What is the rash around the baby's neck?

Compared with adults, children's skin is more delicate and they lack a certain degree of immunity. They are more susceptible to bacterial infection and skin inflammation, especially in the hot summer, which is the peak breeding season for mosquitoes. Many parents have found that their baby's neck area becomes red and swollen, which not only affects the child's physical health, but also disrupts the child's sleep to a certain extent. This makes parents very worried. What is going on with the rash on the baby's neck?

What to do if a rash appears on the baby's neck

The appearance of a rash on a baby's neck is not necessarily eczema. Infant eczema usually develops 1 to 3 months after birth, gradually improves after 6 months, and most children gradually heal on their own after 1-2 years old. Some children develop the disease during infancy or childhood. The severity of the disease varies. The rash is common on the head and face, such as the forehead, cheeks, and top of the head, and then gradually spreads to the chin, neck, shoulders, back, buttocks, limbs, and can even spread throughout the body.

At the beginning, there are scattered or clustered small red papules or erythema, which gradually increase in number, and small blisters, yellow-white scales and crusts can be seen. There may be exudation, erosion and secondary infection. The children are irritable, cry at night, have difficulty sleeping, and often itch all over. Since the lesions of eczema are on the epidermis, no scars are left after healing.

Pediatric expert Cui Yutao said that babies have short necks and the skin on their necks will overlap, resulting in poor local air permeability. After sweating, red rashes will appear on the skin, followed by ulcers and even infection. The principle of care is to ensure local dryness and breathability. Encourage lying on your stomach, which allows the head to be raised so that the neck can be ventilated. Especially when you have just taken a shower and the area is still wet. When lying flat, wrap soft dry gauze around your neck to isolate the overlapping neck skin and absorb sweat, which helps keep the local skin dry.

After bathing your baby or cleaning his neck, be sure to dry the area with a dry towel or dry paper towel, or keep the baby in a prone position to keep the neck dry. It is not recommended to apply prickly heat powder topically to prevent some of it from being inhaled into the child's lungs. For fatter babies, place a layer of dry and soft gauze on the skin folds of the neck to separate the overlapping neck skin, absorb neck sweat, and prevent local rashes and ulcers. Change it every few hours.