Hives in babies are quite common and unpleasant. It is in infancy that such a dermatological problem occurs most often. According to statistics, up to 15% of children before reaching the age of two suffer to some extent from urticaria.
What it is?
Outwardly, the rash resembles burns from contact with nettles. Hence the name for this dermatological problem. Rashes appear quickly, spread rapidly, accompanied by itching.
Usually, this form of dermatitis develops as a response of the body to contact with a certain allergen. If this contact is constant, then the urticaria becomes a chronic ailment.
The attitude towards urticaria among the people is not too serious, and this is the main mistake of parents. In almost half of cases, the appearance of a "nettle" rash occurs simultaneously with angioedema, but more often it precedes it. Laryngeal edema can be fatal.
The body of an infant is not immune to the same degree as the bodies of adults and older children. Therefore, it is impossible to predict the appearance of urticaria - no one knows how the baby's immunity will perceive this or that antigen.
Varieties
- In a newborn and nursing baby urticarial rash most often acute. Only in some cases, if mom and dad cannot establish the cause, urticaria becomes chronic.
- Most often occurs allergic urticaria, the reason for the appearance of which is an inadequate reaction of children's immunity to a certain allergen (in food, contact, in the environment, etc.).
- Sometimes occurs pseudo-urticariain which characteristic rashes appear as a response of the skin to mechanical touch. This form is called dermatographic dermatosis.
- Also excrete urticaria caused by pressure, cold, vibration, contact, aquagenic... Traditionally, both mastocytosis and psychogenic urticaria are considered to be urticaria.
Any form of dermatosis is not contagious and not dangerous to the people around the baby.
Causes and signs
Nettle rash on the skin of an infant is a consequence of thinning of the capillaries under the influence of the release of histamine into the blood. Upon contact with an allergen, the concentration of histamine increases, the walls of the vessels become fragile, and the intracellular fluid begins to pour out into the epidermis. This is how characteristic rashes are formed.
In infancy, food allergies are the most common cause of hives. - this is how the child can react to complementary foods, new foods in the diet. Sometimes urticaria develops as a form of contact allergy - the skin of babies is very thin and delicate, and even an incorrectly selected powder for washing baby clothes can cause a rash.
With hives, the baby's skin can react to the vaccine, more precisely, to the components of vaccines, to insect bites, to the friction of diapers or clothing seams.
Parents should be prepared for the fact that in about a third of cases it is not possible to identify the true cause.
It is difficult to confuse urticaria with something else, because, unlike other allergies, diaper rash, prickly heat, it appears quickly, literally in a matter of minutes. Blisters are pink, numerous. They are almost never isolated... If the baby has single individual blisters, then an infection should be suspected, and not urticaria.
Hives not only quickly appear and look like a burn from the plant of the same name, but also quickly pass. As soon as the concentration of histamine in the blood begins to decrease, the rash also disappears.... Neither diaper rash nor infection goes away so quickly. This is the main symptom of pathology.
Rashes with nettle fever (this is the second name of urticarial dermatosis) itch, itch. There is slight swelling around the blisters. If the rash appears exclusively on the face or hands, then the general condition does not suffer. If the rash is extensive, a rise in body temperature is possible.
An infant with widespread urticaria has difficulty falling asleep, is naughty, his appetite and stool are disturbed. TORaple rash in infants is often called a strofulus. With her, the blisters are small, not exceeding 3 millimeters., with a small bubble on top.
With the development of giant urticaria, edema of the larynx (Quincke's edema) is formed, as well as other forms of edema. At the same time, the child has difficulty breathing, he needs urgent medical attention. Before the arrival of the ambulance, parents must provide the child with fresh air.
Toxic urticaria from contact with chemicals or strong allergens develops quickly, the rash spreads rapidly.
How to treat?
Often, parents have the opinion that since urticaria quickly appears and quickly disappears, there is no need to treat it. In fact, it is important to decide what exactly counts as treatment. If an infant develops urticaria dermatosis, this is a signal to parents. It is they who must reconsider the living conditions, nutrition of the crumbs. And these measures are also treatment.
