4 Year Old "Cradle Cap"?

My boys used to have terrible eczema on their heads, which started out as cradle cap when they were babies. Something to think about!

This happened to my redhead, who has always had sensitive skin, when she was about that age. We tried the cradle cap stuff but it didn't work so we took her to the pedi, who diagnosed it as some sort of fungus and prescribed a medicated shampoo, which cleared it up.

Paul Mitchell's Baby Don't Cry worked on my very blodne child with the same issue - without the burn of more grown-up shampoos.

T.,
I am a nursery nurse and and Arbonne consultant. I do recommend the ABC (Arbonne Baby Care) line for this particular problem. IT is awesome! The body/hair wash is a great start, but we also have a baby oil, lotion, rash cream & sunscreen). I use it myself for dry flaky scalp. Arbonne products are pure, safe & beneficial to the skin. There is a 45 day money back guarantee always! Let me know if you would like to try a sample pack free & I'll drop it in the mail.
Val
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V..myarbonne.com

My 6 year old started out with cradle cap as an infant and ever since has had scaley scabs on a few patches on top of his head. His pedi said it is sebhorrea and probabyl a sort of allergic response. My son also had dry skin, to the pint of bleeding sometimes, right below his earlobes and along the crease behind his ears - another possible allergic response. The pedi suggested selsun blue for his head, buut it never really helped. luckily it doesn't itch my son, and his hair is super thick so you don't see it, but it is definitely still there.

my mother in law starting putting olive oil on my son's scalp.
It really really did help.

Barb

My son had cradle cap off and on until he was 6 or 7. My hairdresser noticed it one day as she was cutting his hair and said we weren't getting his scalp "circulating". She suggested really massaging his scalp while shampooing and then NOT letting him go to bed with wet hair as we had always done. She also had us switch at that time to using a shampoo with tea tree oil in it (I use Arbonne's Daily Self-adjusting Shampoo with Tea Tree Oil). We haven't had any problems at all since then!

I used a product from CVS pharmacy or target has it. I don't remember what its called. Look for it in the baby section. Its labeled for cradle cap, its green, and it has Disney characters on it. It worked very well and is natural. I used that with a comb and it came right out. It made it go away within 2-3 days.

I used Nexium shampoo and conditioner with my son (he's now 5; used it when he was 4), and his cleared up. It's actually a product for combatting thinning hair, but it worked. I used it for myself too, but just for convenience, and it worked fine as a regular shampoo.

I'm wondering if he might be a bit sunburned? I'd suggest he wear a hat outside in addition to whatever treatment (if not already):)

I recommend Arbonne Baby Products. If you would like a sample I will be glad to send you one.
www.healthynutrition.myarbonne.com

My son has very blonde thick hair, too. He had cradle cap as well at that age. The doctor told me to scrub Head and Shoulders shampoo on his head once a week until gone. It worked fabulously. Now it has been 2 years since I had done that and he has had no cradle cap since.

The only thing that worked for us was Nutrogena T Gel shampoo. Walmart has a generic version that is cheaper. It contains coal tar. It will clear it up.

If you mean chunks of oily, kind of yellow skin that entrap extra hair, my daughter had that. I used Neutrogena T-Sal a couple times a week and that helped. (It took extra coaching to make sure DD kept her eyes shut since none of these products are tear free.)

Now that I've been avoiding Parabens, etc., I got a Tea Tree oil shampoo that I can use regularly and that seems to help, too. I lather the area up very well.

I made the mistake one time of trying to work some loose and take the chunks off, but that just took several hairs with it and left little bald spots. So don't do that.

even adults can get this. it is very common. i had it this year in one spot of my scalp and i am 27. what i found out was i was using the same shampoo and conditioner for to long. just tell her to switch once every two weeks and it will go away. i hope this helps. =)

Hi, My son had cradle cap as an infant and continues to get it every couple of years. He is six now and I just treated him again this week. I would describe it as scaley more so than flakey in his case. When he was a baby I tried several infant safe products and the only thing that worked was Gerber's Infant 3 step cradle cap oil, shampoo and lotion for scalp. It comes in a kit and is a little pricey but obviously has lasted me six years and we still have more than enough. It says to use 3 times a week until gone and one application usually seems to take care of it. Even though the child is 4 I would still recommend an baby safe product. My son is also a brunette which obviously hides it better but I do think it is common to have recurrences.

My son had this and he is 12 now. What he had was excema -- he gets it on his head and on his feet. The dr said to use a head and shoulders or PERT type shampoo -- his was always more prevalent in the winter when the weather was drier. Just a thought -- you might want to try that for awhile!
E.

My son had this. Take baby shampoo and a brush or comb and this takes about a week to do but lather it and comb it out and make sure you put moisturizer on it afterward to keep it soft. And that should get rid of it

Try Paul Mitchell's Tea Tree Shampoo and conditioner.
There's also a product called Derma Smooth, but you need a prescription from a doctor for it. GOOD LUCK!!

We had this problem with our son also. For at least a week I applied baby oil to his scalp before bedtime. It seemed to work just fine. Occasionally I will apply lotion if it looks like its drying out again.

Good luck!!

You know I am not sure that 4 year olds get cradle cap.I can
however tell you from experience I had something like it a couple of years ago it was called something like fungal dermatitis.That may not be the exact name but anway it wa like having extremly bad dandruff in place and it itched like crazy.Anyway i finally went to the doctor and he gave me a perscription shampoo.He did however say that mild cases of it can be treated with head and shoulders not the salon types just the original hard core stuff.I dont know if this could be it or not but she might wabt to take him to the doc or try head in shoulder for a littlewhile but if that is what it is I can tell you that it is very irratating.

I'm sorry to say it but, dandruff. I use to scrap it out of my son's hair and use Head & Shoulders about once or twice a week.

T.,

I have a skin care, health and wellness company.

We have great products that help with cradle cap. We have a whole line of baby products that are botanically based, ph correct, hypo-allergenic, dermatologist tested, never tested on animals, no animal products or by-products and no mineral oil.

Mineral oil is occlusive and it seals off the skin. It's not healthy for you or your baby.

Instead we use plant oil that is easily absorbed into the skin and has micro-nutrients that are very healthy for you and your baby.

Please let me know if you'd like more information.

Thanks and God bless!

Everyone's observations are valid that it could be something more serious like a fungus or excema. But if its really like cradle cap our doctor said to use olive oil or mineral oil. Since he's older the suggestion about Head and shoulders is also a good one.

My son has a flakey, dry scalp and we were told to use head and shoulders and occasionally put some apple cider vinegar on his scalp for a minute then rinse, Stinky...he says it tingles...but it worked.