Our 1-year-old has red, oozing patches w

Book the same-day paediatric slot today rather than waiting for Monday, and treat the night as hygiene, not treatment. A weeping, crusted rash on a 1-year-old's face is a "look at it today" job, and whether any medicated cream or antibiotic is needed is the pharmacist's or the clinician's call after they see her. I cannot diagnose this from a description, and I won't name a medicine or a dose.

What you have vs. what helps more

Already doing: clean gauze, photos of the rash, and a plan to get a clinic slot. The photos are the strongest item on the list — a timed photo now and another in the morning shows the clinic whether the edge is moving. Keep the gauze, but understand that a clean cover is not a treatment.

Change tonight (about 10 minutes):

1. Wash the affected skin gently with soap and lukewarm water, then dry it thoroughly — the NHS lists washing the affected areas and drying them well as the first thing that helps.
2. Wash your hands before and after touching the area, and before and after any cream the clinic gives you.
3. Stop sharing towels and flannels with the siblings right now — that is the single most useful change on this list. Impetigo spreads by skin-to-skin contact and by touching infected towels and bedding, so separate towels, separate flannels, and wash flannels, towels, sheets and pillowcases hot.
4. Keep the elder and siblings away from close face-to-face contact and shared bath water while the skin is weeping. The NHS page names avoiding close contact with children and with anyone with diabetes or a weakened immune system — that includes the elder at your door.
5. Keep the baby away from other children and out of shared nursery/daycare until a clinician has seen it and the contagious-period question is settled.

On antibiotics: that decision belongs to the pharmacist or GP, who also checks it isn't a deeper skin infection such as cellulitis. On the NHS page, a child aged 12 months or over with impetigo symptoms is directed to a pharmacist first, and a pharmacist can supply the same medicines a GP would; babies and people with weakened immune systems may need antibiotic tablets. Two more things from that page: impetigo stops being contagious 48 hours after starting prescribed treatment, and untreated it can stay contagious for 7–21 days. And if something is prescribed — finish the full course, don't stop early when it looks better. No leftover antibiotics, nothing bought online without a prescription, and no sharing another child's or another adult's skin cream.

Avoid list

• No shared towels, flannels, bedding, bath water or facecloths — not even "just for a minute."
• No household powders, cupboard antiseptics, or another child's skin cream on the skin.
• No leftover antibiotics, and nothing bought online without a prescription.
• Don't scrub or pick the crusts, and don't wrap the face tightly.
• Don't wait to see whether it spreads on its own.

Decision tree — screenshot this

Any one of these: call your local emergency number now, and say it is a 1-year-old with a spreading skin infection. Do not drive her yourself if she becomes floppy or hard to wake.

• She cannot drink or take feeds at all, is limp or floppy, will not wake properly, or has a fit.
• She is working hard to breathe, grunting, sucking in below or between the ribs, going blue around the lips, or has gone quiet and drowsy after struggling.
• A barking cough with a harsh noise on breathing in, a hoarse cry, drooling, refusing to swallow, or sitting forward and refusing to lie flat.
• Something is badly wrong with her: hard to console, weak cry, mottled, pale or cold, breathing fast, or pain that seems severe.
• Red or purple spots, or larger purple patches, that stay visible when you press a clear glass firmly on them — especially with fever.
• A facial burn, or any burn, with a hoarse voice or noisy breathing.
• Green (bile-stained) vomiting, or episodes where she screams and draws up her legs and goes pale.
• A seizure that does not stop, or one with an unknown start time.

Also go today, without waiting for Monday, if: any fever or she feels hot; she is drinking poorly or passing fewer wet nappies than usual; the redness is spreading over hours or turns dark, blistered or dusky; the skin is far more painful than it looks; one or both eyelids turn red and swollen, the eye sticks out or doesn't move freely; the skin peels off in sheets, or you see round punched-out sores; the rash itches intensely or comes with a high-pitched moaning cry.

None of those, and she is feeding, alert and comfortable: do the washing, drying, hand-washing and towel separation above, keep taking the timed photos, and get into a clinic slot today. Home care is a bridge to the appointment, not a substitute for it.

What to take to the appointment

• The timed photos before and after cleaning, on the phone that took them.
• When it started, where it began, whether it has spread, whether it itches or hurts, and whether the spot fades when you press a clear glass on it.
• Fever, feeding, wet nappies, alertness, any eye involvement, any mouth sores.
• Any medicines started in the last two months, plus eczema, immune or skin conditions.
• One question worth asking out loud: "What should bring us straight back, and what must we not put on the skin at home?"

What success looks like in 24 hours

Not a cure — the patch may still be there. Success is: the weeping has stopped and no new patches appear, she is eating and alert as usual, towels are no longer shared, and you have a booked slot with the photos in front of you.

One thing I need from you: the photos of the rash did not come through to me — nothing arrived that I can open, so everything above is built on your description alone. Send one photo of the chin and neck in daylight and I'll tell you exactly which branch of the tree above it fits.

Source: nhs-conditions https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/impetigo/