Spotty baby

[Clovissa]

My newborn (3 weeks) has a very spotty face and scalp. The HV says it's normal with breast-fed babies. Does anyone else have any experience of this? Is it because I put olive oil on him? I'd tried using boiled water.

He's still beautiful of course

It's normal for all babies! It will be gone in a few weeks - don't worry. Personally I wouldn't put olive oil on his face (smother it on everywhere else though!) but it won't have caused it. I think it is hormonal & just their way of adjusting to life outside.

You could try putting some breastmilk on his spots but honestly it will clear up on it's own soon.

My DD got spots around her mouth from me using lanolin on my nipples .

I switched to one of those bio-fem products and the spots went away.

My HV told me to put breastmilk on the spots too!

TBH, I wouldn't put the olive oil on his face or hair. You could clog up his hair follicles. If you're bathing him he doesn't really need soap on his face, just warm water, so maybe just a teeny bit of super-sensitive lotion once a week instead of oil.

my ds had this at about the same age, little spots all over his face and head. My MW said it was a perfectly normal thing - something to do with hormones leaving the body or something. anyway, they went away on their own after a week or so so i really wouldn't worry.

Normal, normal, normal, in all babies. Nothing to do with anything you've done.

It'll pass in a few weeks. It looks worse when they're hot or cross but it's honestly fine. Don't put anything on it, not even soap, just water.

Very, very rarely it can get infected but you'd notice and all you'd need is a cream prescribed to clear it up.

Ditto Ghostwriter

My DS got like a heat rash all over his face and body at around 6 weeks and did flare up after a crying bout, it looked terrible. A midwife said it was a milk intolerance (I was bf) so I avoided anything dairy but it made no difference. I was going out of my mind with worry until I spoke to a paediatrition who said it was normal at this age, hormones etc and that it would probably go quite dry and flaky and then just go and at 9 weeks he is all clear apart from the cradle cap. I was prescribed diprobase for his face but in the end I just used water and some oilatum in his bath. With the cradle cap I have read that its excess oil so again I'm just using the Detinox shampoo for cradle cap and it is clearing on its own. the rash and cc didn't look very nice but I found it best to just leave well alone and it's not looking so bad now. His face is now like a china doll

But is it normal to have a whole face covered with tiny pus-filled spots? Even his ears have little spots on them..

I just haven't seen any of the other babies the same age with such bad spots.

I mentioned it to my next door neighbour who's a GP and he said they were milia, but I'm pretty sure they are the hard white spots aren't they?

Clovissa, this sounds very normal, yes, inc the spots on his ears.

The HV has seen your baby and so has the GP next door. Milia is the term sometimes used for the little white spots, but it is also used for this 'newborn acne' that is so very, very common and which needs no treatment and which goes away by itself.

Ah thanks Tiktok, so I shall stop worrying then,

Not easy this being a parent business is it!

DD and DS1 both had terrible "baby acne". Is normal, I think a hormonal reaction.

If they get yellowy tho go back to GP. As they could be infected.

Yellow heads on spots equally normal - does not normally mean infection.

Both my ds (but not dd) had hideous infant acne and for a few weeks a face only a mother could love Haven't kept many photos from those weeks. It all cleared without scarring in a couple of weeks though.

Hello again, the HV came again yesterday and looked pretty aghast at (otherwise edibly gorgeous) DS's spots - apparently a little worse than usual but still within the range of normal.

She suggested cutting out fabric conditioner (apparently I shouldn't have been using this but I was brought up exfoliated by my mother's brillo pad towels so have a bit of a thing about fluffiness) and washing him in boiled water with a little salt in it. Also, he has to sleep with a clean muslin cloth under his head. We've being doing this since yesterday and his spots aren't pus-filled any more, the area generally looks drier and less angry.

So glad this disappears in a couple of weeks!