New mom: smelly arm pits?

[TreeRose]

Hi there,
I'm new to this whole mom thing and have noticed that our DD has some white (skin?) stuff under her arm pits and it smells. I've wiped it off and we gave her a bath last night but I see some more there again. And it smells. She's a chubby little thing, with lots of rolls. Am I doing something wrong in cleaning her?

[blessedwithboys]

Sounds like a bit of yeast maybe. Wash with Bronner's Baby Mild soap and towel dry as best you can. See if you can either hold her arms out a bit to let them air out for 5 minutes or so, or else place a folded baby washcloth up under there and swaddle her for a few minutes. The point is to get her skin as dry as you possibly can. Once it's dry, slather on some organic plain yogurt, the good kind with active cultures. The lactobacillus will kill off the yeast overgrowth, if in fact it is yeast. I would say it may just be typical newborn skin peeling, but if it smells, it's probably something more than that. GL!

[katroshka]

I'd second the yeast, but it may also just be breast milk... when they drool/ spit up it can run down into the neck folds and even all the way down to the armpits, especially if they aren't wearing a lot of clothes because it's warm. Either way, just patting until really dry with a soft cloth, and letting them air out after washing should do the trick.

[Siennaflower]

My dd has this often, I think it's just dried sweat that gets caught in the folds. I wash it off in the bath, no biggie.

[cocoanib]

Originally Posted by Siennaflower

My dd has this often, I think it's just dried sweat that gets caught in the folds. I wash it off in the bath, no biggie.

Yeah that.
DD get's it under her arms, her neck and other nooks and crannies. I just make sure to wash and or wipe and let dry.
Gotta get those nooks and crannies!

[P.J.]

My baby gets this too, in his neck folds. I just use a wipe to wipe it off in between baths. I don't consider it a problem, but yeah it smells pretty gross.