unbearably itchy rash on screaming baby: how do I make it bearable for her?

[MamaChocoholic]

dt1 had an ear infection last week, prescribed antibiotics, which she has been on since Wednesday night, but since then seems to be getting worse. she has had a temperature every day since Thursday until today, when I thought she might be getting better but then spotted the beginnings of a rash lunchtime. it is now over her scalp, neck and torso and she is trying desperately to itch her head whilst screaming intermittently. she can't settle to sleep even in my arms, latched on (bf). will take her to gp in the morning, but in the meantime, is there anything I can do to help her? she's 10mo, temperature seems gone.

She can have some Piriton and Calpol.

she has had calpol, we should have piriton somewhere, had assumed she'd be too young but will go read label. thanks, that should help with the itching.

Yes Piriton OK for her age though think the bottle may say over 12m. I have used it on my baby when he was about 6m on gp recommendation for eczema. 2.5ml only though. It does work too.

Hope she's better soon.

Do you have an out of hours you can ring? they may be able to get her something to ease it tonight.

Think she is too young for piriton. Sure it is 12m...if not 2yrs. May be wrong tho

btw - what do you think the rash is? Is it an eczema type thing? You have to be careful with rashes in babies - as am sure you know! I would ring OOH too for advice but maybe try the Piriton too.

ooh here is useless. last time they had me (by phone) looking up symptoms of measles online to try and distinguish that from chickenpox. she's calm now so I'm going to find the bottle of piriton and check label before getting my head down for as long as I can. have rubbed calomine lotion all over her head, poor thing.

no idea what rash is - non specific viral rash given temperature for the last five days? it passes the glass test though, and as temperature is now gone, I think it's horrible rather than scary, if that makes sense

Well hoping it might improve soon. I am certain the Piriton bottle says over 12m but I have def given it to a 6m old on docs suggestion and his prescription. If you feel iffy about it, phoning ooh to get the go ahead may help, even if they sound as bad as you describe. Good luck.

12 months old over the counter for piriton. under that age needs prescribing by doc.

Try Eurax cream, worked brilliantly on dc's chickenpox over the past month.

Rashes can also be a reaction to antibiotics, so it's definitely worth checking out. If she's too young for Piriton, ask chemist for aqueous cream with calamine in it. It's very soothing. I think Medised has some antihistamine in it too and can help them feel drowsy (though grumpy next day.)

gp reckons it's a reactions to the antibiotics. just need to ride out the next few days with calamine. she's less distressed and distractable from the itching now, but I've found the piriton just in case it gets bad again.

thanks for all the advice :)