My baby is 2 weeks old and has lots of spots on his face, the spots are red and angry looking and have white heads on them what could this be? .

A Your baby appears to have a very common condition called baby acne. It usually occurs in the first few weeks of life and it thought to be linked with the hormones transferred via the placenta in the last few months of your pregnancy. These hormones stimulate the sebaceous glands in the skin to produce a substance called sebum. As your babies skin is still immature it results in the pores being blocked by sebum, which looks very much like the white pus seen in adult spots. Please be reassured that this condition usually goes away on its own when the flush of hormones subside and the skin matures. Although the condition is called baby acne they are not real infected spots. Never be tempted to pick your babies face in an attempt to get rid of the acne and do not put acne products or cleansing washes on a baby's skin. These are much too strong and it will damage the skin. The best course of action is to wash your babies face as usual with cotton wool and water and pat dry. Make sure any residue of feeds or posseting are cleansed away again with cotton wool and water. Often bibs are used, but these can be rough and they may damage your baby's skin, plus they do not cleanse away any milk residue effectively and this can make the acne worse.

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