I noticed that my 16 month old daughter has heat rash on the small of her back. Other than a cool wet cloth and loose clothing, is there anything else I can do to help relieve her discomfort? Does anyone else have a toddler that tends to sweat a lot? I've noticed since she was a baby that her head gets really sweaty while nursing. The pediatrician says she's in perfect health but I just want to know if anyone else has experienced this. Thanks in advance.
It cleared up! We ended up just keeping her cooler and letting her wear mainly dresses or loose fitted shirt with diapers. And if I did rub sunscreen or bug repellent then I would rinse off once we were done playing outside. Thank you all for your responses.
One of the things that I found that helped my kids is the pool, the clorine in the water seemed to help. This can also be done at home by adding a small amount to the bath water. About 1 to T. Remember we do already have some in the water it will just a little bit more. Try it and see.
Do NOT use creams to prevent heat rash. They block the pores and keep moisture in. They are great for diaper rash or eczema, not heat rash. Certain ointments can help with itching after it occurs. Look it up (Google "prickly heat or heat rash in babies") or ask your pediatrician.
Heat rash(prickly heat) is caused by the infants inability to sweat. When you use creams, you will add to the problem.
I agree with the previous post....only cotton! I always check the material on clothes before putting them on my kids in the hot houston weather.....many clothes are half polyester, big no-no as well as any synthetic materials.
Also, I took my newborn for morning walks after I had her. It was April, not too hot but she got prickly heat rash. I felt bad b/c I thought it was my fault for letting her get overheated.
Reminder to Mom's----those deep strollers we put the babies in do NOT get the air flow, breezes, etc. that we experience when walking. To me, the stroller can be a little "oven" and that's when my baby got her heat rash.
Then on top of it, some Mom's put blankets over the stroller ---hot, hot, hot!!
Those little babies can't sweat like we do and their body can't cool itself down as we can.
All of my children inherited my ability to generate a lot of heat in their sleep...I am often referred to by my husband as his personal "space heater"...
This caused my oldest to have the same problem you are describing with heat rashes. Everything you are doing is great. The only other things I can think of is to make sure you dress your child only in cotton as it is the most breathable material available. If you use light colors during the summer it should help her stay cooler as well as light colors reflect light/heat and dark colors absorb light/heat.
Putting anything on her skin (oils, creams, lotions) will only clog her pores and cause her further discomfort in the long run...
Good Luck!!! ;-)
I had a sweaty head baby too! My midwife said it was because babies don't have developed sweat glands in other parts of their bodies...this can also cause heat rash in weird places. I stopped nursing her at 18 months, but she still is a sweaty head when she runs around.
Boudreaux's Butt Cream, Hydrocortisone, a little corn starch...all will help with discomfort and help it to heal up.
My one month old Daughter had the same problem. You can put up to 1% hydrocortisone cream on her. I found some .5% at walgreens. You can put that on in the morning and at night. Then you can get some pure corn starch baby powder and put that on her back every diaper change. :)
My son and I have very sensitive skin and both of us are very warm blooded. We also have eczema in addition to the extra sensitive skin.
What worked for us is using an oatmeal bath (like Aveeno) or putting baking soda in the tub. Luke warm water and after the bath make sure to use a mild skin lotion (no perfumes etc.) It's very important to keep sensitive or itchy skin moisturized it helps a lot with the healing of the rashes.
My son was also a very sweaty baby so I can relate!
My son gets heat rash in summer too. I keep him in loose clothes, ensure he dries himself properly after showering, and put Weleda's Hypercal cream on it. Any cream with calendula will help heal it fast, and it seems to soothe him also.
A&D ointment always worked wonders for my son.
C.
I recently discovered that any sort of itchiness or rash (not caused by posion Ivy and such) is most likely fungal-related. I wasn't sure what to think of this but a couple days ago I developed a heat rash on both inner arms. I used some tinactin on them for a couple days and it disappeared <shrugs> (Tinactin is safe to use on toddlers too by the way)
Another thing that helps (which I've used in the past on my daughter, is Aquaphore and coconut oil. Aquaphore is very healing and coconut oil actually has antifungal properties.
I noticed my daughter had this weird looking rash on her arm. It is on the crease of her arm and I guess the way she sleeps all curled up it created a heat rash. It went away for a couple of days but this morning it was back. Good luck with it.
