My son is 3 months old and has very sensitive skin. He has had a red rash on his legs and arms for over a month. My pediatrician says that he just has sensitive skin and gave me samples of lotions to try. I then went to a dermatologist and he said it was just "prickly heat" aka "heat rash" and was not an allergy. He also said that it was not any soaps that I was using and that I should just keep him cool and dry. He also suggested using mild bar soap such as Ivory or Jergen as they are less drying than the baby soaps.
I have used Dreft but it is very expensive so I switched to All Free & Clear (clothing Detergent) for all of the family clothes. I have tried Giggles, J&J, and even Aveno free & clear bath wash for babies. I have tried the lotions that the Dr gave and they made the rash worse. I have also switched to Jergens bar of soap for the bath and stopped using any lotions. Nothing has changed; my son still has horrible patch like rashes on his legs and arms. He doesn't seem to get the rashes on his back, stomach, or stomach which is interesting. We don't go outside very much and keep our house at around 72 degrees so I can't understand of why he would have a heat rash.
Anyone else experience something similar or have any ideas or suggestions?
Thank you all for your responses and advice. There had been no changes in my son's skin condition until the last couple of days. It is very mysterious because nothing had really changed that I can think of. I last bathed my son with Aveno Baby wash with Oatmeal (fragrance free) which I had used previously with no change and used the Aveno lotion as well. I am wondering if there was something in my diet that was affecting my son. I will continue to use the Aveno product since I know that it is not the culprit.
Hi K., my daughter has very sensitive skin, she's 10 now, but she used to get boils on her and I found out it was the soaps I was using. We have been using Cetaphyl soap and lotion for years now and she has never had any problem. It's a little expensive but worth it. I tried the Jergens and the Ivory soaps but they did not work either.
I second Michele R...sounds like keratosis pilaris to me...your dermatologist can prescribe a steroid...ours prescribed Mometasone furoate ointment...worked wonders. The doc also recommended Cetaphil brand lotions and soaps and exfoliating well...cetaphil is available just about anywhere.
Best wishes.
It sounds to me that your son has the same thing that me and my son's have which is Keratosis Pilaris. Here is a link that talks more about it. http://www.helpforkp.com/
I have tried lotions and soaps but still researching.
It is not a heat rash and it's only on my arms, legs, thighs, bottom and on son's face, arms, legs.
Try giggles oatmeal or aveno oatmeal,I don't use dreft cause it's too pricey but I use baby all as far as detergent goes. I do not use J&J cause it makes his skin worse. Always have lotion on his skin. I have heard that Dermadoctor KP duty works buthaven't ordered it yet. You can get it online at the link above.
Good Luck.
M.
"Patch like rashes on his legs and arms" sounds like eczema to me. I personally think eczema is an environmental disorder because I have eczema real bad on my hands and when I went to West Virginia for a week on business, my eczema went away completely. When I got back home, it was back within a week. It must be something in the water, something with my diet that was different when I was traveling, or something in the air that's regional. It's definitely an allergy of some sort, but my dermatologist says they don't know what causes eczema for sure. While it can be treated with moisturizers and topical steroid creams, there's no cure.
If it's prickly heat, there's really nothing you can do but wait it out. My son has had problems with prickly heat since a very young age. On my son, it would usually go away after one or two days though.
If it's eczema, you just have to keep it moisturized and if it gets worse, they do have steroid creams they can prescribe, but it usually does come back even after being treated. My son has the patchy rashes on his legs right now and I put Eucerine or Cetaphil on them at each diaper change and when they start to get so bad he's really scratching them, I put the steroid cream on them for a few days and they go away. But again, they always seem to come back. My daughter's dermatologist said to use a non-soap cleanser when bathing to help revlieve the eczema. She recommended Cetaphil or even Dove bar soap is better than Ivory because it has moisturizing cream and ivory is pure soap. With your son being so young, the doctors may not want to use steroid creams on him yet so using a good moisturizer and non-soap cleanser when bathing would probably be the way to go until he gets older. I know you said the lotions you tried made it worse, but did it actually spread or did it just seem more red than before? When I put the cream on my son's legs, it does look more red, but after several days, the rash does seem to disipate so you just may need to give the moisturizer a little more time.
