Hives - Bristow, VA

This could be related to the pollen. My daughter has been rashy since the tree pollen started up in earnest. It comes and goes. I would see the doctor just in case, but it is likely an allergy or sensitivity.

My neighbor's 2 yr-old had the same thing and it lasted a few weeks. They looked for every possible cause and determined it was a virus.

If bug bites are a possibility, consider flea bites or bed bugs.

I am interested to hear about your Dr.'s diagnosis. My son is 15 months old and has had a similiar rash for a little over three weeks. the Dr.'s told me it was contact dermatitis. We have NO IDEA what it was that he came in contact with. Living in Northern Virginia around allergy season is not good to begin with.. and then to be allergic to something and have no idea what it is, is 100 times worse. The Dr ended up prescribing Cortisone 2.5 and it worked great. we also rewashed all his clothes and bedding and cleaned the house from top to bottom. We also closed the windows and turned on the air.. somewhere in that combination was the cure. His rash is rapidly going away. The Dr. also mentioned that it could be some kind of unidentifiable virus. Best of luck to you and your little one. and if you wouldn't mind, i would like to here what they had to say. ;)

i find it really insane that the same thing is happening to my daughter and she is 14 months old too. 2 weeks ago I took her to the doctor and they appeared on her legs, arms and back (above her diaper). When I took her the dr. said it was nothing to worry about and gave me a steroid cream if it spread. I put it on her a few days and it went away so I stopped using it - then yesterday they came back. Please let me know what the dr. says I plan on calling mine back and telling them that apparently it is something bc they came back and they gave me a steroid cream for it! We too havent introduced anything new either! I am puzzled as well!

One of my daughters and I broke out in hives and it turned out to be the fabric softener I had used for years. You can develop allergies suddenly. (at least I believe it to be the softener, i quit using it and they went away.) I remembered having a reaction to detergent when I was little so that's what made me try washing our sheets w/o it. You've probably already called the dr. but wanted to share my experience with you. Good luck. I hope you find what's causing them.

Hi L.!

I must be nostalgic today as this is the second response that centers on a college experience!

When I was a sophomore in college, I had spent summer in spain with my family (my dad was stationed in england, and we went on a 'sun' holiday)

One of the things I brought back was 'macedonian' soap..Very pretty hand made...nice scent. When came back to college, put them in bottom of undie drawer as a sachet and forgot all about them.

As one may be inclined in college, some sexual experimentation was going on...and I developed a rash on my breasts and undie area! At fist I thought it might be some sort of bizarre STD, or punishment for my new found sexuality!
Finally, after a few weeks of not doing laundry, got down to bottom of drawer, and found the soap!

LOL

I am SURE this is NOT the case for your son, but I do hope it turns out to be something just as benign.

TC
Michele/catwalk

My daughter just got them too! I took her to the doctor and he said it was hives and that they would last a week to 10 days, even if the allergen was removed. He said if they persist, or if there are 3 incedences, she will have to be tested by an allergist.

Are you still using the infant detergent? He can develop an allergy at any time, so it could be that, since you notice it when you pull his shirt over his head. My doctor said that in 90 percent of hives, the parents never figure out what caused them.

Hope they go away soon!

Since he is 14 months, I would reinvestigate the food avenue. Even if it is not something he is eating it may be something you are eating leaving residue on your hands and getting on his skin. My children are both allergic to food and can be extremely contact reactive to allergens touching their skin. My 2 year old breaks out in hives all over his body if he comes in contact with sunflower seed protein (a more unusual allergy, certainly took us by surprise). Most common offenders for food allergy are milk, egg, soy, peanut, treenut, fish, shellfish and wheat.

I'd take him to an allergist.
Mom to a 5 year old allergic to milk, egg, peanut, tree nut and a two year old allergic to milk, egg and sunflower seed.

Hi L.,

Sounds like your baby has an allergic reaction.

What did the Pediatrician say?

Just wanted to know. D.

I literally just took my daughter to the doctor on Sunday for the same thing. I thought she had mosquito bites.When I realized it wasn't that, I tried to think of what I had given her that was new but I knew nothing had changed. He said it's just a viral infection. Check to see if they have white "targets" in the middle when they first show up. That was a sign it was an infection. Still, I would take him to the doc just to be sure. When it comes to hives and possible allergies, you can't be too careful. Hope this helps.

Do the "hives" seem to itch or bother your son? Do they seem more noticeable with certain clothing items? My daughter had several shirts with appliques, and the threads rubbed against her skin creating rashes whenever she wore them. Once we realized the possiblity, we stopped letting her wear the clothes, and no more rashes. You might consider writing down what he is wearing and what he has eaten for a few days--make note when the rashes appear, and you might be able to narrow it down.

I suffer from many allergies, and unfortunately, sometimes combinations of certain food or fabrics will trigger a reaction--not necessary just one food or one detergent--but when you mix A and B, then pop!

