The combination of summer and a child with sensitive skin has brought about my education on heat rash. Since it's very common in hot and humid conditions I thought I'd share the love.
Heat rash is when sweat forms a barrier over the skin, clogging sweat ducts and trapping moisture. This causes red blisters and bumps to form which can also be itchy or painful. At first I thought that Vivi's eczema had gotten worse and I was putting lotion on her. Big mistake, lotions and creme block moisture even more causing the rash to worsen. Poor Vivi. Heat rash is most likely seen on the neck, chest, and in other places with creases. Vivi has it on the back of her neck, going up into her hairline and down onto her upper back, on her chest and chin, and in her left elbow crease. When I put her down for a nap today it must have been bothering her because when she got up her fingers were bloody and her neck was a mass of scratches. Broke my heart!
So here's some things that I found and am implementing to treat heat rash-
1. I'm having Vivi sleep on a cotton towel to absorb her sweat at night. I also put her to bed with just her diaper to see if that would cut down on how much she sweats at night.
2. I'm letting Vivi air-dry after pools, showers, baths, and water time. I'm not sure what this is supposed to do but I got that from babycenter.com.
3. I'm putting pure melaleuca oil on the rash where she scratches the most. It's a natural antiseptic so it should protect from infection plus, because it's clear, it shouldn't trap moisture. I'm going to try it and see how it goes.
4. She will get wiped down with cool washcloths several times a day, especially when outside. This will keep her cool, plus wash away the sweat on the outer layer of skin.
Hopefully this will clear up soon and hopefully none of you will have to deal with heat rash. But if you do, at least you won't make the same mistakes that I did.
