Immunization Schedule: When Kids Get Their Shots
How To Spot And Take Care Of Your Newborn's Rash
Medically reviewed by Daniel Combs, MD
Newborns commonly get skin rashes on various parts of their body. Most are harmless and resolve on their own. However, severe jaundice, eczema, or persistent diaper rash require medical intervention. Understanding the different types of newborn skin variations can help you know when to contact a healthcare provider.
This article covers common newborn rashes, how to treat them at home, and when to contact a healthcare provider.
Common Rashes in NewbornsNewborns can have skin variations at birth or a few days after delivery. Common rashes in newborns include the following:
Pink pimples
Erythema toxicum
Milia
Salmon patches
Jaundice
Congenital melanocytosis
This section explores the causes and treatments for these common newborn rashes.
Pink PimplesPink pimples (newborn acne) are tiny red, pink, or white bumps that may appear on a baby's face, chest, or back. They appear within the first few weeks of life in 30% of newborns. They are harmless and usually fade away within a few weeks. Gentle soap and water can help keep the baby's skin clean.
Henadzi Pechan / Getty Images
Erythema ToxicumErythema toxicum is red bumps (sometimes with pus or a red ring around them) on the baby's face, chest, back, and near the arms or legs. This rash affects 30% to 70% of newborns, typically in the first few days of life. It may cause mild irritation but usually resolves without treatment in about a week or two.
Reproduced with permission from © DermNet and © Raimo Suhonen dermnetnz.Org 2023.
MiliaMilia (milk spots) are blocked oil glands that affect almost half of newborns. These small, white, or yellowish bumps can appear on a baby's nose, cheeks, forehead, or chin. They typically show up at birth, though premature babies might get them later.
Reproduced with permission from © DermNet dermnetnz.Org 2023.
Does My Baby Need Treatment for Milia?Babies do not typically require treatment for milia. As the pores open, spots usually disappear on their own within a month or two. To prevent irritation, keep the baby's face clean with gentle soap and water and avoid squeezing or picking at the milia.
Salmon Patches (Nevus Simplex)Salmon patches (nevus simplex) are flat, salmon (pink-orange), pink, or red birthmarks that appear in 30% to 40% of newborns. They do not cause discomfort and typically fade within a few months to a few years. Laser therapy can be an option if they don't go away. Depending on the location, you may hear people call these:
Stork bites: On the back of the neck
Angel kisses: Between the eyes
Salmon patches: Other parts of the body
Reproduced with permission from © DermNet dermnetnz.Org 2023.
JaundiceJaundice is the yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes. Neonatal (newborn) jaundice can occur as the liver learns to clean out bilirubin (a specific type of waste) from the blood. It's common and usually goes away on its own within a few weeks, but it's important to tell the infant's healthcare provider so they can monitor the baby.
Jaundice TreatmentProviders might suggest exposing the baby to sunlight for a short time. If the jaundice is severe, the baby might need special lights and fluids in the hospital to help eliminate the bilirubin.
Congenital MelanocytosisCongenital melanocytosis is a harmless flat, gray-blue, blue-black, or bluish-green area that resembles a bruise. It typically appears at birth or within a few weeks on the back or buttocks of newborns with dark skin. It occurs when pigment-producing cells (melanocytes) are trapped deep in the skin. Congenial melanocytosis typically fades by school age.
Reproduced with permission from © DermNet dermnetnz.Org 2023.
Common Rashes in the First Few Months of LifeIn the first few months of life, babies can develop rashes due to oil buildup, sensitive skin, eczema, irritants, heat, or infection.
Cradle CapSeborrheic dermatitis (cradle cap) causes red, scaly areas with greasy, yellow scales or dry, flaky patches due to oil and dead skin buildup. It can occur on the scalp, ears, face, and skin folds. Cradle cap affects around 10% of babies under 4 weeks old but is most common around 3 months.
Cradle cap is not harmful and usually gets better on its own. Baby oil can help reduce crusting before gently washing and brushing the baby's hair. If it persists, your provider may prescribe a cream or shampoo.
EczemaEczema (atopic dermatitis) makes the skin itchy, dry, and scaly, leading to red and swollen patches. It often starts on the cheeks and forehead before spreading to skin creases, elbows, and knees. Babies may scratch these areas, causing discomfort and bleeding, making it difficult for them to rest. About 60% of infants with eczema will have symptoms by age one. Babies with a family history of allergies are at higher risk of eczema.