Another mom I know who's real into all the "natural" remedies for stuff told me she thought eczema was caused by the lack of essential fatty acids and recommended a EFA supplement. She also recommended adding filters to all my water faucets. She said you can buy one for the shower and bathtub as well as the kitchen and bathroom faucets. I'd take her advice on the water filters except my husband works for the city's water department and he thinks that's rediculous.
Anyway, you might just try some different non-soap cleansers, a good emolient moisturizing cream (not necessarily lotion) like Eucerine, Aquaphor or Cetaphil and maybe filtered water in his bath and see if that doesn't help. And if you do try filtered water, and it seems to work, please let me know. I need ammunition to get my husband to change his mind about adding filters around here. :-)
Good luck!
My son started to get this in his third month. Once we quit using soap and only a small amount of All Free & Clear in the wash, it cleared up. He still has mild outbreaks from time to time. Baby products, including laundry soap, make it much worse.
Hope that helps!
S.
DO NOT USE ANYTHING WITH ALCOHOL OR LANOLIN IN IT! use pure aloe on your baby. It's a natural healing plant. It's in many things, but you HAVE to read ingredients thurougly to make sure there is NO alcohol or lanolin in them. If it IS a heat rash you have to treat it like a sunburn. Use only PURE aloe. Nothing scented or with additives. buy an aloe plant if you need to. Provided that your son is not allergic to it, it SHOULD work. if it doesn't, I don't know what else to try, but my husband has ultra sensitive and dry skin and has to put aloe on fairly often for dry skin. It works better than lotions for sure. If you know an herbalist who could mix you up a lotion that'd be great, but don't use anything with all that JUNK in it. It could be exzema, my siblings got that when they were younger. I don't know why your son would have heat rash when he's in a controlled temperature environment. Anyway, jergens uses alcohols and lanolin additives and so does actually any other name-brand. I've checked it out, trust me. I stood in front of multiple lotion aisles for an hour or so going over ingredients in different ones. Try it, and if it doesn't work let me know. I have a friend who's mom is an herbalist, she might be able to suggest or make something up...
My first son had red, scaley patches when he was little. Aquaphor worked wonders for it. You can find it in the lotion aisle.
My son also had sensitive skin, he had lots of pimples on his face and dry skin rashes on his legs. A friend recommended Cetaphil and Aveno Oatmeal lotion together. It worked great, after the second bath using those products everything cleared up and he had baby smooth skin. Hope you find something that works for your baby.
M.
Sounds like excema to me...my son has it. We use Elidel...it's like a steroid, but you can use it everyday. It did the trick for us.
My son had severe skin sensitivity and we finally figured out he had food allergies. I was (still am) nursing him and he was reacting to nuts and soy in my diet.
Just a suggestion, but I thought I'd throw it out there because most pediatricians do not adn that was definitely something I didn't think of. Mostly, follow your gut. If the diagnosis you are getting doesn't sit right, keep looking, reading, and getting other opinions.
I hope he gets better!
B.
If it is patch like it sounds like eczema to me. My daughter has it on her face, arm and side of her stomach...it gets worse depending on the circumstances. I think she also has Keratosis Pilaris on her back and chest...I will have to go back to her Dermatologist...her daddy has it and odds are she has it to.
I would try getting a second opinion. We use Dreft for her laundry (washed by itself). Bath wise I have used Johnson and Johnson stuff in the past but for some reason she has had an reaction to it. So we are trying Aveno for babies with oatmeal.
Good luck.
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I also suggest using Cetaphil soap and lotion. It is very mild, and maybe even more mild than baby soaps/lotions. It doesn't have perfumes or any "extra" additives.
A.
