An answer to baby has a rash after fever breaks

In Maggie’s life she’s had two fevers of note – by this I mean in the 101-102 range with a sweating exhausted miserable baby lump. By the definitions I can find on the internets, each of these had the symptoms of a standard viral response by the immune system: hot, tired baby.

In each case, about a day after the fever broke there as a large portion of her body covered in small bumps and discoloration. A little baby rash after fever.

I’m relaying from memory what her doctor said many months ago, so check with a pediatrician before relying on the memory of a sleep deprived old dad, but it goes a little something like this:

In babies 6 months-3ish years after the body fights a virus, it has to expel the virus. It does this through all the slimy things you can think of, and also secrets discarded viral and bacterial waste through the skin and pores.

The compound build up of bacterial/viral/immune system leftover junk in the skin causes irritation, which leads to a rash.

In other words, a rash on the torso/trunk is something you should probably expect a day or so after a fever.

You can read a bit about Roseola and the resultant skin rash, most baby illnesses with a fever end with “potential for mild rash after a day or two”. This is something I’d never heard of when I got into the parenting business.

Your general rash warnings (lifted from WebMD,) are:

Contact the doctor if:

• Your child’s rash gets worse.
• Symptoms (such as a fever, a general feeling of illness, or signs of infection) are severe or become worse.
• Symptoms become so uncomfortable that your child cannot tolerate them.
• A new rash continues longer than 1 week.
• A rash that has been previously diagnosed continues longer than 4 weeks or is not following the expected course.
• Your child’s symptoms become more severe or more frequent.

So, there you go. If you’ve wondered about whether your child is sick again after just getting over being sick, probably not. A rash isn’t too much to be worried about, unless it is… there’s always that one case of something that looks terribly normal that isn’t you hear about. So use your best judgement, and then back it up with someone else’s 😉