Cradle Cap - Lake Forest,IL

sounds like a lot of people want to sell you something. As someone else said Aquafor is great stuff and if you don't see it on the shelf ask the pharmacist. Rub it on the scalp and wait a few min. and brush w/a stiffer infant brush. It may take several times for it to go away. The tea tree oil and olive oil are good too. You just need something to soften and loosen before you brush. My youngest had it something awful and it took several tries over a few weeks

We cleared my sons up REAL fast with (any oil will work) then use the soft baby hair brush and brush around scalp in circular motions for a few minutes. Rinse and it was gone!

When my son had cradle cap, I put some Vaseline on it and let it sit for about 15 minutes. After that, I took a fine tooth comb and combed it all out until it was gone. It never came back. Hope this helps.

Hi D.. When my son had bad cradle cap all I did was take a baby brush and brushed all the scales loose before I washed his head. Not all will come loose and you don't want to "scrub" his head. Just a gentle "brush through" a couple of times. Then after he was washed I put baby oil on his head, the lotion form works also and use just alittle. It took less than a week and he was free of the yuck. My niece tried this and it also worked for her girls. Just to let you know I'm a mother of 4 and only one had a bad case.

Olive oil. It may sound weird, but it has worked for everyone I know. Just rub some on his scalp and hair, then comb his hair (in all different directions). The cradle cap will lift out. You may need to do in for a couple of days. Not sure why this works, but hope it helps!

M.

D.,

I have my own home based business with a health and wellness company called Arbonne. My cousin just had a baby a couple of months ago and was experiencing severe cradle cap. She used our ABC baby oil form our baby care line and the hair and body wash. It is extremely gentle and not thick and greasy. It also doesn't contain any fragrances, chemicals or animal by-products that many other bay lines do. If you would like contact me and I can help you to get some! Also, most baby oils on the market contain or are staight mineral oil. This will not hurt your baby but mineral oil create a seal like plastic over the skin. This prevents any good products from entering the skin and it seals the pores so they can't breathe causing more irritation and dryness. Our baby oil contains no mineral oil so it will penetrate the skin and help nourish and moistuize.

S. L.
____@____.com
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I had never experienced cradle cap on either of my children until 1 month ago. My daughter had just turned 2 and all of a sudden, it was there. I put johnson's baby oil on the affected area and combed through it gently to remove the flakes. I then let the baby oil sit for a few hours and then bathed her. This worked magic! I have yet to have a reoccurence from just that one treatment. Good luck.

Hi,
I use to use baby oil, johnsons baby oil on my daughter when she was little, and it does eventually go away. Another idea would be olive oil, just rub a little on top maybe like after a bath. It's harmless and will go away, but, I remember it when my daughter had it and it did go away without any problems. :)
Hope this helps.

oh, not many seem to talk about it any more...

always was used either baby oil and a warm washrag or the actual lotion sold at the pharmacy... it takes time...and more dry than wet helped us...but each child is different, and has a different amoubnt of oil that they loose out of their head... or skin...

good luck

Our doctor recommended Neutrogena T-gel (shampoo) and it's working well for our 6 month old son.

I'm not sure how old your son is, but both my daughters had cradle cap...my youngest moreso than my oldest.

First off, it's winter so it'll be worse (it's a dry season).

The thing that worked the BEST with my girls was....

Give him a bath...get his head wet at the start and keep periodically getting his head wet to let the flakes get moist. After the bath, comb his hair BACKWARDS with a thin-toothed baby comb. Put the comb on an angle so it's like you're "shoveling" off the flakes. You'll see the flakes build up on the comb. You can also use a bit of baby oil...rub that in, and then comb it. I did this in front of a mirror so my girls were preoccupied with their image.

After a few baths it was gone and we've never seen the return. Just keep doing it until it goes away...it'll eventually go away.

I used Neutrogena T-Gel Shampoo when my son stared getting cradle cap. I only had to use it a couple of times - it worked like a charm and it never came back.

I am a mom of three, and I have found a little bit of baby oil on the affected area about 1/2 hour before bath time, helps get it off of the scalp.

Hi D.,

I absolutely had the same issue. I used the Arbonne baby oil and followed the same routine of putting it on scalp and then brushing through. Do this a few times and then cradle cap is gone for good. I would be happy to help you get Arbonne baby oil, check out my add for discounts with mamasource. Or, please email me at ____@____.com.

Hi D.!

I have responded to this request a few times. After I heard of this from a family member who is a hairdresser, I had to tell everyone else. Try Paul Mitchell Baby Shampoo. I was amazed. My son had it and I tried everything, nothing worked, and eventually he grew out of it. I heard about the shampoo after my daughter was born and took care of it right away. I know of other family members and friends who ahve used it too and now they all swear by it. You can get it inexpensively at Target and Meijer. Good luck!

