Mu 2 Month Old Has Severe Cradle Cap!

I know this sounds strange but use Head and Shoulders shampoo on the baby's head...wash her head with it everyday for several days and don't scrub her head..that hurts her...believe it or not the baby has dry scalp and head and shoulders does the trick...Let me know if it works for you, has worked for everyone that I have told so far.. :) and doesn't hurt baby...

1 mom found this helpful

Well this is what I did and it worked for my son. I used Vaseline on the spots first. Let that soak in a bit. Then, using a VERY fine tooth comb (I got one that is similar to the kind in head lice treatment kits that are used to comb out nits) I would as gently as I could scrape away the scales. Then I would follow that with baby shampoo, lather really well and let sit for about 5-10 minutes to help get rid of the greasy Vaseline. Rinse. I did this every day once per day for almost a week and then it was completely gone. Hope this works for you! If it is not going away then I would probably go see the pedi, he may need some prescription medicine for it. Good luck!

My son had horrible cradle cap as well. I don't blame you for being very concerned and not knowing what to do; I felt the same way. I was especially worried because his cradle cap almost covered 70% of his head. I did the baby oil treatment too and it was always a mess.

I went ahead and bought some Cetaphil at Walgreens and washed his head once a day. I lathered his head with Cetaphil and rinsed it with luke warm water. I used a baby scrub brush on his head that I got when he was born at the hospital. By the time he had a full head of hair (about 12 mos. old) the cradle cap was gone. Good Luck!

A little about me:

I'm 30 SAHM, mother of a premature baby born at 28 weeks. He's 2 and doing great!

I agree with the Head and Shoulders girl a few posts below! Just a teensy bit will do the trick! Make sure you don't get it in her eyes though. My kid had the worst cradle cap and it disappeared after using dandruff control shampoo.

I am not sure if you have been told or tried this in the past but it has worked for my 3...

Prior to wetting the hair, take baby shampoo to your daughter's dry head and "scrub". Let it then sit there through the bath and rinse at the end. It took a few times of this before I saw very noticeable differences but it did work with mine.

Good luck and I hope you find the cure qickly!

My pediatrician recommended the Neutrogena T-gel. It is an adult shampoo for dandruff etc. It worked awesome on my daughter!

My youngest had it pretty badly as well. He is 5 now and still gets it on occasion. I would not scrub her head. I would wash her scalp only once or twice a week and use a gentle comb to get to goo out of her hair. Just message oil (I used olive oil and it worked well) to soften it up and leave it on there an hour or two and then go after the goo.

Good Luck!

I have been there and with two. We tried everything! Head and shoulder,selsum blue, baby oil, olive oil, doctor prescribed shampoo, cream from the natural section at the super market. A few things did work temporarily but it always came back. I finally gave up, then by accident I came across California Baby (sold at Target for $10 a bottle) and started using it on the girls. The cradle cap started going away by itself. It wasn't over night but it went away and we haven't had any problems as long as we continue using the shampoo. Once during vacation I forgot the shampoo and used another baby shampoo, the cradle cap began forming again but as soon as we switched back it disappeared. It's worth a try. My girls went from having a helmet, that was very painful behind their ears, to having nothing.

My daughter had it, too, for the longest time. Scrubbing only makes it worse - it stimulates the oil glands and increases the problem! The oil treatments, lotions, etc. didn't do squat for us either. The only thing that worked was Selsun Blue. I would double check with the dr that it's ok to use on a two-month old. We used it several days in a row and then it was gone (my baby was about 1 year at the time).

I tried both olive oil and coconut oil. The coconut oil worked much better (and smells great too!)

The only way I got rid of cradle cap was by combing it out. After washing it, comb it really good. I got rid of it after a few days doing that.

