CHILDREN’S HEAT RASH: SYMPTOMS, HOME CARE, PRECAUTIONS AND TREATMENT

Signs and symptoms

Heat rash consists of hundreds of tiny pinhead eruptions, each surrounding a skin pore. These eruptions may look like small pink or red bumps or like tiny water blisters. They are moderately itchy and may show scratch marks. If you look at the rash with a magnifying glass in good light, each dot of heat rash can be seen at the mouth of a pore from a sweat gland.

The rash usually appears on the cheeks, neck, or shoulders, in skin creases, and in the nappy area. It frequently appears if the child has been wearing a wet bathing suit. Hot humid conditions, perspiration, and overdressing are further clues that the rash is heat rash.

Home care

Infants and children are safest from heat rash in an air-conditioned environment. Keep a child with heat rash as cool as possible. Cool baths, or baby powder or corn flour applied lightly with a powder puff, help ease the condition. If the heat rash is on your baby’s face, rest the child’s face on an absorbent pad in the crib. During warm weather, using prickly heat powders may give some relief.

Precautions

• Be careful with powder. If a baby inhales a large amount of powder, inflammation of the lungs can occur.

• Detergents and bleaches in clothing and bed linens may aggravate heat rash.

• Bubble baths, water softeners, and oily lotions should be avoided.

• Do not overdress the child. The clothing that’s appropriate to the weather for you is also appropriate for the baby.

Medical treatment

A doctor’s treatment is not necessary. Heat rash can be adequately and safely treated at home.

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