Eczema TreatmentInfants with eczema often get allergies or asthma as they age. Treatment involves gentle skin care and avoiding triggers like harsh soaps, dry air, and pet dander. You can also use a cool washcloth or colloidal oatmeal in a lukewarm bath to reduce itching and swelling. In severe cases, a healthcare provider may suggest steroid creams.
Heat RashWhen sweat ducts clog, sweat leaks into the layers of the skin, causing a heat rash (miliaria). It affects up to 40% of infants, often in the first month of life. One of its two types causes tiny, clear blisters without redness in areas like the neck and underarms. The other causes small red bumps on the forehead, upper body, and covered areas that get hot.
Preventing and Treating Heat RashDressing newborns in light clothes and keeping them cool during hot or humid weather can help prevent and treat heat rash.
Related: What a Heat Rash Looks Like on Darker Skin (and What to Do Next)
Diaper DermatitisDiaper dermatitis (diaper rash) leads to over a million clinic visits in the United States yearly. The wetness from urine and stool breaks down the skin's protective barrier, causing redness and discomfort. Some diapers, baby wipes, creams, or detergents can also irritate the diaper area.
Treatment involves keeping the area clean and dry and using diaper creams with minimal ingredients, which typically helps resolve the rash within a few days.
Fungal InfectionsPersistent diaper rashes might result from fungi or yeast, causing itchy skin, with red or white dry or scaly patches, bumps, or blisters. Yeast infections often appear in moist, dark areas like the diaper area and skin folds. It can occur when babies or breastfeeding parents take antibiotics. Your provider may suggest an antifungal cream.
What Is a Rash On a Newborn's Chest?Newborns can have chest rashes from drool, erythema toxicum, heat, eczema, or baby acne.
Related: How to Spot and Take Care of Your Baby's Rash
When to Contact a Healthcare ProviderIf your baby has a fever or seems sick, or if the rash is spreading rapidly, causing discomfort, or not improving, see a healthcare provider right away. Watch for signs of discomfort like ear pulling, tongue thrusting, fussiness, and clinginess. If your baby has hives (allergic rash) and difficulty breathing, call 911 immediately.
SummaryNewborn skin abnormalities and rashes are common and often harmless. They include baby acne, cradle cap, birthmarks, diaper rash, eczema, and heat rash. Most go away independently or with home care, but some may need treatment. Contact a healthcare provider if the baby seems uncomfortable and the rash worsens.
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Home Jaundice Treatment Available Due To Funding
Newborn babies cared for by an NHS trust can receive treatment for jaundice in their own homes thanks to new funding.
Traditionally, families have had to take their babies to hospital for treatment.
But after funding from Royal Surrey Charity, a trained healthcare professional from the Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust will visit homes equipped with portable phototherapy devices.
Jo Macleod, consultant neonatal nurse at Royal Surrey, said: "We know the toing and froing to hospital disrupts the bonding period for families and can create stress."
Jaundice is a common condition in newborn babies caused by elevated levels of bilirubin, a yellow pigment found naturally in the blood.
While normal for babies to have the condition to some degree, in a very small number of cases it can develop into permanent brain damage and must be treated.
The standard treatment is exposure to light waves, known as phototherapy.
The new at-home phototherapy project is backed by £30,000 of funding from Royal Surrey Charity that was secured through the trust's Bid for Better 2023 initiative.
Ms Macleod added: "Treating jaundice in the home is simple with the right equipment and not only enhances convenience for families but also promotes bonding and reduces the stress associated with hospital visits."
Fifty Shades Of Black In Sudan
This article was written by Weam Al-Bashir and was originally published on Raseef22 on March 19, 2024. An edited version is republished on Global Voices as part of a content-sharing agreement.
I recently found a photograph of me as a baby, and on the back, scribbled in my father's handwriting, were the words: "Our daughter is blue." He had intended to send it to his siblings in Sudan with one of the pilgrims returning from Mecca, along with a letter announcing the arrival of his new "blue" baby girl.
A person is born either white or black, with some differences and variations. Certain privileges are attached to the former, and complications to the latter. Black Arabs still have lower levels of citizenship in various Gulf and Levantine countries, stigmatized as the product of ancient African migrations or descendants of servants and slaves.
The people of Sudan, an African country with diverse tribes and mixed races, are considered Black in the eyes of the world. In the dictionary, the name of the country became the plural of the word "black" in Arabic ("aswad"). Ironically, though, Sudanese people hardly ever use the term black to describe skin color!
