Has your little one developed a rash around their mouth? Are you wondering how you can better treat that? Also, how did that rash develop? As a parent, you have a lot of stuff on your mind, not always able to notice or pinpoint how things originated. And as a working parent, it becomes all the more challenging. But don’t worry; this article will help you solve some of your problems and make things easier.
A pacifier rash happens when drool or remains of milk or food are left behind around your little one’s mouth for a period of time. This causes an irritation to the skin and further develops into a rash. Basically, a rash can be caused by teething, pacifier, food, etc. It can present itself in any form; it can be flat or raised bumps or in patches of red. You can do a few things at home to prevent it from happening in the first place or treat it to make it better.
The rashes caused by pacifiers can be described as flat patches of skin with tiny red bumps scattered around the mouth area, which can go up to the cheeks and down to the chin. Your baby can find it painful and get irritated during this period. They can last for weeks if not treated or taken care of.
How Pacifiers Cause A Rash
Whenever you give your little one a pacifier for various reasons, you might think it is needed for your baby. There are different challenges attached to using a pacifier, the most common one being rash. As you give your precious little one a pacifier, it generally lasts for a specific time, definitely more than 10 minutes.
As your baby sucks on a pacifier, little drool always comes out and spreads a bit around their mouth. As pacifiers remain around your baby’s mouth for a more extended period, it locks out the air. This, in turn, causes your baby to develop a rash around their mouth, which can spread further, depending upon the amount of drool that comes out.
How to Get Rid of Pacifier Rash?
There are few ways that you can get rid of that rash that has been causing trouble to your little one. Depending on the kind of rash, some might help your baby, and you will be able to see a difference, while some might not be able to help.
- Cleaning the rash twice a day with a mild soap is one way to treat that rash. You can choose a mild soap, baby soap, and clean the affected area gently with warm water. To dry it, pat it gently with a gentle and remember to not rub it in any way that might cause pain to your baby.
- Applying a cream to provide moisture to the dry rash area can better the condition. You can use any gentle cream to apply to the rash area or baby cream that many branded companies sell. Petroleum jelly is also a good alternative, the primary purpose being to provide moisture and hydration to the skin.
- The same goes for the bathing time; you might want to use a mild soap to wash your baby. A gentle or mild soap always is better to provide relief to your baby’s skin. As the ingredients are such that soothe the skin.
- Keep the rash area dry as much as possible. You already know why and how a rash is caused; doing this is the basic necessity. Whenever you’re breastfeeding, feeding food, or generally, wipe your baby’s saliva and foreign substances that might cause the rash. Keep the skin around their mouth dry and clean.
Above mentioned are few tips to get rid of the rash, causing pain and irritation to your baby. But these might not work if the rash is caused because of some other problem entirely. Even after doing these remedies mentioned above, if the rash isn’t going away, you should talk with your pediatrician.
Tips to Prevent the Pacifier Rash
While the above mentioned tells you how to treat that pacifier rash, you might wonder what if I could prevent this rash in the first place? Well, worry not, as I have a solution to this problem of yours too. Below are some of the tips you can use to prevent this pacifier rash from causing again and again.
Clean that pacifier
Taking care of that pacifier that goes into your baby’s mouth is very important. You can’t avoid or ignore cleaning that pacifier thoroughly, at least once a day. You should do a mandatory cleaning and sanitizing of the pacifier. You can clean it by boiling it in water for 5 minutes, sterilizing the pacifier in the process. After each use, you can clean it with warm soapy water, as an extra precaution.
Pacifier Time
You can also start by limiting the time your baby uses the pacifier. A big reason for this rash caused is because the pacifier traps the air with saliva around the mouth. If you limit the time, the drool won’t collect around the mouth. Drooling in babies starts around 3-6 months of age when babies are “oral-centric.” Babies learn about the world by eating and putting everything in their mouths.
Using a Bib
If your baby has excessive drool, which wets their clothes too, you need a bib. While you feed them anything, this comes in handy then, also, as you can easily wipe their mouth after each bite. Make sure to change the bib if it’s wet enough.
Give your Baby a Teething Toy
Although the teething rings with a gel-type substance inside them always seemed a better option to me, there are various teething toys available. Your baby can chew on it for a long time to provide relief to their irritated gums. Some are even cool to chew, giving comfort to the swollen gums.
Keep their Mouth Dry
The most obvious thing to do here is to keep them dry all the time. Even if the baby isn’t teething at the time, or you’re not feeding them, they tend to drool, even in their sleep! You should always keep checking in with your baby from time to time to see if they are drooling or not and keep wiping it with their bib or a separate cloth. After each breastfeeding and feeding food to them, wipe their mouth dry and clean with a warm wet towel, then dab it dry.
Other Types of Drool Rash
There can be multiple reasons for the rash caused to your baby’s face, but today we are discussing the rash caused due to the commonly known reasons, which are described as below:
Pacifier
When you give your little one a pacifier for a long time to suck on, the saliva usually gets around their mouth. You don’t notice that the saliva gets locked due to the pacifier and doesn’t get any air. As all babies’ skin is sensitive, this gets developed into a rash.
Teething
It is a very know cause of getting a rash around your baby’s mouth. When your baby starts teething, they continuously want to gnaw or chew on something, as their gums are irritated and hurt a little. Due to this, their glands also produce excessive saliva. As their mouths are frequently open, saliva gets everywhere around their mouth, even to their necks, causing this rash.
Food/Breast Milk
The same thing is with the food or breast milk; if left around your baby’s mouth, even in bits or small pieces, it can cause a rash. Sometimes, when you’re in a hurry, you might forget to clean your mouth correctly; thus, whatever is left around immediately causes a rash.
When to Visit the Pediatrician?
While drooling is a natural phenomenon, there might be times when there are other symptoms with your baby’s drooling. If there are other symptoms like fever, lethargy, loss of appetite, fussiness, irritability, loss of sleep, etc., then immediately pay a visit to your pediatrician. For it might be a sign of some other problem.
If there is just rash, but it develops into something worse, like bleeding or comes to a point where your baby is in too much pain or agony, again, pay an urgent visit to the doctor. At that point, the tips mentioned above won’t help you; the only doctor recommended cream or lotion will.
To Summarize
The rash can appear in a flat form or small patches or dot-like red marks. There are various ways a rash is caused around your baby’s mouth, pacifier rash being one of them, can be treated at home first, if it’s not too serious. You should clean the affected area twice a day, use mild lotion and soap to wash your baby.
Always pat dry the water or saliva around your baby’s mouth. To prevent the rash, you should use a bib, and always remember to sterilize the pacifier once a day. If this rash has happened the first time to your baby, you don’t need to worry, as it is not contagious at all.
Overall, you can sense how your baby feels or react to how severe the rash is until it’s serious; you can treat it at home. Don’t worry, as this keeps happening to many babies, so you don’t need to panic if you’re a first-time parent; you can take care of the pacifier rash at home only. You got this!
