red patches of skin in neck folds (on 4mo baby)

[thebluefoxategreensocks]

Just wondering if anyone has any ideas on how to treat/prevent the damp redness that is constantly plaguing my little boy? He's nearly 5 months old but quite a pump fellow (approaching 18lbs, I'd think) and has a lot of skin round his chin and neck, which means a lot of his abundant dribble gets around his neck, and also he gets a bit sweaty at times. He had a bit under his arms (getting too warm perhaps) so I started putting him in less clothes and more frequent baths and the underarms cleared up perfectly, but his neck keeps having a large red patch of skin which looks really sore! I try to wash and thoroughly dry it frequently, but nothing seems to help much - maybe I should do this like 3 times a day? It will occasionally lessen, but always comes back (since the last couple of months). I asked the health visitor and she said to just put cream as a barrier on his neck (doesn't sound the best idea to me!) and if it gets infected to get an antibiotic cream.

Any ideas from anyone who's babies have had such a condition? My fist child (now 21 months) never had anything like this that I can recall, but then again, she wasn't near as fat as her brother!

rachel, my dd had such a lot of chins, she was always getting red sore patches under then. To clear it up I used to put sudocream on it, using a cotton bud and occasionally I would use sudocream as a barrier too (once every couple of days). She doesn't have a problem now as she has lost a few chins - when she started crawling around and holding her head up the problem disappeared but I would consider using some barrier cream if I were you.

hiya, yes my - also rather large! - little dd had this, so bad under her arms that I ended up cutting holes in lots of her clothes under the arms so the air could get to them. after many many trips to the doctor, she was finally prescribed thrush cream and it cleared up in about 3 days. Good luck!

after washing him you could try a baby powder in the creases. Avoid a talc (too light they can breathe it in) or a corn starch based one because thrush can use it as a food source. I think ones base on arrow root are fine. You can also make your own using arrow root powder from a food shop. Some of them have lavender oil and calendula added for their anti bacterial and anti fungal properties.

i just used to use vaseline as a barrier because i found that sudocreme clogged up. my health visitor also recommended bepanthen

my son with this alot and it used to go smelly to as all the dribble it wasn't having time to heal my hv said the best thing is vaseline as it is water based so cannot soak in any more sweat or dribble

but make sure you clean and pat dry the areas everytime you do it you will notice a difference

Also the Earth friendly baby creams are good barrier creams.

My DS had this we kept it as clean and dry as possible. We also used bepanthen or simple zinc and cater oil regularly. Now he is crawling it is much better

Thanks for all the speedy replies! I've got some organic "Beaming Baby" cream/lotion that I've been putting on, but doesn't seem to really produce a barrier, just makes a bit greasy, I think. Do you think it's thrush related? Not had any problems in that regard at all. though I did wonder if the rash could be yeast related, but nothing in nappy area or anywhere else...just neck. Hoping he'll start sitting and crawling soon!!!

its just the sweat and when the milk runs down my hv said the only thing you can do is keep it clean and apply vaseline as its water based and as they work some of the weight off the folds become less and soreness will ease

If its thrush you will probably notice a sort of rash with little red dots round the edge, though its unlikely. Just keep it clean and dry. Could be worth putting a muslin or bib on all the time to absorb some of the dribble Babykind have nice bandana ones.