You've gotten all kinds of responses on ideas. There's also the cradle cap treatment that you can try by I think Gentle Naturals it's called. We tried several of these things before seeing a dermatologist (for severe dry skin all over) and they helped some but we stopped when the dermatologist said that the cradle cap is a parent problem, not the child's problem...that it is just an aesthetic appearance thing and the child will outgrow it without incident. It's the rest of his body she was concerned about and we dealt with that just. He did outgrow the cradle cap now, is almost 4 and is completely fine despite having "major cradle cap" as a little one. Thankfully we have not needed to go back to the dermatologist again as all is well now. :)

According to Adelle Davis (Let's Have Healthy Children), cradle cap can be caused by a Vitamin B6 deficiency. (p. 243) She says that taking care of this deficiency usually takes care of the cradle cap fairly quickly.

If you are breastfeeding, you can just increase the level of Vitamin B6 in your breastmilk and it will get to the baby as you nurse him. To do that you can take a multivitamin with breakfast, and a Vitamin B6 (25 mg) tablet, or a B-Complex capsule, with lunch (before 3 pm because taking it later in the day could interfere with your nighttime sleep, while taking it earlier than 3 pm can help with nighttime sleep).

Caffeine destroys the B vitamins, so if you take caffeine through coffee, tea, sodas, or chocolate (or some brands of aspirin), it would probably help for you to cut back on (or cut out completely) those items, in addition to taking extra Vitamin B6.

If you're formula feeding, then Adelle Davis recommends adding 10 mg of B6 to the formula (only 10 mg for the whole day), but I recommend that you check this out with your pediatrician first, or try half that much to begin with.

She also suggests trying an ointment with B6 in it, from a health food store, and applying it to the baby's scalp. If that's not available, she tells how you can make some yourself. She suggests pulverizing some B6 tablets and mixing them with some vegetable oil or cold cream and applying it frequently. I would suggest avoiding cold cream, since we don't always know if it contains ingredients that might not be good on a baby's skin. I would suggest olive oil. I also recommend staying clear away from most mainstream brands of "baby oil", since that is usually made of mineral oil, which leaches fat-soluble vitamins out of the baby's body (Adelle Davis, p.49, 158,189,244,247). You can check the label for the list of ingredients if you have baby oil. I believe that the same would apply to Vaseline. I think that most "baby oil" from health food stores do not have mineral in them (like "Burt's Bees" brand, for example).

We use Head and Shoulders once a week. My pediatrician suggested that (something a little stronger) but obviously you have to be very, very careful about getting it in his eyes. I put the Head and Shoulders on and then I use a soft bristle toothbrush to kind of just comb his scalp. My son finds it pretty soothing.

Hi D.,
My daughter only had cradle cap one time. I used Bert's Baby Bees apricot oil and a comb and it made her soft and not oily or greasy. The apricot oil rinsed clean and her hair smelled good. I only had to do this one time. You can get the Bert's Baby Bees apricot oil at Target in the Baby aisle.

I hope this helps and Good Luck!

R.

Our pediatrician recommended Head and Shoulders which worked. Good Luck.

Hi D.,
Congrats on your new family! Hope it's going well. Those early days of adjustment can be challenging.
Both of my kids had persistent cradle cap. I wish then I had known about a product called Small Wonder Creamy Baby Oil. It is safe for baby and seems to work well for cradle cap as well as other skin issues with babies. I use it now for my kids and like the smell/feel and especially that it's all-natural. This is what I'd recommend:
Give baby a bath in tepid water (too warm can exacerbate skin problems). Rub in the creamy baby oil on his scalp and let is "sit" for a few minutes to soften the scales while you play with him. Then gently comb/brush his scalp (the scales will flake off). Finish bathing baby as normal and then rub him down with the creamy baby oil. Continue using the baby oil and try to remember to brush/comb his scalp daily to help with skin turnover. Depending on how thick the scales are, it may take a few days of this to remove it all and reveal new healthy skin. Many moms have had success with this method and it's all natural--good for baby. You might also consider what laundry products you're using; sometimes the chemicals can irritate baby's skin. If the creamy baby oil doesn't eliminate the problem, there are also additional natural products you can use. I'm sure you'll receive lots of advice on this. I hope you find something that works! PS. Shaklee is the maker of Small Wonder Creamy Baby Oil; you can order it and lots of other healthy home products online at www.shaklee.net/raske.
Have a great day!
A.

Hi, I dont know if this is what you mean about "traditional recommended advice", but what I did is put a little bit of baby oil on the babies head and use a fine comb to comb it out. Thats the only way I knew how to get rid of it and it worked.
Good Luck!
N.