Hi there, I hated this I thought it looked really bad...what I did was put baby oil with aloe on my son's head and let it soak in, but I flooded his scalp first and the excess I wiped... It's a bit messy but leave it in and in a few hours you'll see the flakes dislodging and that's when u brush those flakes out... Hope it works for u take care ;)

I know what you are going through. My baby had the same thing. Finally, my pediatrician referred me to a dermatologist (Pediatric) that gave me a shampoo to use. Even though he told me it was safe, I was still cautious and worried about using a medicated shampoo on my little one - had to be very careful as to not get it in his eyes. He told me to use it for 2 weeks, but I only used it for a week and it cleared it up w/in 3 days.

I used some natural essential oil stuff...I tried figuring out the email address on the label of what I have but it's all smeared from the oils!! It's healing...something.com! I'm sorry, I'll keep trying to figure it out. It worked great for my son who had cradle cap and then it came back and I just put it on him again and it worked without having to come it out. You have to wash their hair then put the oil in and use one of those baby combs to try and comb it out. My son's hair came out with it, but I couldn't stand the stuff on his scalp.

I had the same problem with my baby. What we did and finally found that worked for us is calendula cream by California Baby. I used olive oil every other day before bath time, just massage a little on the area, then take the brush scrub the area, afterwards wash baby's head with soap, they due have a Calendula soap also, but I just used Burt's Bees. After drying, but a little of the cream on the area. Then the nights you don't do bath, just put a little cream on the area.

The only thing that worked for my youngest was a product called Elizabeth Anne's Baby Shampoo. It is really more like a lotion--it doesn't suds up like a shampoo, but it smells GREAT and totally took away her cradle cap. I used it to wash her entire body. I didn't even have to do much combing/scrubbing, the cradle cap just literally vanished. It might be difficult to find locally...mine came from South Africa (that's where my husband is from and my MIL sent it), but if you google it I'm sure you can find it online. Good luck!

Hi M.,
When I had my third I thought I knew what to do for cradle cap...but hers isn't cradle cap, it's psoriasis! She's 4 and still has it. I put tea tree oil on her scalp and then brush the flakes away. My husband and I use tea tree oil shampoo, but for babies I just use the oil.

S., 30 this summer and mom to four girls on Earth and 5 treasures in Heaven

Now this may sound kinda crazy, but are you breastfeeding or bottle. you need to oil her from the inside as well. your body gets depleted of essential oils the more kids you have, so if you BF you can take the oils, go to whole foods, they have wonderful staff that can help you pick one. if you bottle feed you can put some in the bottle, it makes them smart to. the brand i use is "Nordic Naturals" they make a strawberry cap for kids i like it for me to. (sorry about the typing, i am 1 handed typing with my baby)

My son had cradle cap (a severe case) and in addition to scrubbing with a brush and comb every day, we used Disney Cradle Cap Care. It worked well for us, but it did take about 6 weeks once we began treatments to really get past the cradle cap. Good luck!

olive oil , let is soak in for twenty minutes before a bath. or coconut oil, great for the skin

My company sold a product that worked when nothing else did for cradle cap. That product has been replaced with a new one. I will check to see if there was a significant change in the actual ingredients or just a new name for what worked so well. If you send a reply to me, please put "Cradle Cap" in the subject line. I will try to have an answer for you. Here is the testimony one mother gave: "By the next day, the cradle cap was gone. My friends were amazed his scalp was so soft." B.

My daughter had this really bad also. I bought a cradle cap cream at Target or Walmart and put it in her hair and brushed it. Then I put her in the bath tub and washed it (this lotion makes there hair very greasy). After I got her out I used another bristle brush for babies and brushed it again. Don't use the same brush or you will put the cream back in her hair. It took forever to get rid of this. Good luck.

I had dealt with cradle cap in a daycare setting as well as cradle cap with my son (minor case) and my much younger sister (more severe cradle cap). But that did nothing to prepare me for the horrible cradle cap my daughter got! Nothing seemed to help! Like you, I was told to scrub daily, but it didn't seem to do any good. I found some advice online, and this is what we did...We used mineral oil on the scalp, followed by gentle "picking" at the flakes with a lice comb to loosen them. Then all of that was followed by washing the hair with Head and Shoulders. After a week or so it was completely cleared up.

