Rash on Face - Oxford, MI

Depending on the age, I have heard of a slight dusting of cayenne or red pepper on the A&D ointment may deter the licking. Could he chew gum to keep his tongue occupied?

M-

My son now 2 1/2 was a huge drooler (this does more than I would like). We used Aquafore (sp?) and it worked wonderfully. I would wash his face before putting it on at night and would wash it off in the am and then reapply. I would reapply each time I changed his diaper.

Good Luck.

I lived through a similar situation with my daughter while she was teething and thanks to her asthma/allergy doc, the thing that worked best for her was Aquaphor healing ointment. I put it on 3 times a day (usually after each meal - and maybe again at bedtime). It really cleared up all those little red areas. Hope this works for you!

Aquaphor works wonders!

my son had that problem from the binkie the only thing that worked was a and d and of course took the binkie away but it doesn't taste good so he wouldn't like to lick it try it trust me it works

I used Gentle Naturals eczema cream and it worked great. And yes I agree with some of the other postings, distraction works best.

Cortizone.10 works for my kids. You can get it at any drug store like CVS.

First figure out why he does this and end the behavior..my son did the same thing. A and D is a great salve but the problem will not end until you end the behavior. Hydrate him to the point of what you might think is excess and then work down from there. Calm. We found that stress caused our son's problem.

M.,
This may sound silly but have you tried having him suck on a mint or chew some gum when he does this? You could also tell him to count his teeth with his tongue. It might work, especially if it is a nervous habit.

J. F

Vaseline....it works wonders! My son went through the same phase and it worked great. Other mother's may cringe at what I'm about to say, but it alleviated the problem. After you put the vaseline on tell him if he licks it it will give him a stomach ache, so he shouldn't lick his lips. As terrible as it sounds, my son was scared to lick because he didn't want a stomach ache. It did away with the sore clown face!

My Pediatrician recommended Aquaphor. It didn't stop my daughter from doing this but it helped it look better through out the day. It is clear with no tinting or dye to it so it looked more like chapstick and not yellowed as A and D ointment can do.

My son does the same thing, but he tends to do it only in the winter. There's not much I've found to stop the licking. But I have found if you put some A and D ointment on it at night time it helps it heal pretty good. I just wouldn't make a big deal about it. He'll eventually stop.

My son did the exact same thing! His pediatrician gave us some kind of prescription cream (and I'm sorry but I can't remember the name)and we applied lots of lip balm, but he did the lip licking for years! We have several school pictures with big red lips! For him ... it was just something he grew out of! Keep up with the ointment, apply the lip balm and encourage him to stop licking when you see him in the act. Good luck

you can try some other diaper rash ointment.might clear up the rash and also might not taste good
.

HI M....

I have a suggestion. There is a creme and moisturizer combo that has worked miracles on my son. He had eczema so bad that I was at my wits end I had went to specialists, etc. and nothing seemed to help even w/ prescriptions. I did a bunch of research one day and found FreeDerm. Its for all kinds of skin irritations and it was affordable and arrived quickly. You might want to try it...I'm sure glad I did. www.freederm.com
good luck!

Buy a chapstick stick like Carmex - it doesn't really taste that great but it's great for chapped lips...

you didn't mention the boy's age, but if he is old enough to talk to, keep reminding him. My daughter started this in 3rd grade, so I put chapstick in all her jacket pockets. It helped, but it took 2-3 years of reminders about not sticking her tongue outside of her mouth. You might try an ointment that doesn't taste good, but I don't know otherwise what might help. I think it could be a little psychological, in that they feel the dry lips, or think something is there to clear off (food, etc). I had a high school student who was also doing this in excess, but her parents had to work with her to help her stop(I was a teacher).
Perhaps a zinc ointment, like desitin, at night might work to moisturize better?
fwiw
K.

I am sure you have heard it from some one else at this point but Aquaphor will seal the skin from the moisture but I am not sure whether it should be ingested. You could also use vasoline...
This will just protect the skin but I am not sure it will deter the behavior!
Good luck!

