When Michele Ramien?s son was a year old, her family travelled to the Dominican Republic for a little R & R. As a dermatologist, Ramien was hypervigilant about protecting her baby?s delicate skin from the sun?s rays, so she slathered him in a thick sunscreen. Unfortunately, it turned out to be too much of a good thing. ?He developed a heat rash on the first day, and we ended up having to stay out of the heat for most of the vacation,? says Ramien.
What causes baby heat rash"
Ramien, who is also a clinical associate professor at the Alberta Children?s Hospital in Calgary, says that while staying indoors was also good sun protection, it wasn?t really what she had planned for their tropical holiday. But heat rash is extremely common in babies, and anything that prevents the skin from breathing?from being exposed to excessive heat and humidity to overdressing and being swaddled in too many layers to applying too much cream?can cause the condition. Although older kids and adults can get heat rash (also known as miliaria), Ramien says it?s most common in newborns because their sweat glands aren?t fully mature. What does heat rash look like"
Parents often worry when they encounter heat rash for the first time because it can look quite red and pimply if the sweat glands are completely blocked, but it can also be mild and present in clear little bumps. ?It can look like small droplets of sweat are stuck under the skin,? says Julia Orkin, a paediatrician at the Hospita...