by Heidi Green
September 29, 2011

The day after I read baby gooroo’s article on Common Childhood Rashes, my daughter presented with a mystery rash of her own.

Coincidence? It must be. But surely you’ve had your own parenting moments like that. You think something positive like, “I’m glad Ben always remembers his homework planner; it’s going to be a busy evening” and wouldn’t you know it? The planner is forgotten. Or you think, “It’s a good thing the baby’s napping so I can get the laundry folded” and voila! Baby is awake—and hungry.

So perhaps I should have known that when I finished reading the article with the thought, “We haven’t seen a rash around here in a while, thank goodness” that I would have a child tugging on my arm within hours, complaining of “itchy bumps.”

Poor Katie. She had sprung a crop of who-knows-what bumps on her left arm and her abdomen. She had a few on her thighs, one behind her ear, and one at the nape of her neck. There seemed to be no pattern to them.

I checked her temperature. (Normal.) I asked about kids absent from school. (Nothing unusual.) I asked if she’d touched anything at school that made her feel itchy right away. (No.)

When did she notice the bumps, or start to itch? At school. She went to the nurse during music class, she told me. After “some cream” was applied, she went back to class. But it still itched.

What to do? Without any other signs of illness, a trip to the doctor seemed a bit alarmist. I drew an oatmeal bath, for comfort (or, at least, distraction). Then, I applied an anti-itch cream while Katie counted the number of bumps so we’d know if there was a change overnight. We went about our bedtime routine trying to “ignore it.”

But ignoring it wasn’t an option the next day. The rash was virtually unchanged. There were still no other signs of illness. “I can’t keep you home from school for this,” I told Katie. “It could be an allergic reaction. It could be your body’s last response to that cold you had last week. It hasn’t spread at all, so we’ll just wait and see.”

Unfortunately, the school nurse didn’t agree. Not a half an hour later my phone rang. “I’m sorry,” she said, “but I don’t know for sure this isn’t chicken pox. You need to pick up Katie, and she won’t be able to return to school until she has a doctor’s note confirming she isn’t contagious.”

Katie’s chicken pox vaccinations are up-to-date, so while it is possible she could have contracted the disease, it is unlikely.

Still, the school nurse’s mandate meant we couldn’t “just wait and see” anymore. An appointment was scheduled for that afternoon.

Here’s the thing about rashes: When your child develops one, you’re actually more likely not to find out the cause than you are to find out. “Most of the time,” her pediatrician said, “a rash comes, it goes, and we don’t know why.”

In fact, Katie saw three different doctors at her appointment that day, and each voiced a different opinion about what might be the cause. Allergies, said one. Post-viral reaction, said the next. Bug bites was the third theory.

At least the doctors agreed on treatment. “Give her an antihistamine,” they said. “Also, an oatmeal bath may help.” (A pat on my own back for that one.) Plus, they agreed it was not contagious.

Given the thumbs up to return to school, Katie was back on the bus the next day while I wondered how long it would be before the next mystery rash appears.

Parenting four children between the ages of 32 weeks and 8 years keeps Heidi Green busy! Add in husband Michael, paid work and volunteer work, and life becomes a juggling act. Check in with us every week to find out how she manages (or not), and what she learns in the process.