The best rash reliever I've found is Triple Paste. It works better than anything else I've tried and believe me I've tried everything! You can sometimes find it at Rite Aid. It isn't a prescription type of ointment but it is behind the pharmacy counter there. I've also recently seen it at Krogers. A small tube is over 8 dollars but I believe it is the best.

My son gets rashes on his face and we use Aveeno Baby Soothing Relief Moisture Cream. We apply this several times per day and it seems to keep the dry skin at bay.

When it gets really bad, we put Aquaphor Healing Ointment on his face. We usually do this at night as it is somewhat greasy, but works wonders. He is 16 months old, so if we put it on during the day, he will wipe if off!

Good luck.

I had this same trouble with my daughter when she was two and a half. She would frequently lick her lower and upper lip, especially if she was nervous. Her poor mouth looked like a clown with too much red lipstick! I slathered Neosporin on her mouth as much as possible and finally after many months she grew out of it. It was at times very frustrating and I felt like I was constantly scolding her for licking. Occassionlay, I would see her licking and lightly grab her tounge with my thumb and index finger while asking her to "please keep your tounge in your mouth". At times, I wasn't sure my daughter even realized she was doing it.

Hope I have been a little helpful. Don't give up applying something to his poor rash. Maybe he will get tired of tasting A&D and grow out of it sooner! :)

Hi M.,
When my son was a little guy, he did the same thing. Nighttime was the only time to really treat it. I would first check with the doctor to rule out impetigo around the mouth.
What worked well for us was BALMEX. It may not be available everywhere but keep looking in the ointment or diaper section. It is a thick white cream that has a bit of a vanilla scent. It doesn't rub in and sometimes I would have to sneak it on after he went to sleep (depending on his mood). We called it the "clown medicine" because it made his face white around his mouth like a clowns. Just like when you have chapped lips, you lick them more to try to moisten them. If his mouth area gets healed and moisturized overnight, he may not feel the need to lick it during the day.
Good luck,
K.

im a working mom of a 2year old daughter. im 25 and dont really have any good advice other that i myself used to do that when i was little. it would get so bad that it hurt to open my mouth, i know exactly what your talking about. my mom would try to keep it lubricated with vasaline but id just wipe it away and lick. its like chapt lips, its a hard thing to control. but good news is i eventually stopped doing it. i started to notice what it was doing and what was causing it. i just quit. now however im addicted to chapstick. everytime i find myself licking my lips i think back to the days when this happened to me, oh, and it happened for about a year, but now i apply chapstick all the time. sorry i dont have a miracle cure. maybe if you got him his own stick of chapstick hed be able to put it on when he got the urge o lick? good luck and he will grow out of it at some point im sure. J.

I don't know of anything that will make him stop licking his face - the usual things for thumbs probably won't work and might irritate the sensitive skin on his face. An alternative to A&D is Aquaphor - it doesn't smell at all like A&D and it works great to protect the skin from getting irritated - I still use it on my 4 year old. Maybe your son has chapped lips and is licking them to make them feel better - maybe try chapstick - just not anything flavored - I suggest the plain "chapstick" brand (black tube) - I hate the way it tastes, just don't use anything medicated as it might also irritate his skin. Good luck with this:-)

My son had something similar when he was drooling all the time. The only thing that I could do in the end was put vasuline on it at night, but the same thing happened during the day. I just had to wait till the drooling stopped.

I would try vaseline. I know it helps with other moisture rashes. It might be gross enough to get him to stop too -it probably won't taste good!

M.,
You did not mention how old your son is, but it sounds like it may be a nervous habit. As a teacher, I have had several children exhibit this behavior. Creams don't really seem to work, b/c the kids don't even realize they are licking (and that is why the skin looks better in the morning. . .it gets a break). Most of those children did not even have a skin condition. The skin just got irritated from being wet, and getting licked, all day.

I am not a specialist, but it you feel that it is not a medical condition, I would talk to your doctor about some methods for helping your child take the focus off of licking!

Good luck!
:)K.

My sister had the same problem with her son. She would also use either vaseline or A & D. All i can tell you is to put that on at night real thick and of course anytime during the day you catch him doing it tell him to stop...and reapply the A & D. I figure it doesn't taste too good so hopefully it would help him to stop.