Markings on the skin of the newborn and skin irritations

Swipe your child's skin. So soft, so smooth, but not perfect. You feel dry patches, peeling spots, rough and wrinkled spots, and in some areas the skin does not seem to fit, for example, it does not fit around the chin, on the neck, wrists and heels. But do not worry, your child will grow to it. Let's walk with our hands and eyes, from head to toe, in all the varieties of skin changes observed in most newborns.

Normal marks on the skin of a newborn

When you look at the skin of your child, it also does not seem perfect. On it points and specks, rashes and bruises, streaks and spots - a coat of many shades, which carries your newborn. But newborn skin has a unique property - the ability to change - sometimes right before your eyes.

Vascular nevus( stork bites).

Most newborns have areas where many blood vessels accumulate in bundles and shine through thin skin. These smooth to the touch reddish-pink marks are most noticeable on the eyelids, on the back of the head and in the middle of the forehead. These specks are not, in the right language, rashes. They are called a vascular nevus or, in the language of parents, birthmarks. Grandmothers christened them "stork bites".But no mythical stork has bitten your child. This cutaneous attraction is explained by bundles of overgrown blood vessels, which are visible through the thin skin of the newborn. As excess blood vessels shrink and your baby's skin becomes thicker, they almost always disappear or significantly turn pale to the first birthday. Sometimes the nevus, especially at the back of the head, remains, but his hair is closed. Sometimes these special signs fade, but again appear when the child tenses or cries, and then the parents exclaim: "His headlights on his forehead lit".

Strawberry nevus( cavernous gemmangioma, cavernoma).In , while the vascular nevus appears at birth and eventually fades, other birthmarks appear one or two weeks later and eventually grow. The majority appears in the form of a red circle raised above the skin level and gradually increases to the size of

strawberries during the first year. Somewhere between year and three they begin to wrinkle. You will determine that the spot has reached its maximum size and will not grow any more when you see that the center of the strawberry has become gray.

The name "strawberry" nevus was received because these birthmarks resemble strawberries, they are formed by blood vessels that have moved away from their normal location and continued to grow. Most children have at least one such nevus. And, like on a branch of a strawberry bush, they come in different sizes and shapes, from the size of a freckle to a size as large as a golf ball.

Despite the cosmetic unattractiveness, in most cases strawberry nevi is better left alone and wait until they self-destruct. Sometimes they cause great discomfort with their unsuccessful arrangement. For example, such an outgrowth on the eyelid can hamper the recovery of the century and hamper the developing vision of the child. Others are placed on the hands and feet, where they bleed if the child is hurt. Only in rare cases they remain for a long time and become a cosmetic defect. In these cases, an ugly or discomforting nevus can be removed with injection and laser therapy.

Birthmarks. Called the pigment nevus, these brownish-black skin elevations range from the size of the freckle to the huge, hairy spots. Moles usually remain the same size, so they seem relatively smaller when the child grows up. These are benign formations, and one should neither worry nor treat them. In very rare cases, large pigmented hairy nevi are subject to surgical removal because of the threat of their malignant degeneration.

Mongolian spots( blue nevus, nevus Yadassona-Tishche). It does not take a year for me not to be annoyed by the call from someone accusing the parent of cruel treatment of the child, as evidenced by the blue-black marks on the child's buttocks. These blemish-like blemishes, often found in Negro, Asian and Hindu children( come from a Mongolian empire that once existed, hence the name), stand out distinctly in the lower back and on the buttocks, and sometimes also on the shoulders and legs. These "traces of beatings" dimmer over time, but in most cases they never completely disappear.

Flat birthmarks of coffee color with milk. These are light brown spots flush with skin, similar to small puddles of spilled coffee with cream. Most remain the same size, becoming relatively smaller as the child grows.

Milium( whiteheads).In , the first weeks of a child's life, you can see and grope for the tiny whiteheads scattered on the child's face, especially on the nose. Caused by clogging pores of secrets, these acne are normal and disappear after a few weeks without any treatment.

Toxic erythema. Do not be frightened by such an alarming name. Appear points in the form of yellowish-white pimples, surrounded by a circle of reddened skin. They look like bites. These perfectly normal points appear in the first week, most often on the tummy of a child, and disappear without treatment by two weeks.

Sweat. Represents reddish papular( in the form of pryshchikov) rashes, sweating appears on excessively wet areas of the skin, for example, between the neck cords, behind the ears, in the groin or in the areas where clothing is too tight. Carefully slide your fingers over the rash and you will understand why the English call this rash prickly. To the touch, it is rough, like sandpaper. It seems to me that sweating can cause trouble to the child. To get rid of it, put your child in light loose cotton clothes and gently wash the skin with plain cool water or baking soda solution( one teaspoon per glass of water).Remember that you need to blot, rinse and dry;do not scrub and rub the sensitive skin of the newborn.

Acne neonates. Approximately in the third or fourth week, be prepared for the fact that on the ideal photogenic face of your baby the first skin defects appear. Like a teenage acne, a rash in the form of red, oily acne covers most of the baby's face, and before that, soft, smooth cheeks become rough, like emery. Set aside the camera for a while;this first transitional period is short-lived( everyone who has already encountered this phenomenon is planning the first pictures of the child and the christening before or after the acne period).Acne of newborns usually reaches its peak around the third week and passes to a month or six weeks of age.

In a situation similar to hormonal changes in the pubertal period, an increase in the hormonal level during childbirth can cause excessive production of a waxlike oily substance, a secretion of sebaceous glands called sebum, especially on the face and head. Blockage of the skin glands leads to their inflammation and acne formation. In medicine, this is called seborrheic dermatitis.

Acne neonatal worries parents more than a child. Shortly cut the child's nails so that he does not scratch his face. Cautious washing with water with mild soap will remove excess and sometimes irritating fat. If the papules( acne) become inflamed( near them red areas appear or from them the meadow-like secretions dribble), your doctor can prescribe an antibacterial ointment. Most newborns acne completely disappears without any special skin care.

If this phenomenon occurs very early( that is, in the second week) and / or the condition quickly deteriorates: irritation swings from face to hair and down to neck and even shoulders - you may be observing one of the first signs of allergy to some substancein the formula that feeds the baby, or in your breast milk. This was the case with our seventh child, Stefan, and the rashes instantly disappeared when the products from cow's milk were completely excluded from the diet of Martha. Crusts on the head. With another form of seborrheic dermatitis, you will notice and feel for the skin of the baby's head rashes in the form of ocher-like patches of oily plaques, especially over the fontanel. In an easy case, the scaly, dry scalp is similar to dandruff. Rarely any other treatment is required, except for accurate washing and increasing humidity. Wash the scalp with a mild shampoo no more than once a week. Too energetic and too frequent washing of the head will only dry the skin and only worsen the condition.

Here's how to deal with a more severe form of seborrheic dermatitis:

• Eat into cold-pressed vegetable oil to soften them. Give the oil about fifteen minutes to soak.

• Carefully brush the crusts with a frequent comb.

• Rinse off excess oil with a soft baby shampoo.

If dermatitis does not go away, complicates and causes itching, see a doctor who can prescribe a special ointment and a mild shampoo with tar.

You can also notice oily crusts behind your child's ears and in the skin folds on the neck. This seborrheic dermatitis usually occurs with gentle washing with warm water, but sometimes a prescription ointment is required. The skin is useful for moisture. That's why most skin rashes intensify in the winter months, when central heating dries

air. Evaporator, or a humidifier, put in a room where your baby sleeps, will moisturize dry skin.