We used olive oil. It worked well for us. My sister did wonder why we had olive oil in the bathroom though. :)

My doctor recommended Selsun Blue once a week and that took it away. Good luck.

Olive oil was what our docotr reccommended & it worked great for my son. We did call him salad head for a few weeks! Good luck!

Well you are pro mom compared to me, but with my son cradle cap was the worst! It was like these big nasty scales or something on his head. I treated it, washed it, oiled it, everything either didn't do anything or make it worse. The crusties were so thick! I hated it bc he is super cute and I didn't like to see that in his hair. Anyway, I would just work on it daily and usually no matter how gentle I was, it would start to bleed. So I left it alone, and just washed and brushed his hair and conditioned his scalp. FINALLY I noticed some of it flaking out. So I gently would work on that area, and then eventually it was all out, never to return, I think he was around 6 months. Good luck, no matter what it will come out eventually:)

selsun blue shampoo. My doctor approved it. Be careful about not getting it in the eyes. We would use it continual until his went away (it didn't happen overnight and would come back once in a while). It seems to be better now that he is 15 month.

my son had bad cradle cap too. until a friend told me to put some baby oil on his head about 15 minutes before his bath. And then comb through during the bath. It worked like a charm! the skin flaked off so easily and the cradle cap never came back! good luck:)

Olive oil. Let it set for about 5 minutes and then shampoo and rinse.

Hopefully they gave you the small flat square plastic brush with the soft bristles, those work the best. First don't scrub, that may be making it worse. Once a day, after washing in baby's bath, use the brush to remove the flakes by brushing in 1 direction. Once a majority of the flakes are gone, then use the baby oil to massage it in. Children and babies skin are especially sensitive, treatments that may not be harsh to adults can have the opposite reaction in children and stress the skin out causing the condition to become worse.

If it continues ask your pediatrician about something else other than baby oil that may help. Luckily this is a temporary situation. My son also had terrible cradle cap, but thankfully it did not last very long.

My suspician is that your baby is not getting enough natural fats/oil in her diet! Stop the baby oil...it is petroleum based and is causing more problems! You didn't say if you bottle or breast fed her. The Omega 3-6-9 or a Flaxseed oil is what her body is calling out for. The capsule can be pierced with a needle and either put into your baby's mouth or into the bottle. Plus I recommend putting the NATURAL oil directly on her skin. Oh, and you can buy it at HEB's health food section (or any heath food store) in capsule form or in a bottle with straight oil. (I just remembered that!)
Babies must have the Omegas for their brains to develop properly too!
I have a 13 year old son who was developing acne that (by his genetics) was heading toward a very severe case. My doctor (a naturalist chiropractor) told him to take three Omega/Flaxseed Oil & two Wheat germ oil caps.
I thought, "Well, if he's going to have a problem, he'll really have it now!"
His skin cleared up within the week! I can tell when he's not taking it or has run out...his face starts to break out again. What is really odd is that he had eczema on his arms & legs. His body was frantically trying to produce oils...which were attacking his face but not helping his limbs! Adding the omega oils to his diet took care of BOTH conditions!
Now, if he has any eczema bother him, he'll put some of the oil directly on the place where the eczema is. Works like a charm! This is the one thing I don't have to remind him to do!!! He very faithfully takes his oil pills!!!

I always put baby lotion on my children, all over, especially their hair. I would do this several times a day...almost every diaper change. Probably explains why my daughter and granddaughter love lotion. But it worked for me. We never had issues with cradle cap.

Find the softest brush you can...my favorite was a brush from the back of the fingernail brushes they give with birth kits (home births) or many times from the hospital. They're soft plastic so that you can use it a little longer to help some of the crud come off. Instead of baby oil, I've used extra virgin olive oil and then washed with a mild shampoo afterword.

My pedi doc recommended Selsan Blue but any dandruff shampoo should work. My daughter and son both had it. Be careful of the eyes so it doesn't sting her.

Good luck,
H.