First of all, it is important to eliminate the allergen. But since it is not always possible to detect it, the actions must be large-scale.
All household chemicals should be isolated and closed in a separate room, mom will have to wash the floors more often and without adding detergents, especially chlorine-based ones. Washing baby and bed linen should be done only with hypoallergenic baby powdersspecially formulated for the little ones and their sensitive skin. It is important to remember what new foods a nursing mother introduced into her diet or as complementary foods for her baby. It is possible that a reaction developed against them. But the search area for food will be small - urticaria develops quickly, and therefore it is enough to remember that the child ate a few hours ago.
For treatment use antihistamine drugs, for example, "Suprastin", "Diazolin" - the pediatrician will say more specifically. The need for them is mainly only in children, in whom hives occurs quite often. Locally, antipruritic ointments can be recommended, cooling and soothing unpleasant sensations in the area of the rash.
If a food reaction is detected, it is additionally recommended to give the child enterosorbents (Enterosgel) in order to quickly remove the antigen that caused the allergy from the child's body.
Often, parents are interested in whether it is possible to wet the urticaria and bathe the child with it. There are no prohibitions on water procedures, as well as on walks.
Prohibited actions
Parents of infants who have encountered hives are usually at a loss. For this case, we have compiled a memo, which should not be done in any case:
- you cannot cauterize the rash with alcohol-containing solutions, as well as aniline dyes (brilliant green, strong, etc.) - this is not necessary;
- you should not give the child any medications before being examined by a doctor, especially antibiotics, painkillers, sleeping pills;
- no traditional medicine can be used, since the herbal components of non-traditional recipes can only aggravate the situation.
Doctor Komarovsky's advice
In order not to treat urticaria in babies, pediatrician Yevgeny Komarovsky recommends doing everything so as not to create prerequisites for it. First of all, it is important to remember that the nutrition of a nursing mother should be correct, varied, balanced, but devoid of foods with a high allergenic index. Also, when introducing complementary foods at 6 months and older, it is important to add to the toddler's diet no more than one new product every 2 days in order to have time to evaluate the reaction of the child's body... Otherwise, it will be quite difficult to establish what exactly the rash has developed in the child.
Komarovsky does not advise limiting the communication of a child in the first year of life with pets - contacting with certain antigens, the child is much less likely to become allergic than the baby, whom the parents try to keep in sterile conditions.
The apartment needs to get rid of everything that can accumulate house dust - large soft toys, soft carpets and rugs, books, if they are not stored in a cabinet behind glass, it is better to temporarily put them away.
More attention should be paid to wet cleaning. For additional humidification of the air, you can install an aquarium with fish in the child's room - both useful and pleasant.
Komarovsky recommends rinsing the infant's linen after washing in water free of chlorine, that is, pre-boiled. You should also pay special attention to clothing. It must be sewn from natural fabrics. You can't wrap up a child - with increased sweating, the likelihood of dermatoses, including urticaria, increases several times.
The doctor recommends giving any medicines only if there is a need for them, that is, the disease is diagnosed and the medicine itself is prescribed by the pediatrician. There are no safe medicines.
How to avoid?
There is no vaccination against allergies, there are no vaccines for urticaria in the world, and therefore the prevention of dermatoses in infancy is non-specific. Much depends on how the parents relate to the world around them and the dangers it contains. It has been proven that children who are protected from everything and who are not allowed to stroke a cat or smell a flower in a flower bed on the street are more likely to suffer from various allergic manifestations. Tempering, walking are useful for children's immunity. You should not overfeed the baby.
All hazardous substances that can cause hives should be kept away so that the child cannot reach them. If the urticaria has already developed at least once, it is important to warn your pediatrician about this., and before each vaccination that the child will have, just in case, give him a dose of an antihistamine to eliminate the likelihood of recurrence of urticaria dermatosis.
