Diagnosing Childhood Rashes
Byford Child Care Offers Childcare Services to Bedfordale and surrounds
Childhood Rashes: One of the most common health complaints with younger children is the much-dreaded ‘rash’. Where there are centres offering childcare, Bedfordale and elsewhere, the providers will be on the lookout for such.
Childhood Rashes – a quick note
Before we begin, please remember that we are not qualified to offer medical advice. Only a doctor or other registered healthcare professional can do so.
Here we are just summarising health advice from various sources and of course, our own extensive experience in providing services for childcare, Bedfordale and surrounding areas.
What are rashes?
A rash is usually an outbreak of irritation on the skin. It may be very local, such as on a small patch on one arm, covering much of a limb or a child’s entire body. Childhood Rashes are relatively common as a childhood complaint.
While we all think we’d recognise a rash immediately, in practice things can be more complicated. That’s because rashes may vary very significantly not only in the extent of the area covered but also in their appearance and related symptoms.
They may be very different in terms of:
- colour (various shades of red, purple, blue, white, brown etc.);
- texture (sub-cutaneous, more or less smooth to the touch, rough and raised above the skin, light sandpaper in texture or very pimply);
- effect on the skin (no obvious effect other than discolouration, eruptions, cracking and weeping etc.);
- related symptoms (apparently none, intense irritation, minor soreness, more noticeable pain, headaches, dizziness, fevers etc.).
Causes
There are far too many potential causes of childhood rashes to list here. Some of those that are the most commonly encountered include:
- the active environment (plant reactions, insect bites/stings, etc.);
- injuries (grazes and scrapes can sometimes cause localised rashes);
- stress;
- the passive environment (allergies, foodstuffs, dust, clothing, heat rashes);
- medications (a doctor or pharmacist will usually warn in advance about such possible side effects);
- some unrelated illnesses (where the child’s immune system is overreacting).
In some, fortunately much more unusual cases, a rash may indicate a potentially much more serious underlying condition. In such situations, the rash may be more typically accompanied by other symptoms such as headaches and fever – though this isn’t always necessarily so.
Actions required
Typically, if we notice a rash on a child in our care, we will immediately investigate.
If it is very minor and localised irritation which is attributable to a minor causal incident, such as a graze, and there are no other obvious symptoms, we may keep the child quiet, calm and under close observation while we monitor the position and clean up the graze.
As a general rule though, we might more commonly call the parents or appointed guardians of the child and ask them to intervene as quickly as possible.
First aid
If you’d like to know more about our first-aid capabilities and health policies, why not call us for an appointment and pop in for a chat? We’d welcome the chance to discuss these matters as part of your evaluation activities.
