Does your child get heat rash or *****ly heat rash??

For the last 4 days, I have noticed that on DD's back she has a rash. It is spotty and raised and covers almost all of the top half of her back. They are like tiny little red pimple spots all over. Some days they spread round to her chest area as well.

She is a very sweaty little thing and the disgusting humidity in Sydney is not helping.

So that is the only link I can make to the rash as I have not introduced anything new in her diet and its not a viral rash as she's had that before and this is different.

How do you treat this?

I have been making sure she has luke warm baths and that she wears loose fitting clothing but it seems if she sits in her carseat or pram for just 5 minutes it flares up as she gets sweaty.

Do you use talc powder to dry out the area? It seems that moisture from sweat makes it worse however I have heard talc is bad? So confusing being a mum as to what is right and wrong.

If you could share with me your advice that would be great. TIA :)

My daughter is the same. Try only using cotton as polyester seems to irritate the skin.

Thanks for that Miss H.

Do you put anything on it or do you bath her in anything in particular. I am just using QV bath oil at the moment.

My daughter has eczema as well so I use the QV bath oil and goat's milk soap. Try the moo goo cream. It's quite nice and keeps the skin soft.

DD has this all over her top half at the moment (front and back), around her legs and through her hair.
I give her cool baths with QV often. I only put a nappy on her when I can (or no nappy at all) If it's really bad I put some paw paw on the really bad parts. I try and keep the place cool but I can't fix it in the car etc - shes like A and gets it really quickly in the car. Goats Milk soap is also really good (just check it's pure goats milk soap - it shouldn't be pure white)

Thanks Sunshine. :)

Do you think its itchy to them??? DD doesnt seem to uncomfortable but it looks nasty sometimes.

I think sometimes it is cause i notice with she has scratched it. But she doesn't seem to complain. I just try and keep her comfy.

hun if you wnat to use powder just use plain old cornflour! i have gaia powder which is made from cornflour!
i get P/heat on my feet, its horrible

Oh good idea. I think I have corn flour in the cupboard! LOL! That is the corn flour you are talking about yeah? :)

Do you think what I described was *****ly heat rash or just heat rash?

Yeah DD gets it too, she's so hot and sweaty!!!! I haven't done anything, she doesn't seem bothered by it.

For heat rashes powder is best - moisturisers or barriers etc will tend to exacerbate them. Cornflour - great. Cornflour with about 1% zinc oxide powder - even better. This is the active ingredient in Curash powder and most nappy rash cremes (eg: sudocream), and all of the natural sunscreens as well. Personally I prefer not to use the commercial products like curash because of the synthetic fragrances and other crap in them, but it's pretty easy to make yourself.

If you are in Sydney and near Marrickville, New Directions stocks zinc oxide, or you can also order online.

The biggest thing is to try to prevent sweating as heat rashes are prevalent when moisture doesn't evaporate in high humidity. Natural fibre clothing will help, as will wearing as little clothing as possible. Putting a cotton cloth in the pram and car seat will help as it reduces the contact with synthetics, as will turning on any air-con before getting in the car. If you have air-con at home, use it to dehumidify the room your DD is in as much as possible.

HTH!

Interesting thread, I was just wondering about this. My 5 week old has terrible heat rash, especially after he has been in the HAB. Doesn't help that we live in Nth QLD and no word of a lie it's been 90% humidity the last few days.

Is cornflour safe to use on a 5 wk old?

Spring

Cornflour is safe to use at any age. You can get cornflour baby powder, or as Suse said, you can make it yourself.

Thanks Shmick. I had some in the pantry so I'll give it a go.