If you haven't noticed any sort of trigger, I would most certainly take him to the pediatrician to be checked out. Allergies can actually develop over time, and you need to ID the problem to make certain it doesn't get any worse.

Good luck.

L.,
Although you haven't given him anything new, keep in mind that allergies can develop at any time. Also, an allergic reaction can increase each time a child is exposed to an allergen. So, the hives could be a reaction to something he's already been exposed to with no noticiable reaction. My son had had eggs several times with no noticable reaction. Then, one day he had a severe anaphylactic reaction and was rushed to the hospital. You are wise to contact the pediatrician. Good luck! Traci

L.,

Hives can come from anything, that's what is so elusive about them. You can get them from scratching a spot too hard, from an allergen in the air, something that you ate, and stress. If they are itchy, try an oatmeal bath. Literally, put oatmeal in the tub with your DS. Benedryl helps with allergic reactions, but use only on the advice of your ped.
Another thought is heat rash, althought it has been cooler. That tends NOT to be itchy. That goes away on its own.
Another idea is eczema. It tend to show up at season changes for some people. We certainly have had some weather shifts. My DD has eczema, and contrary to what might seem natural, we need to put lots of lotion on her. It seems wierd to put lotion on rashy skin.
Hope that is helpful, but the ped will know best. Good luck!
J.

Graet Idea. My son has splohy skin like you are describing in your second 1/2. The doctor told me he has hypersensitive skin. Most kids with it has Allergies

Hi L.,

As others have said, allergies can develop at anytime - last year when my son was about 14 months old he also started breaking out in hives and I couldn't think of anything different that I had been doing with him to have caused them. They kept coming back on and off for a couple of months and then, coincidently I changed my brand of laundry detergent and fabric softener to one which does not use any harsh or harmful chemicals, just to be kinder to the environment. It turned out it was also better for my son because the hives got less and less, and once I realized this, I washed everything he comes in contact with in the new laundry products and the hives went away completely and only returned one time when I put him in a shirt which someone else had washed for me.

I looked up what kind of ingredients go into the regular brands of laundry products just to see what could have caused such a bad reaction and there are a couple of chemicals, particularly in softeners and dryer sheets which are listed as skin irritants (not to mention other worse things) so switching your laundry products could be a good way to go. It's easy and a lot cheaper than people realize. If you'd like any tips then let me know.

Hope this helps,

L. P

If it is hives, make sure to keep the area cool. Put him in a cool bath, etc. Heat definitely makes hives worse. Good luck!

Obviously, taking your child to the pediatrician is your best bet, since you want to be sure no allergies have developed. My son had very sensitive skin as a baby and clothes, soap, even fragrances in the air could cause a rash. I hate to be the only one to mention this as a possibility, but there's been a big comeback in the U.S. of...bedbugs. These critters cause rashes that look like mosquito bites. They don't like to die and they spread very easily and quickly. They like to hitchhike so if you've traveled anywhere or had visitors lately, it's not a stretch of the imagination. Even if your neighbor brought them home, you're susceptible. Hopefully this is not your problem, but it wouldn't hurt to check for them.

Hi,
It could be hives, eczema, or even chicken pox, they look like hives too.Give him Benedryl, if you haven't already, and take him to the ped. just to be checked out.
M.

I don't know about the mosquito looking bites, but when I was younger I use to get red blotchy all over my skin everytime I went outside in the sun. I have sinse "grown out of it", but I am assuming it was just some very mild type of sun allergy or something like that. It never bothered me though, never itched, or hurt. Just would look odd for a while after I came back inside. Hope your doctors appointment will clear it all up for you!
Oh yeah, and if he has been out on the heat a lot, is it possible it is a heat rash? I knew a friend whose son had the same sounding type of rash, looking like bug bites...and to me it just looked like a heat rash. And where his rashes were, it made sense, and she treated it as such.
K.

It could be a breakthrough case of chicken pox. I presume he's had his first vaccination. Chicken pox in vaccinated kids typically do not look the same. The bumps are not fluid filled and therefore don't eventually crust over. My 4 yr old had this just last month. She had several groups of little bumps that looked like mosquito bites, but we knew it was too early for mosquitos, and they were in some places it should be impossible for her to get bitten. Several others kids in her daycare had them too, one of whom saw a doctor and the diagnosis was chicken pox.

Bad news - if it is chicken pox, he can spread it to others even if he or they have been vaccinated.

Good news - his case won't be nearly as bad as what we had in the days before the shot. (it didn't slow my daughter down at all) And he won't have to have the 2nd shot because he has natural immunity now.

My son is 3 now. He started breaking out in hives about a year ago. We found out he is allergic to eggs. He ate them regularly for about a year and then one day just started breaking out. He also breaks out sometime with cantaloupe and pasta sauces. But not all the time. They did a blood test and confirmed that he is allergic to eggs and told us just to stay away from them. He can have eggs in foods such as cakes, etc. I would definately go see the pediatrician to find out if he has developed any allergies to foods he previously could tolerate. We have to carry an epi pen with us now, just in case he reacts.