Hi Moms!
I have a beautiful five week old son who has something strange going on with his skin. His face, ears (even inside of them) and parts of his neck, upper back, and shoulders are red (looks almost like a sun burn), peely, and have yellowish scabs all over. It's now starting to spread to his scalp, too, although it origionated on his face. It doesn't seem to be bothering him, but it just looks so uncomfortable to me. I am at a loss as to what might be going on since my daughter had no skin issues after birth. I don't know if it's baby acne, cradle cap that's appeared on his face as it can do in some cases, extremely dry skin, or something else. I'm planning on calling pediatrian tomorrow, but was wondering if any of you have some ideas as to what might be going on.
I would side step the pediatrician at this point, and head to the dermatologist. My youngest daughter had something that needed a deratologist attention, and I was so glad that we went.
Always have a doctor check, but it sounds like cradle cap to me. My 4 month old son has it and we have found that putting pure aloe gel (the kind for sunburns works as long as it is only aloe) on the affected areas a few times a day helps to clear it up pretty fast. Continue to put it on the areas even when it looks like it is almost gone, otherwise it starts getting worse. Good luck.
It sounds like either cradle cap or eczema, which one of my twins had when he was three months old. I tried every over-the-counter remedy, as well as home remedies, and nothing worked until we saw the pediatrician. He prescribed a topical ointment that cleared it up.
Hi A. (I am also A. W!)
I don't know the details, but this also happened to my daughter when she was around the same age. She went through about two or three rounds of her skin drying up like this and looking horrible, then kind of peeling off, revealing beautiful baby skin underneath. Then the same thing all over again. I think it's just a normal baby thing, but of course you should always check with your doctor if you think it's a big problem.
Don't worry, that beautiful baby skin will emerge, and you'll look back and forget that all this ever even happened!
If it is eczema, you will find that a lot of babies have it and parents have found many different ways of resolving it, and with some perserverence and experimenting, you will too. Our son developed those symptoms, plus associated head scratching, weeping and infections at two months. After several months of experimenting with foods, we determined he is allergic to eggs (confirmed by an allergy test when he was 11 months). In addition, stopping the use of soap and shampoo helped as well. When we can keep him off eggs his skin is beautiful. We do use hydrocortosone cream when a patch is particularly stubborn, but overuse of steroids is not good for the skin. We do think he has some other allergic tendencies. Plus children with eczema are more likely to develop asthma, so you might ask your ped about identifying those signs as well. I hope you figure it out soon!
sounds like eczema. I would still see the doctor. our son had that when he was little and was covered everywhere with it. we saw a dermatologist and received some prescription ointment. also, they instructed us to not bathe him every day. just wipe him off. also, we had to slick him up with good old fashioned vaseline.
Sounds like baby acne. My youngest son had that at about the same age. It took a few weeks, but clears up on its own. Are you breast feeding? I was told that my body at that time was going through hormonal changes after pregnancy which can affect the baby's milk. But don't worry as much as it doesn't look pretty it will go away soon! And cradle cap does occur about that age too, did for all 3 of mine!
He there A.! Im Jen, a SAHM to 3 that are ages 5 and under. of course see a doctor, but always trust your gut on what to do. My daughter (baby #2) had a similar issue when she was a baby and we came to find out around 4mo she is severly allergic to nuts, and I was breastfeeding her at the time and did not even think about all the yummy pistachio's I was eating!!! I look back a pictures now and she looks like a burn victim. If you are nursing and eating alot of one food, take it out and see if you see a difference. I remember she would always seem worse right after she ate- she would get very rosy cheeks, and almost alittle blotchy around her wrists. The doctor and derm at the time said it was cradle cap moving down and gave me a steroid that did help and we only used it for 4 days, if you would like the name of it let me know and I can call to find out in her records. My little lady will be turning 4 in Feb and we always have benedryl and an epi-pen with us!! Too bad we did not figure it out till 4 mos!! The other thing is when you have a "winter baby" the doctors chalk alot of it up to dry skin. I wish you luck, and if I can help in any way let me know, we have had lots of rashes and breakouts around my house!! And remember either way, rash or not..... he is just amazing!!! enjoy this stage, it goes by fast when you have other little ones at home. My little man is almost 2!
-Jen
A.-
My 7 month old son started getting red patches on his back, arms, legs, and face when he was about 2 months old and then the patch on his face got yellowish blisters/scabs on his face- turns out it was eczema. I looked it up on the net to see what it could be and then our dr. confirmed it. We started using California baby lotion(it's made for really dry skin or eczema) after his baths, and areas that were really bad we mixed the lotion with cortizone cream- cleared it up. I still use the lotion on a daily basis (cream as needed). We also started using the california baby body and shampoo to help it along with washing our clothes with All free and clear- since we didn't know if the detergent on our clothes could be part of the issue. Hope this helps and it turns out to be just eczema since keeping the areas clean and moisturized seems to be the fix! Good luck!