Mom of 3 great kids, Ryan 12, Troy 8, Audrey 3. Wife to an awesome husband for the last 18 years.

I had this issue with my first born. I simply put him in the bathtub with me and put baby oil on his head and used a baby comb on him. I just sat back and held him and combed away. Spending much time with it during each bath. I did this for a few days and his cradle cap disappeared completely never to return. It worked for me.

Much luck!

Slightly warmed sesame seed oil works very well. You can usually find it at most health food stores. Just warm it up, massage it in and when you give bath/shower, take a fine tooth comb and gently comb the hair.

D.,
I used a little olive oil and gently massaged it into my son's scalp every night for a week and the cradle cap disappeared! I also used the California Baby shampoo a few nights a week. The olive oil makes the head look a bit greasy, but it really did help.
Good luck!
T.

I had a tough time with this with my youngest son and our pediatrician recommended putting baby oil on it and then rubbing it with a toothbrush (soft bristles). It works great. It may come back 1-2 times, but do it again and I bet it will disappear.
Good luck!
Mom of 3 outside Chicago

My son had cradle "crap" too. We oiled his head up in his bathtub, I used Arbonne's Skin conditioning oil (natural), rubbed it in real good so it softened up the scales. We then combed out as much as we could and washed the oil out with Head and Shoulders very carefully as not to get in his eyes. After drying him off and getting him dressed I put just a touch of the oil back on his head to keep it soft and not scaly. It seemed to clear up after a week or so. I hope this helps!
J.

Hi D.,

All of mine had it (lots of hair). What I did was in the tub wet his hair, rubbed vaseline into his scalp. Then I used a comb to comb back his hair. It's gross but it works. Then you have to use dishwashing soap (like Palmolive) to get the grease out. Don't use too much. And after that you can use regular shampoo that you use for the baby. It takes a few washings for the hair not to be greasy anymore. But it worked - gone never came back.

I'm surprised that nobody has said this yet, but a lot of times cradle cap can be caused by not rinsing shampoo out of the baby's hair completely.

So, I imagine doing that plus any baby oil, etc. would knock it right out.

Hi D.,

I used extra virgin olive oil, not baby oil which can clog pores and make it worse. Just rub it into his head leave on for about 5-min then rinse it off. You can apply safely every other day. Everyone forgets natural rememdies that can be found in your own kitchen! Good luck and congrats!

I personally always used baby oil on my kids' cradle cap. I've gotten this information for you off of the following website......Good Luck!

http://www.drgreene.org/body.cfm?id=21&action=detail&...

Cradle Cap
Introduction:
We are constantly making new skin cells at about the rate that we lose old, dry skin cells. The old skin falls off and we usually don't even notice the process. In many healthy infants, the skin cells on their scalp grow faster than they can fall off, leaving a layer of somewhat crusty, extra skin.
What is it?
Cradle cap is a crusting and scaling rash found on the scalps of many healthy babies. The sebaceous glands in their skin are hyperactivated often because of mom’s hormones that crossed the placenta just before birth. These glands pump out a greasy substance that keeps the old skin cells attached as it dries.

Cradle cap is a specific timing and location of seborrhea.

Who gets it?
Cradle cap can occur in any baby, and most commonly begins sometime in the first 3 months.

It is not common after the first year of life until the teen years when hormone levels rise and exuberant growth returns. Teens often have a similar scalp condition, but for them we call it seborrhea (though I think “cradle cap” when I see it, remembering how far they have come).

What are the symptoms?
Your adorable baby develops patchy scales and redness on the scalp, even though the early baby pictures showed beautiful baby skin. The scales may appear cracked, greasy, or even weeping.

The same rash is often prominent around the ear or the eyebrows. It may appear in other locations as well, where it is called seborrheic dermatitis rather than cradle cap.

Is it contagious?
No

How long does it last?
In most children, cradle cap is gone by 8 to 12 months and often long before that.

How is it diagnosed?
Cradle cap is diagnosed by physical examination. If it has not improved with simple treatment, other diagnoses should be considered and other tests may be necessary.

How is it treated?
Generally, cradle cap does not need to be treated as long as it doesn’t bother you or the baby. Sometimes it itches.

The gentlest treatment is to simply rub a small amount of baby oil or olive oil onto your baby's scalp. Wait several minutes for the oil to soften and loosen the scales, and brush them away with a soft brush or a dry terry-cloth washcloth.

If the cradle cap is especially pronounced, or if your baby is over six months old, you could also wash the hair with a seborrhea shampoo, such as those containing selenium, salicylic acid, or tar. These shampoos don’t have the "no tears" factor, so be careful or your child may not like bath time as much as they usually do.

