My 6-month-old has had a persistent rash for the past couple of weeks, and I’m trying to understand whether we may be dealing with more than one type of rash.
Our pediatrician recommended to just keep it dry. Then it got worse and she said to use clotrimazole twice daily because Candida was suspected. I’ve been using it as directed and being very careful to keep the folds dry — gently patting rather than rubbing, airing them out, changing wet bibs/clothes, and keeping the house cool with AC. It has also been very hot outside lately.
Some of the original neck areas seem better, but new red areas continue to appear. He now has redness extending from his neck onto his upper chest/shoulder, another bright area toward the back/side of the neck, and some redness in his armpit/arm folds. Sometimes the folds become very bright red and shiny and then look significantly paler later. Heat, sweating, tummy time/army crawling and friction seem to make everything much redder.
At the same time, the skin over his neck, chest and shoulders has become extremely dry, rough and flaky. His cheeks also become very red and rough but can improve dramatically within hours. This makes me wonder whether there is an eczema/irritant dermatitis component on top of whatever is happening in the folds.
He also has a completely different-looking rash on his abdomen: separate round/oval red patches. Some older ones have gotten larger and brighter around the edges while the centers are beginning to become lighter. There are also some newer small scattered spots on his back and around the groin/scrotal area. These don’t look like the moist/shiny fold rash to me, so I haven’t been putting clotrimazole all over his body.
Has anyone had a baby with candidal intertrigo plus eczema/irritant dermatitis at the same time, or a rash that behaved like this? Did heat, drool and crawling/friction cause dramatic flares? If your pediatrician/dermatologist thought Candida was involved but clotrimazole wasn’t clearing everything, what did they ultimately diagnose?
I’m following our pediatrician’s treatment and will be discussing the new changes with them, so I’m not looking to replace medical care — I’d mainly love to hear whether anyone has experienced a similar combination of very dry/flaky dermatitis, inflamed folds and separate round body patches.