Does this look like baby acne or an allergy?

[Chloemk7]

Hi everyone, can anyone tell me if this looks like baby acne or a possible allergy?

I'm at my wits end trying to figure out what's wrong with my 5 week old and causing him so much distress. He developed these spots around 1 week old and they're progressively getting worse and now he has a few on his chest. He's very fussy and colicky, and suffers with quite bad reflux as well as extremely bad wind yet he seems to always be farting! We just can't seem to get him to settle. He's a very hungry baby and always takes his bottles and nappies seem to be okay, the odd one might have a little mucous but I'm just at a total loss. I've spoken to my HV and midwives and they've all told me to gave him checked by my GP but my problem is my GP won't see him until he's 6 weeks old, but the soonest appointment they've given me he'll be 7 weeks and he just seems to be in so much pain so I'm trying to rule out an allergy, possibly CMPI?

Thank you

Hi @Chloemk7 im sorry your son is so distressed. That looks very like the rash my daughter had at 6/7 weeks which I had thought/hoped was baby acne. Does it feel a bit sandpapery/rough to touch? She was also farting loads and waking herself up straining to fart at night and making lots of groaning/straining noises and had very green nappies.

Tbh the gp just fobbed me off and said that was normal-- it wasnt til the nappies got worse, with loads of mucous and eventually blood that they took me seriously. By that stage I just quit dairy and soy myself (I am EBF)as I knew this couldnt be normal and I just wanted to see what would help.

we are now 2 weeks off soy and dairy,the rash is totally gone as is the nighttime distress/straining/farting and my baby is so much happier/settled and sleeping better. The nappies are still green and often mucousy but no blood. I took photos of the bloody nappies and went back to my gp, and explained that symptoms had improved since quitting diary, they have now referred me to a pediatrician. I think perhaps she may have other allergies but I am giving my system time to clear and perhaps discuss with pediatrician before removing anything else.

I found gps a bit useless in this regard (I spoke to a few)-- perhaps it would be worth trialling going dairy/soy free to trial before your appointment if you are EBF? Or if not, perhaps you could try diary free formula or push for a closer doctors appointment?

We had this sort of rash to start off with and thought it was baby acne. Left it 3 weeks and we’re now dealing with a severe cows milk allergy where our baby is constantly being sick and can’t keep anything down… even the alternative formulas.

Our baby was showing similar signs, being distressed and really windy/in pain with his tummy… I just thought it was wind!
He loved his bottles and couldn’t get enough of them, but we realised he was just taking them to try and give some kind of comfort…

The best thing you can do is go to paediatric a&e for him, this is what we did and it fast tracked everything. We are now working our way through different formulas to try and find one that he’ll keep down. It’s brutal, and so so hard, but the quicker you can get someone to rule it out or diagnose it then the better!
good luck!

My EBF baby’s skin was like this. His nappies became increasingly mucusy as the weeks went by and had blood in them by 4 months. It turned out to be CMPA.

I'm shocked your GP won't see your baby??? I'd be complaining about that - my GP has a same day appointment policy for babies under 1.

My DS's CMPA rash was exactly like this, it took about 3 weeks for it to clear once I eliminated milk from my diet (EBF)

Hi @Janeykat, yes! It does feel very sandpapery! I had thought it was acne when it started but now it seems to be more so under the skin rather than the little spots with heads on the surface.

I've gotten a tub of the Aptamil Pepti to try however I'm not sure how well it's agreeing with him as he's now spitting up clear liquid and is extra fussy today (started the formula yesterday) but I'll continue with it and hopefully see a change soon, he hasn't slept at all today though 😭

My GP called today to reschedule my appointment for him to an even later date where he'll be almost 8 weeks old!

I hope you get sorted with your daughter soon, it really is so awful to see them so uncomfortable especially when they're so small ☹️

I'm shocked myself, I brought the issue up at his 2 week check up with the nurse at my GP's office and looked to get an appointment to try figure out what the issue was and was told he had to be 6 weeks before they'd see him, I tried going back to the hospital where I had him and was told they'd only see me and not him!

I'm trying the dairy free formula, the fact that everyone is saying it looks like a cmpa rash has me convinced, I just don't know how well the new formula is agreeing with him and he's spitting up a lot of clear fluid and drooling a lot of saliva as well.

The rash together with the other symptoms he currently has says CMPA to me . My 2 year old is allergic to dairy and a few other things.

The clear liquid most likely reflux my sons was awful , finally settled when on Neocate after trying pepti1 and a few other hydrolysed formulas. Because Pepti is so thin it will make his reflux worse so most likely will need medication for it.

Id get back onto your GP, even your HV can request a prescription for DF formula.

Passing green stools when on an allergy formula is quite normal compared to the usual mustard colour. Mucus / blood I’d be keeping an eye on , can take upto 6 weeks for dairy to leave their system.

Allergies are such a minefield especially when GPs are so quick to try fob us off !

@HazelC95 I'm going to bring him into A&E in the morning and hopefully get some answers, I was just worried I'd be fobbed off and be told it wasn't anything serious to be in A&E for.

Have you found your baby spitting up clear liquid or drooling a lot on any of the formulas? He seems to be drooling like he's getting excess saliva before being sick but this is on the dairy free formula. I'm just at a loss, today was really tough on him and me, I just want to be able to help him 😭

You need to call the doctor at 8 or whenever they're open tell them you're worried about your baby and that he needs to be seen.
I'd be very surprised if they won't see your baby.