Dealing With Your Baby’s Heat Rash

Summer is supposed to be a season filled with fun activities for the entire family to enjoy. However, summer brings with it a host of problems that can affect your baby and a lot of these problems concern the skin. One of these is heat rash.

Heat rash is a skin problem that is characterized by little bumps and sometimes small blisters that erupt when your baby’s skin gets exposed to a lot of heat. The rash, particularly the tiny bumps, usually appears red, specifically on light skin.

Causes of Heat Rash

Heat rash is, as the name suggests, generally happens more often during hot, humid weather. But be on the lookout for heat rash during winter too. Heat rash can occur if your baby is wearing too many layers of clothing or has a fever

It occurs when your baby gets hot and can’t sweat out the heat. Your baby, just like bigger kids and adults, need to sweat to be able to cool down. If she sweats too much, her pores can get clogged and the sweat will not be able to get out; and this is how heat rash occurs. Babies and younger kids are more prone to heat rash because they have smaller pores than adults.

Heat rash usually affects the folds of the skin and parts of your baby’s body where the clothes fit snugly. This could be the neck, diaper area which includes the bottom and crotch, stomach, and chest. If your baby wears a hat quite often, heat rash could affect her forehead and scalp as well.

Treating Your Baby’s Heat Rash

Heat rash generally is not painful so it will not hurt your baby. It can be however very itchy and the rash itself may be tender to the touch. Fortunately there are a number of heat rash remedies that you can use.

For starters, cool down your little one. Get her out off the sun and move her into a cool, well ventilated room. Use a cotton towel to absorb the sweat, lightly patting your baby’s skin instead or wiping or rubbing to prevent further irritation.

You can give your baby a lukewarm bath. Add a bit of baking soda to your baby’s bath water. About 2 teaspoons to gallon or water should do the trick. After bathing, do not dry your baby using a towel; instead let her “air dry.”

Some experts advice against applying ointments or creams since these could worsen your baby’s heat rash by trapping moisture. Opt for prickly heat powders instead. Some prickly heat or heat rash powders have “cooling” properties that alleviate the itch and help dry out the rash.

Preventing Heat Rash

There are several things you can do to prevent your child from getting heat rash.

First, make sure that your baby is cool and comfortable by dressing her in loose and lightweight clothes, particularly on hot and humid days. Opt for fabrics that that are comfortable, absorbent and lets your baby’s skin sweat more easily, like cotton. Avoid synthetic fabrics that prevent the skin from sweating efficiently, as well as rough fabrics like wool that can scratch the skin.