Diagnose Baby Skin Rashes - Look for diaper rash on your baby's bottom and genital area during diaper changes. Check for redness, bumps and other irritation. Diaper rash is unavoidable because the baby's sensitive skin is closed up in the diaper with bacteria and ammonia from feces and urine.
Try to prevent diaper rash by changing your baby as soon as the diaper is soiled, by keeping the diaper area as dry as possible and by letting your baby go without a diaper as often as you can.
Diagnose Baby Skin Rashes
Use diaper creams when a rash appears, but avoid using powder, corn starch and other lotions. Rinse cloth diapers very well to remove excess soap, and do not use fabric softeners or dryer sheets on your baby's cloth diapers.
Contact your doctor if a diaper rash doesn't improve, or if the rash is very red with small bumps on the edges. This could be a yeast infection that requires anti-fungal medication.
Keep an eye on your baby's face, neck, chest and armpits, especially if you live in very hot or humid weather. Heat rash or prickly heat looks like small red dots or small blisters. Overdressing a baby can also cause heat rash. Keep your baby's room as cool as possible, and do not dress your baby too warmly or cover her with too many blankets. Heat rash usually goes away on its own if the baby's skin is kept cool and dry.
A baby's skin is very soft and sensitive. Unfortunately, all babies develop some kind of rash at one time or another. Most rashes are neither harmful nor contagious, and they will go away on their own. Other rashes are more serious and require a doctor's care. In order to diagnose a baby's rash, you should consider the location of the rash and how it looks. You should also pay attention to any itching, spreading or signs of infection. - by eHow
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