redness in a neck fold in 5mo (hard to explain!) - anyone had this...?

[babysaurus]

My nearly five month old, I discovered, has a nasty red strip right by where his neck meets his chin. As he is quite chubby I didn't notice this, erm, extra hiding place until today so not sure if it has been there a few days or not.

I would have thought that getting some air to it would be a good idea, but due to where it is that would involve me tilting him so his head goes back, which is obviously not doable. So, I have put a light smear of calendula cream on it, made sure it is clean and dry and am hoping for the best (will keep checking it of course.)

Has anyone had a similar situation and how have they sorted it out...? FWIW it doesn't seem to be bothering him, although it does look as if it ought to be quite sore.

DDs used to get this. We would wipe it out and clean with a little baby soap then dry. We then used a thin layer of sudocreme in there and it usually sorted it out fine. It usually seemed to happen if we didn't keep on top of those lovely milk dribbles that make their way down.

I think this is quite common - when babies have chubby necks milk, drool and sweat can get caught in the folds (nice!) and make it a bit sore looking, sometimes it can smell too.

There isn't really a fix for it other than trying to stay aware of the possibility and making sure any milk or sick dribbles are wiped up asap and if you have a dribbler, change bibs regularly so that the wetness isn't sitting next to his skin.

We slapped a bit of canesten (yes, thrush stuff) and it cleared up pretty quickly. My fat little sausage used to get it under her arms too!

Keep eye on it. Dry it after bath properly, don't put anything on it if you suspect it could be ecxema. DS has this, it can get really bad especially in winter. It's def dribble related.
If it won't clear up its worth a trip to GP to get some more active cream, poss very mild steroid if it persists.

We're on about 5 lot of cream from doc, e45, double base and diprobase didn't touch sides. Oilatum was better, aveeno is ok. DS needs a greasy highly moisturising cream.

Hopefully his drooling will stop now he is 2!

I should add, please don't use a steroid unless prescribed, it can cause contact dermatitis in either you or baby. Trust me, you don't want that!

Hi all, thank you for your quick replies!

Yes, I think it is probably dribble / milk related. As this fold is, er, far back I must have missed it before.

minicc why canesten?

shattereddreams I wouldn't use steroid cream in any situation unless there was absolutely no other alternative so no need to worry there. The calendula stuff I put a tiny bit of on is something a friend had been using on her mother (her mother is bedridden due to a stroke.) She had been prescribed steroid creams and the GP was convinced my friend had actually used that rather than the calendula cream she had actually used. It's fabulous stuff, but I am not wholly convinced I should be using anything at all (it just felt like I ought to do something and getting lots of air to it wasn't easy to do!)

Yes I remember this. Natural consequence of milk and dribble plus warm moist skin and lots of lovely fat folds . I used to make sure it was wiped carefully then sudocreme lightly to relieve it. As your baby grows, the moist fold thing will stop and he'll hold his head out of the way himself If it smells bad then take him to the GP and get something slightly medicated to clear up any minor infection.

canesten will be because sometimes these things get a bit fungal (like athletes foot type thing) and canesten type creams can help with that.

neck cheese.

wash and dry it completely and then put on a little bit of talc ( but make sure the baby doesn't breath any of it in!)

Ah, of course (re the canesten that is)

Actually Op, thinking about your baby is 5 months so you haven't had to deal with colder weather till now have you? You will probably find this sort of minor skin problem happens much more in the winter because it's just harsher on their skin (like it is on ours) and you have babies with damp chins etc going out in to the cold then a warmish car then a really warm house then back in to the cold or out and about in the pram with really warm everything except litle patches on their face etc. My dcs quite often had sore chins in the winter. Worth laying in some vaseline and or E45 to keep to hand for this.

Northernlurker that's a very good point, thanks! I will stash up on stuff just in case (I also have a border collie and take the baby out with me when we walk, when it gets colder some creams may be a godsend, as well as the super warm hats and snowsuits I have.)

My dd neck was horrendous all the creases were really red like it had been burnt. The dr gave me the best advice which was wash it then dry it with a hairdryer(this stops you rubbing it) and then put some Vaseline on it. Thus forms a barrier try it for a few days it will get better. Good luck

Definitely no talc, it's evil stuff.

Llareggub I wouldn't use talc (no offence to the one who suggested it, but it's not for me.)

Please no caneston. I think it's a steroid.
Yes to hair dryer and Vaseline.

Weleda do a cream just for shielding against winter weather for babies.
Someone come along and remind me what it's called...

Calendula cream is a good thing to use. Or try this and use - Buy now and get an EXCLUSIVE 10% off all Móa products, plus free delivery with the code MUMSNETMOA until 23 October.

We use this for eczema etc

The weleda is called weather protect or similar and is fab. My ds had totally rotten teething rash on his face which ended up infected, we did have to try steroid creams in the end but what finally got shot of it and has dealt with all manner of things since is aloe Vera gel. Great stuff. I like calendula as well.

Thanks for the tips. I use the Weleda body wash and also the bum cream, the calendula stuff (not the one I put on his neck, that was kiwiherb stuff). Will check out the weather protect.

MsPickle infected teething rash sounds horrific, your poor DS! I have aloe vera gel, and plants, at home already which are used semi regularly.

just ordered this. Won't be slapping it on his red neck bits, I'll just be trying to keep them clean and dry for now, but am now armed for when it's cold and we're out with the dog.
Thank you everyone!

and also just ordered some of the Moa stuff too - liked the look of it and can always use it myself if we end up not needing it!

Canesten is NOT a steroid. It's an anti-fungal. I would only use it on doctor's advice though.

Pressed post too soon

Just wanted to thank the OP for a highly useful and interesting thread which (now my youngest is 5) had reminded me of an aspect of baby parenting I had totally forgotten!

Also, Tommee Tippee do bibs with a ridge which are great for stopping dribbles getting to the neck.