How To Tell If Your Newborn's Rash Is Normal

Parenting Help and Advice, Pregnancy and Babies

Before you even start thinking about losing pregnancy weight you need to ensure you are ready and get used to how life has changed with your special newborn. There is a lot to think about when it comes to your health and your newborn’s.
You have just had your beautiful baby and your baby’s skin has gone from beautiful pink and clear to rashes all over him/her. What’s the first thing you do? Panic!!! No, DO NOT panic. There are actually rashes on your newborn that are considered NORMAL!
So how can you tell if the rash your seeing engulfing your newborn is normal?
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One of the most common skin rashes in babies is erythema toxicum neonatorum (ETN). When a baby is born they come from a sterile environment with no germs. When they come into our world our environment is full of all sorts of bugs that are both good and bad.
Baby’s skin isn’t used to this as yet and has to build up immunity to the bad bugs and their skin needs to get used to the good bugs. Babies skin isn’t used to chemicals used in our environment so washing detergent etc can also cause mild rashes. Rashes generally do not cause discomfort for babies and do not require treatment.

Erythema Toxicum

Also known as uticaria of the newborn, looks like any rash but how can you tell if this is what it is? Easy, it can appear anywhere on your baby except the palms of the hands and soles of the feet.
Also it travels. One minute you can see it on the belly and then the next it will be on the legs. It looks like small yellow or white bumps with quite red skin around it. It’s not contagious and will appear between days 2-5 of life. The actual cause is unknown. There is no treatment and can take up to four months to disappear completely. Do not try to squeeze the pustules this will hurt your baby and potentially introduce germs causing infections.

Hormone rashes

Are the little white pimples you can see on the babies nose, cheeks and ears. These are caused by hormones the mother produces when she is in labour. You may have heard people refer to them as ‘milk rashes’ or ‘milk dots’. They have nothing to do with milk or the supply of. It generally hangs around for a couple of months. It’s completely harmless and doesn’t hurt the baby. The are secretions from your baby’s oil glands so once they disappear your baby will be left with beautiful skin.

Heat Rashes

Can be quite common as people tend to over dress babies unintentionally. Polar fleece is a big culprit, as the fibres don’t breathe. Heat rashes occur on babies’ skin when the air can’t circulate such as the neck, body and skin creases. If your baby suffers from this try using natural cotton fibres on your baby. Most babies as some point will experience heat rash especially in the warmer months.
When a rash may become a concern……

  • If your baby is showing other signs of being generally unwell. Temperature, difficulty breathing, coughs, lethargy, flu-like symptoms
  • If the rash has pimple like pustules (this can be a staph infection). They can look similar to erythema except they don’t come and go in nature and usually occur later in the babies first week of life. It is contagious. Generally it’s treated with Betadine.

It can also be noted due to little immunity babies can pick up other ‘rashes’ common with children. These can include chicken pox, measles, ‘school sores’. These can make babies very sick very quickly and immediate treatment will be required.
If you have any concerns for any rashes your baby has seek advice from a medical professional and your health nurse.
Ali Pickles Midwife & Nurse

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