Advice on spotty faced 6 week old please?

[RGPargy]

For the last two weeks, DD has had these little red pimples on her face. I thought they were just milk spots or baby spots of some kind but now her skin is quite dry too so i'm wondering if it's anything else. They seem to get redder after a cuddle, due the heat or summat no doubt.

Does anyone have any ideas on what this could be? I'm going to the doctor's tomorrow anyway for her six week check, but wanted to go with maybe a bit of knowledge.

I personally blame the woman in Boots who said "Oh hasn't she got lovely skin?!" because that very night they started to appear......

Lol. My DDs both had what looked like acne from about 6 weeks to about 16 weeks. It is apparently caused by hormones. Means all photos are shocking when you look back at them but it will clear.

my dd had this from 4 wks to about 8 weeks, just in time for my mum's visit from overseas + her christening! She looked comically ugly, but it faded soon enough. I have heard that putting breastmilk on the spots can help clear them, I did this in a half-hearted kind of way but not sure if it made any real difference.

They will go soon enough!

thanx ladies.

I thought this was the case but you know when you start getting paranoid about it because it's not clearing up?!

Don't put any creams or lotions etc on them. Just wash with water and pat dry. Baby acne is very common at this age. DD had it from 6-8 weeks and it looks worse when hot/angry or agitated. My hv said that it could occasionally get infected if they scratched at it, so keep an eye and if it does they may prescribe a steroid but this is unlikely.

Just looked at your profile btw. Your dd is beautiful!

I think we may have found the cause of the problem. Possibly.

DP has been giving her a nightly bath lately and in the water we put a little of the Johnsons sleep better stuff. Tonight i went up there with him and when i went into the bathroom he was putting the water (with the sleep stuff in it) onto her face, kinda gently rubbing her face (). I told him that he really shouldn't be doing that and his answer was that it was baby stuff so it'd be ok. I had to tell him that baby's faces are REALLY delicate and should only be cleaned with water and cotton wool. Her poor little face was quite dry afterwards so i put some olive oil on it. Now that i've told DP not to do it, i'll be keeping an eye on her skin to make sure it starts to clear. I'm still going to mention it to the doctor tho, just in case.

Bless him tho, he wasn't to know. It's his first DC and my second so i have more knowledge (and MN!) than he does.

Scrap my last message. Went to the doctor's this morning and it's infant eczma (sp?). She's been prescribed diprobase cream to put on so we'll see how she gets on with that. Does this sort of thing disappear as she grows?

Both mine had this - doesn't look great, but I don't seem to remember them having it for more than 4wks-ish.

I used diprobase on DD, but just left DS's alone - and his probably cleared up faster

Thanx for that, that's comforting to know. I was wondering if it was perhaps a cow's milk allergy as according to Kellymom it can cause colic-like symptons and Eczema. I'm wondering why it just started up after about 3-4 weeks too.

Yep, ours started up at 3-4wks too - my theory (non medical) is that it's just their new skin reacting to the environment!

yeah i know what you mean. I'm inclined to think that too (my logical side) but i also sometimes wonder if it's anything i've done that's caused the flare up (my paranoid PFB side).

RGPargy I really would advise you to just use water to bathe her .. you don't need to add anything to the water .. jsut water is more than enough

the standard 'bad skin' of young babies is the reason that newborn babies are not used in advertising and why they use 3 month olds instead

It's normal to get little milk spots, but they should clear fairly quickly. If they are angry red, spreading, and perhaps oozing, then do see your GP. It could be a condition known as sebbhoreic dermatitis (aka cradle cap), and will clear up quickly with a waft of hydrocortisone. My DD1 had this and I let it go for a couple of weeks, saying that is is just 'her spots'.

my GP prescribed Diprobase and said she has ezema.

The skin's an unpredictable thing. All you can do is get advice, do your best, try not to worry. Might be short lived, might be a longer term eczema problem.

DS's eczema came on at 8 weeks. It got worse for quite a while, the peak of it was around 6mo when he was covered but it has improved and at 11mo now has settled down, he has various creams and unguents applied twice a day, still has flare-ups but nowhere near as bad as he was.

There are loads of threads about eczema on here but would generally advise that if it continues you ask for a referral to a dermatologist, GPs ime don't know that much about eczema.

We use Oilatum in the bath, water alone will dry the skin. J&J bath stuff is notoriously bad for dry skin.

Thanx, o will get some Oilatum and stop with J&J. It's only on her face tho thankfully.