They only refer to eggplants as black, so a Sudanese version of baba ghanoush is known as "black salad." As for skin color, the people of Sudan exhibit fifty shades of black.
Sudan's kaleidoscope of skin colorsAn extremely fair-skinned Sudanese person is referred to as "red," a reference to the reddish hue sometimes present in those with extremely fair skin. Sometimes, they are also called "Halabi," as a reference to the city of Halab, Arabic for ("Aleppo"), descendants of Syrian communities that migrated to Sudan in ancient times. The description is general, even if the origins differ, and includes Sudanese people of Egyptian descent, as well as those with light skin and dark hair.
And then there's "yellow" Sudanese, not to be mistaken as a sign of jaundice! This label refers to those whose whiteness has a tinge of yellow; this is the predominant skin tone of the people of the Gulf. This color carries the global privileges associated with white skin and conforms with Western beauty notions, in comparison to the "Halaibis," in reference to the town of Halaib. "Yellow" Sudanese are considered of purer Sudanese origin.
There is also "wine" or "wheat" color, the fairest shades of brown skin. As melanin increases, a person's skin color is referred to as "green." In my country, "green" skin is not only the color of aliens and plants. You often hear the quip, "Her greenness is refreshing," meaning that her dark skin is radiant, like a ripe fruit.
And then there's the "blue" Sudanese, who, unlike the Smurfs, are not blue, but rather, midnight black, like Vincent van Gogh's night sky with its blue hues. In Sudan, as in much of the rest of the world, those with "blue" skin are subject to certain privileges, but also discrimination and racism.
I've often heard a "blue" person be called abed, Arabic for "slave," a crude term akin to the n-word for North Americans. I also hear hushed comments questioning a "blue" person's Arab ethnicity, analyzing the shape of their nose, how curly their hair is — features that some Sudanese consider accurate racial genetic tests.
Some trace "blue" Sudanese people to specific tribes and neighboring African countries in an attempt to prove pure Arabism. Inter-ethnic marriages, or any deviation from societal norms, are rejected and are subjected to snide and hushed remarks: "How could they marry this Arab girl to that abed?"
Echos of social identitySudanese society clings to Arabism and to the alleged lineage of ancient Arab caliphs. Asking a Sudanese person about their tribe is a common societal benchmark, and it's unsurprising for an educated young man to seek a bride with no attributes other than being "white with long hair."
Subjected to harsh and unrealistic Western beauty standards, some girls resort to using cortisone drugs. These drugs reduce melanin secretion and cause water retention in the body, making them appear "refreshing." Skin-whitening and exfoliating products are considered necessities for most girls of marriage age.
Both my parents are considered fair-skinned; my eldest brother is wheat-colored, and my sister is yellow. However, I came as a deviation from all expectations and genetics. I am "green," or, as my father put it in his unsent note, "blue."
I owe my love of my skin color to my parents, and so I hate using the beauty filters prevalent on social media platforms.
One day, I came home from school with a top-grade monthly report card in hand, crying because my "yellow" Saudi classmate called me abda on our way out of school. My mother consoled me, assuring me that the little girl was jealous of my academic excellence, of my beautiful eyes, my thin eyebrows, and my long hair.
I grew up believing I was beautiful. I cherished my hair and never cut it. I see my eyes as beautiful, despite never hearing this compliment from anyone other than my mother. I have kept my eyebrows thin by continually shaping them, and I refuse to use whitening products, ignoring the suggestions of my female relatives.
So, I see beyond what every matchmaker sees. Or what a university professor, who insisted on calling me "Chocolate" instead of my actual name (I reluctantly smiled and reminded him of my name each time), or what a lady passerby in Egypt once affectionately said to me, "But you all have a white and beautiful heart," implying that this might compensate for our dark skin.
We are all deeper than the concentration of melanin in our skin, and it should not determine our privilege or our inferiority under any circumstances.
I do not claim to fully understand the harsh prejudice and racial classification that the "blue" Sudanese have faced over the years, but my experience as a dark minority in a Gulf country, or as a "green" child to "yellow" parents, has given me a vision and conviction that I hope will help overcome unproductive stigmas.
And I hope, after we recover from this war, that we cleanse ourselves from the legacy of racial and tribal privileges that the previous regime promoted, permitting the extermination of tribes in western and southern Sudan. Sometimes I feel that authorities in Khartoum are paying the price for its silence about the events in Darfur, while the world watches silently. Moreover, ordinary citizens suffer the most, enduring severe repercussions from both domestic turmoil and international scrutiny.
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