Prickly Heat Rash

Heat rash often is called prickly heat but its technical name is miliaria. Nobody really understands exactly why babies have heat rashes, except that the sweat glands in the skin seem to become blocked up. You then get a little leak of the sweat outside of the duct, and that creates irritation or inflammation that results in a tiny red spot or bump about a millimeter or so in size.

Those spots tend to appear in areas where there are skin folds such as in the folds of the neck. They are more likely to happen if a baby becomes overheated. So heat rashes can occur in the summer months in warm climates, or if a baby is a bit too heavily dressed for the surrounding temperature. Sometimes heat rashes can be made worse if parents are applying thick moisturizers or other products.