5 Month Old Spotty Rash

As a mom of many, the best advice is if it's not bothering the baby, it's not a big deal and probably nothing to do about it. Babies have lots of rashes, spots an dots, if there are no signs of illness, no fever, happy baby and eating well, IGNORE rash!!! it's truely uslightly but it's OK..

Dear H.,
Of course follow up with your pediatrician, but for heaven's sake don't have a heart attack over this either. I'm sorry, but the last thing you need is worrying that a rash is anything more than just that.
My daughter got a HORRIBLE rash. The worst rash I've ever seen on a baby. She was allergic to disposable diapers. I changed her to cloth diapers and aired her out. The rash was gone.
My son got a rash all over him. It looked like chicken pox. He was 4 months old and I freaked out. For one thing, it takes a while for babies pores to get cleared out after being in the womb environment and for another, he was getting too sweaty with me having him all bundled up. I started putting him in a t-shirt and socks to sleep in and the rash cleared up. He's 14 and still only sleeps in his underwear with only a thin blanket because he sweats like a moose and you can see a bump on every hair follicle if he gets sweaty under his clothes.
I don't mean to make light, but it could be something as simple as fabric softener or the fabric in his clothing....something completely external that is not a huge cause for alarm. Babies get rashes, baby acne, folliculitus, diaper rash. Since it comes and goes, change one thing that you are doing and see if it makes a difference. Then change another thing. Process of elimination. But don't drive yourself crazy if your baby isn't sick or burning up. I'm not saying to ignore it, but don't freak out either. Rashes are so normal and typical in kids but do check in with the doctor.

I wish you the best!

Hi,
My daughter had a rash on her face and then body when we introduced formula at 6 months. We tried the cow's milk based and then the soy and then decided to stick with breast feeding/pumping for as long as I could. Our pediatrician was great and told us it was likely a food allergy at 6 months, we could try the hypoallergenic, very expensive formula and we would do testing for food allergies at 1. We did blood work up at 1 and it turned out she had life threatening allergies to dairy and eggs. She is now almost 5 and has out grown her egg allergy, but now has life threatening allergies to dairy, amoxicillin, and cefprozil. I would definitely call your pediatricians office again if it still continues and try soy based or the hypoallergenic formula if you can't continue to pump/breast feed.

Best of luck.

Hi H.-
I have 2 thoughts- the first is heat rash, which is pretty harmless and comes and goes depending on how well the body dispells heat. Babies do not release heat well, so that may be an issue.
The second is an allergy. This happened a little to my sisters son when he had barley for the first time. Luckily, 2 months later, when she tried it again exclusively, he was fine. He probably just wasn't ready for it. I would try an oat cereal before doing rice and other grains. And for formula, I reccommend the enfamil lipil premium. It dissolves really great in water, AND there is far less odor. some formulas are really clumpy and stinky, but the premium version of this one seems to be great.
Hope that helps some!
-E. M
P.S. I wanted to add after reading some of the other mom's info that an allergy test is a great idea and should probably be done. I am leery of soy for babies because they don't digest it well, but if your baby cannot do dairy, options are limited to rice milk, etc. Your baby may also not be ready for formula. If you can pump, I would do that. My nephew did not have animal based food/products until he was a year old, and he seems to be doing really great!

My son has eczema that comes and goes and everytime we finally got to the doctor it had improved some and they thoguht I was exagerating how awful it was so I started taking pictures. This helped a lot the doctor could see exactly what I was talking about was much better able to help my son. So I suggest you take pictures and make an appointment with the doctor to look at them. Also if the rash is only around his mouth and on his upper chest if he is drooling a lot that can be jsut from irritation.

It sounds like an allergic reaction. I wouls say it is the formula if it is milk based. My son had this and was not able to drink milk. He had to have goats milk which was a bit expensive.

just to be safe, see another doctor,if petechiae, it can be an early sign of leukemia. Totally rare and probably not, but make sure your doctor is knowledgeable enough to have considered this.
Most likely heat rash or allergy as others have said, but there are many kinds of red dots. :)

My friend's daughter was diagnosed early because the Dr recognized the rash and sent her immediately for bloodwork. Leukemia can be very treatable if caught and treated early. Here is a picture.
http://www.leukemia-cure.com/petechiae.html

There are hundreds of reasons for red dots though. . . . so I would get a second opinion quick if it persists and is not obviously a heat rash. . .

My daughter had a weird flat red dotted rash (mainly on her tummy, back and shoulders when she was about 4-5 months old and we thought it might be heat rash. The doctor said she thought it looked like an allergic reaction to possible laundry detergant or bath soap. I ended up switching her to Cetaphil bath soap (instead of Johnsons)and put Aquaphor lotion on her tummy and back and it went away in about a week and it hasn't come back. Both of my girls have had issues with products containing lavender too

My daughter was allergic to all formula even the sensitive hypoallergenic stuff and that is how it started. I would take him off both the cereal and formula for 2 weeks and then add back in the rice cereal with breast milk, rice milk or water. the 2 weeks will give his digestive tract time to heal and recover so that he doesn't develop a sensitivity to rice as well.
I has stopped giving my baby breast milk exclusively at 4 months because she never learned to nurse properly and i was tired of pumping. 1.5 months later we figured out what the rash was from ( the formula also caused reflux, spitting up, and crying at night) so i relactated! that was so much work but made a world of difference for my baby.
I really encourage you to keep breast feeding, i wish i had figured this out much earlier.
good luck . if you have any more questions about this give me an e-mail.
J.

Ask your pediatrician to refer you to an allergist.