What Is Baby Milk Neck and 8 Ways to Get Rid of It.

I have recently reached out to my fellow mommy friends and asked what type of things they would like to hear about in our blog! One response I had was to write about milk neck. At first I wasn't quite sure what she meant but after researching it I found a good definition and knew some remedies to share with you all!

"Milk neck" also known as "baby neck cheese" is when your baby gets smelly chunks or redness in the creases of their neck and double chin! Gross right? No one wants to cuddle up to their cute baby and smell baby neck cheese! My son, Luke, as you can see in this picture, has a pretty decent double chin and gets pretty sour smelling at times!

This is most common in babies 0-4 months because they don't have the strength to hold their neck up and stretch it out causing all the chub to rub together. Milk neck can happen from milk that runs into baby's mouth too fast from a bottle and spills down to his neck (try paced feeding). When breastfeeding my son likes to smile up at me before he swallows, with his mouth full of milk, and it just runs out the sides of his mouth. It can also get in there from spit up or drool running down the side of his cheeks to his neck. Here are some ways to prevent/take care of milk neck.

First of all you can do exercises with baby to stretch their neck out and getting some air flow to it, please check with your physician before you decide this is for you, essentially letting it dry out! Especially in the heat of the summer when babies get sweaty! This is an easy thing to do and doesn't require any medication or spending money! Baby powder is my #1 go to for milk neck because it smells so nice and works wonders! Baby powder is made to keep you dry in areas that get rubbed together or sweaty and helps prevent a rash! Just clean the area with a damp cloth, allow it to air dry or dab dry, then smear some baby powder in those double chin rolls! Another cost free way to help prevent milk neck is to make sure your babies clothes are loose and comfy. Tight fitting clothes will rub on the chubby rolls and in the creases causing it to be more irritated and possibly create a rash. Especially around the openings of the neck. Not only keeping clothes loose but also keeping them dry can avoid getting milk neck. I am a huge believer in breast milk curing all! Obviously in this case the milk is what is causing the stink and so you want to be careful, but if your baby does get a rash squirting some breast milk on a clean dry baby neck and letting the freshly expressed milk dry before allowing baby to squish back into that natural position may heal the rash! Breast milk has natural healing elements with all the antibodies it feeds your baby it works on almost anything!

The next thing I would do to try and prevent the rash would be to put a bib on my babe. This keeps the spit up and milk run off from even getting down in the folds! Yes some may still leak down there but for the most part it keeps baby pretty dry. They have new bibs called bandanna's that are oh so cute and trendy so check those out. We have them in our Etsy shop: BCrunchyBoutique.etsy.com If you don't have bibs a burp cloth or any absorbing cloth will work as well, I always have one handy and if my son is not wearing a bib I usually have a burp cloth tucked up under his chin to catch any spit up that may come.

We have some cute bandanna bibs in our Etsy shop: BCrunchyBoutique.etsy.com

Vaseline(aquaphor) is also something I use regularly. You could also use coconut oil or vegetable oil if you would like a more natural remedy, anytime Luke gets redness going on in his diaper, on his arm creases, or in his neck I put a little Vaseline or coconut oil on the red spot and vuala! Like magic, it goes back to his natural skin tone. Vaseline is also pretty basic for those babies with sensitive skin.

If your baby is bleeding or has a pretty severe rash please see your doctor. I am not trained in the medical field and all of this advice is just that. Advice from one mom to another. I have heard that A&D or other diaper rash creams will also help the area if a rash does exist. As well as for yeast infection creams if there is a yeast problem in baby's neck you can use that to treat it. Consult your doctor before trying any creams or ointments. Make sure to keep your baby's adorable chub clean dried and taken care of to avoid milk neck. I hope this was helpful and provided some new remedies for you mommies who need more safe at home ideas. Comments are encouraged with other ways you mommies treat milk neck! Happy Sunday! XoXo Cassandra

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