder form on a daily basis, this can help prevent the development of skin conditions as well as chafing. You can find Caldesene powder at most pharmacies. It is in a Pink, round-shaped bottle with a white cap and blue writing. I hope this helps!

Hi, I was turned on to Caldescence (spell?) when my daughter was born. It is like gold bond powder, only better. I used it on her for rashes and such and on myself (I am large chested and get heat rash in the summer) and LOVE it. It comes in a pink round container and clears things right up!

Good luck, D. H.

Have you tried dusting her with cornstarch to help dry it up or some other baby talcum powder? However, cornstarch should do the trick.

Try using a Q-tip and applying a diaper ointment called "Dr. Smith's." It is out of San Antonio and I couldn't find it locally until recently. It has some anti-fungal properties. My older daughters still use it occasionally if they get irritated from not wiping so well or wearing a bathing suit too long. I have also used it in creases like you described.

try corn starch, to help dry it. Good luck!

My daughter had something simular and it was a yeast infection on her neck due to the drool. Try monestat 2x's a day for 10 days. If that is what it is you should see improvement overnight.

My daughter had the same problem when she was younger, and much heavier! Her doctor prescribed her a yeast infection cream (idk) but it did work, that and keeping it clean. Hope this helps.

Good morning. I'm not quite sure why your doctors keep telling you to keep it clean and it will heal, because places that stay wet and cannot dry get yeast infections and they can definately require medication to get rid of it. Both of my boys had problems with it in their creases--one son got it in the fat folds on his upper legs (even though it wasn't always wet) and the other under his neck from the drool. Both of them would get bad, and sometimes the area would bleed--it was horrible. Our pediatricians just prescribed the same thing that infants use on their tongues for thrush (nystatin) and it worked great!

IF your doctor won't prescribe that--here is another thing that our pediatrician told us to use. We were told to use Lotrimin AF which works to reduce the yeast and it does work. This is the adult foot fungus cream, but the AF formula is the CLOTRIMAZOLE one which is what you need. The clotrimazole is what helps with the yeast.

Hope that helps! C.

Have you tried Boudreaux's butt paste? They usually sell it at walmart. My daughter was lactose intolerant and had the worst (*bleeding!)case of diaper rash I had ever seen due to the lactic acid upsetting her tummy and making her butt raw! Butt paste was the only thing that helped and cleared it up, they even prescribed expensive stuff that didn't help as well as the butt paste. It kept the area dry, blocked moisture getting in and it smells great!

I just read Cheryls's response and i agree and strongly recommend trying a yeast med if nothing else works.