Causes of a baby rash on the back: from prickly heat to allergies

With such a phenomenon as a rash on the back in children, all parents have repeatedly encountered. It can be caused by a mass of reasons and therefore it is quite difficult to immediately determine what caused the rash on the back of the baby. However, almost always the rash on the back causes discomfort to the baby, it itches and itches, interferes, and therefore it is clear and logical the desire of mom and dad to deliver the baby from it as quickly as possible. In this article we will look at the most common causes of a rash on the back and show you how to deal with them.

Immediately it should be noted that the appearance of a rash on the back is a sign of ill health. There are no physiological and natural causes for a rash on the back. In a healthy baby, the skin on the back has an even tone, it is soft, gentle, not prone to rashes, cracking, peeling. If a child has a rash, be sure to show it to the doctor to eliminate dangerous infectious diseases. But before calling a doctor at home, parents should take a good look at rashes in order to characterize them as precisely as possible to a specialist.

The rash may be small and large. Its individual elements may merge or be scattered. Pay attention to the shade, the color of the rash, on the total area of ​​the lesion. Be sure to inspect the rest of the body for similar or other rashes. Assess the presence of pustular or watery heads on pimples. Examine the scalp, measure the temperature of the child.

Pay attention to the child's well-being - are there any signs of malaise, loss of appetite, lethargy, complaints of sore throat, headaches and muscle pain, nausea, diarrhea. Give all the received information to the doctor by phone, and then in person when the pediatrician arrives at the call.

A minor rash may indicate the presence of hemorrhage. Red rash is often a manifestation of allergies. Spilled forms of red rash along with additional symptoms (malaise, high fever) may indicate that the acute stage of a viral disease has begun - for example, rubella or chickenpox.

A white rash can speak of a fungal infection, and in newborns it can be a sign of neonatal pustus. Purulent rash may be a manifestation of a bacterial infection (staphylococcal or streptococcal). Watery rash may indicate the presence of herpes virus infection, shingles, and sometimes acts as a sign of thermal, chemical or other burns of the skin. In children who have entered puberty, a white rash on the back can be a sign of hormonal disorders associated with pubertal processes.

Let's take a closer look at some of the most common reasons why a child’s back can become covered with a rash.

If the rash is the only symptom, others are not observed, we can talk about prickly heat. Children sweat more often and more strongly than adults, their sweating is difficult due to the narrowness of the sweat ducts that are prone to clogging. If such a situation arises, sweating is disturbed, an inflammatory process develops in the area of ​​the ducts, and the excreted perspiration, like a salty environment, only intensifies the inflammation.

Prickly hair can occur in a child of any age. It looks like small rashes in the overheating area.If too warm clothes are worn on a child, if weather conditions and peculiarities of thermoregulation of a baby are incorrectly taken into account when going for a walk, then the neck fold, armpits and back are sweating. It is in these places that prickly heat may appear.

The second common cause is allergy. The rash in this case can be pale and red, small and blurry. It all depends on the degree of sensitization. Allergy, in which the rash appears on the back, most often refers to the contact form of the state, so it is important to exclude contact with the allergen. This may be a powder that has been used to wash bed linen, a child’s shirt or pajamas, ointments and creams, soap and shower gels, with which the child was bathed the day before. Food allergies rarely occur only on the back. Also rare on this part of the body is an allergy to medication. These forms, not less common in childhood, are more characteristic of other places of dislocation, for example, face, head, arms, and chest.

Allergen becomes more dangerous and aggressive, provided that the child is sweating and improperly dressed (in things with the use of synthetics or semi-synthetics). Sweat enhances the manifestations of an allergic reaction. That is why it is so difficult at the very beginning to distinguish between cinnamon and allergies.

The third common cause is infection. Recognizing such a rash is quite simple. It may be purulent, watery, without any heads at all, but in 99% of cases the infectious rash is accompanied by other symptoms - fever, cough, runny nose, headache. In addition, an infectious rash tends to spread to other parts of the body in a matter of hours.

After visual inspection of the child, measuring his temperature, parents should call the doctor. It is impossible to take the child to the reception, because the rash can be infectious, and therefore the probability of infecting other children on the way to the clinic and in the corridor while waiting for a doctor is great. When calling, tell your doctor about symptoms other than rash, describe it in detail. This will help the specialist to make a conjectural opinion about the causes and give you recommendations on the provision of first aid. In any case, strip the baby, leave the back open. If prickly heat occurs, within half an hour or an hour the eruptions will begin to turn pale and dry up, disappear, because prickly heat and fresh air are completely incompatible concepts. An allergic rash will not turn pale and disappear, but the open air will somewhat reduce the unpleasant symptoms of itching.

The infectious rash will continue to spread, but the itchiness will also decrease if the child waits for the doctor without a T-shirt or T-shirt.

If an infectious eruption is suspected, wipe the child abundantly with warm water, watch the body temperature level, and if you exceed 38 degrees, you can give a single dose of paracetamol-based antipyretic.

After visiting the doctor and examining, regardless of the cause of the rash on the back, provide the child with the right conditions that will facilitate recovery.

• Eliminate allergens, wipe the dust, do a wet cleaning in the nursery, ventilate the room well.
• Replace the bedding and pajamas with clean, washed with hypoallergenic powder with an additional rinse in boiled, chlorine-free water.
• Do not give your child foods that may be allergens, so as not to aggravate the course of the disease, whatever it may be.
• Bathe your baby without soap and shampoos.During the existence of a rash on the back, it is better to avoid decoctions of herbs and potassium permanganate, which some parents like to add to bathing water.
• Do not try to treat the rash with folk remedies, smear it with fat, fat, oils, bee products.
• Do not sprinkle it with powder, so as not to overdry the skin.
• Avoid giving your child medication at its discretion, without the advice of a doctor. The only exception is antipyretic drugs, if the temperature exceeds the allowable values, which we described above.
• Do not try to squeeze, peel, detach pimples and crusts from the back of the baby, remove them manually or with the use of any tools.
• Do not treat the rash with alcohol, vodka. These remedies do not help with allergies, chillbones, or infections. But alcohol dries the skin and makes it vulnerable to disease-causing bacteria.

Dr. Komarovsky will tell you more about the skin rash in a child in the next video.