If the cradle cap is especially reddened or inflamed, a small amount of over-the-counter cortisone cream may help.

These measures may be needed, off and on, until your baby outgrows the condition. Nevertheless, if the cradle cap does not respond rapidly to these treatments, be sure to inform your pediatrician.

Hey D.! my son had cradle cap too! His pediatrician gave him prescription hydrocortizone cream as well as we put "Aquafore" (you can get it over the counter at Walgreens)all over is head and body for moisturizing. Also the baby brush really works, and when you give him a bath (with Aveno Oatmeal baby wash) I would use a washcloth on his head and lightly massage the soap into his scalp (only 2 times a week though). Aquafore is the best thing ever...it's kind of like a petoleum jelly but is awesome in locking in moisture, even if it's just on your babies head. Hope this helps and good luck!

D.,

When my son had cradle cap his pediatrician recommended putting baby oil or olive oil on his head, rubbing it in and then combing his hair or rubbing it to get the flakes off. After a couple days it was gone and he hasn't had a problem since. I hope it works for you too.

Hi D.,

My oldest daughter had cradle cap several times during the first two years. This is what our doctor suggested: Get some tea tree oil from a health food store and mix a few drops into some olive or sesame oil. Rinse the child's hair with warm water to open up the scalp pores and then rub the oil mixture into the scalp and leave on for about 20 minutes. Wash with Aveeno Baby Shampoo (doesn't strip out natural skin oils like regular baby shampoo), gently brush the scalp with a soft manicure brush. This should get rid of most of the scales and you can repeat as necessary.

Good luck!
P. K

I personally used the herbal shampoo from Melaleuca their 8oz sells for $7.17 and their 32oz Family size sells for $14.99... often times the problem is NOT the skin... often it is what you WASH the scalp with... if you would like more info I have tons of topics covered in my blog... http://blog.myspace.com/wdt2006 hth =)

Hi D.,

Sometimes cradle cap can persist for many months and then just as easily go away on its own - as it did with my daughter. Just continute with the remedies to avoid infection on the scalp.

If you're really concerned, definitely call your pediatrician.

Best of luck!!!!

M.

My son had cradle cap a couple times and what I found to work best was baby oil. Massage a little into his head about a 1/2 hour before you give him a bath. Then I would use a baby brush to shampoo his hair. His cradle cap would disappear in a matter of days. I hope this helps.

Have you ever heard of Arbonne International? It's a 27 year old internet-based company. They have a natural, botanically-based baby oil (and wash) that has been known to solve this problem. They also have a lotion and diaper rash cream that I highly recommend. I can also show you how you can save 35% or you can visit www.arbonne.com and enter my ID 16179171 to purchase. Write back if I can be of any further help.

Some of the responses received on this website talk about using baby oil and I wanted to the share the following information from a Certified Infant Massage Instructor about mineral oil because it's the main ingredient of baby oil.

Mineral oil is a common ingredient in many household products. It is found in lotions, soaps, cosmetics and motor oil. Mineral oil is a clear liquid oil with no scent and will not spoil. It is produced as a byproduct of the distillation of gasoline from crude oil. Mineral oil is the leftover liquid, and because it is abundant, it is very inexpensive. In fact, it is more expensive to dispose of mineral oil than to purchase it.

Mineral oil is the main ingredient in many baby care items as well. Baby Oil, Vaseline® (petroleum jelly), baby wash liquid soap and baby lotions all contain mineral oil as a key ingredient. As mentioned above, manufacturers can buy it very inexpensively and it will not spoil.

The problem is that mineral oil is foreign to the human body and has many harmful effects, especially on infants. Mineral oil acts as a thin plastic layer on the skin. It is difficult to absorb and clogs the pores, which slows the skin's ability to eliminate toxins. Remember, the skin is the body's largest organ and plays an important role in maintaining overall health!

Once the oil is absorbed, it is broken down by the liver. But because it is an unnatural product, the liver must work extra hard to remove it from the body. And once the oil is present in the intestinal tract, it will absorb all of the fat-soluble vitamins found there. It is essentially stealing important vitamins from the body, which the body will not be able to replace. This can eventually lead to nutritional deficiencies. Studies have also shown forms of pneumonia caused by mineral oil decreasing lung function, known as lipoid pneumonia. Because of these dangers, the medical community has condemned the use of mineral oil taken orally or as in ingredient in medications.

Given these harmful effects, when caring for babies, it is best to use all natural products. Many caretakers know that babies love to put their hands in their mouths. This also means that whatever is on their hands is also going in their mouth, and into their bodies. It is best not to chance your baby's health with mineral oil and petroleum-based products.