Little Known Ways to Control and Treat Cradle Cap

Posted by Christie in Health & Care on Monday, October 6th, 2008

Cradle cap is a common, harmless condition that many infants develop during their first few months of life. The main symptom is dry, flaky skin on the baby’s scalp; however, the condition can also show up around ears or eyebrows. 

It is not a pretty condition, but it is not dangerous or painful for babies in any way. Both my middle son and my daughter had cap as infants, so I thought today I would share with you some information that helped us understand it better and treat it.

It appears that the medical community is unsure what causes cradle cap to develop in some infants and not in others. My pediatrician assured me that the condition does not develop as a result of any type of allergy to milk, foods, or detergents that we were using. 

He also told me to not worry because it is not caused by poor baby hygiene… both of the kids got bathes every night, so I knew that they were definitely clean. Our doctor told me that most logical cause is overactive hormones that control oil production in the baby’s skin, although that is not an agreement with all doctors. 

We were instructed to use a soft bristle brush to shampoo the baby’s hair. I would lather the shampoo in my baby’s hair and then use the brush to gently massage the scalp and loosen the scaly skin that had developed there. It really seemed to help with the appearance of the skin on their heads, though the patches would come back by the next bath. 

With my daughter we found an over the counter Cradle Cap Shampoo that really seemed to help, I purchased it in a Babies R Us in the baby care isle where it was displayed with the other baby bath supplies. That really seemed to help control the patches on her head from returning as quickly. 

I have since talked to other mothers who have had babies with cradle cap and discovered a few home remedy cures that I was not aware of when I was battling the scaly skin with my own children. I thought I would share them with you too, you might want to give them a try. 

One mother told me that her pediatrician recommended creating a baking soda and water paste that they applied to her daughter’s scalp. She said that they would leave it on there for a few minutes and then brush it out and rinse it off, she swore that after only three treatments the cradle cap disappeared. 

Another friend told me that her doctor recommended a T Gel shampoo for her infant son, they massaged the shampoo into the scalp every bath time for two weeks and saw an improvement in the cradle cap. If you are going to try this… be sure to check with your doctor first… and be very careful not to get the shampoo into baby’s eyes. 

The last home remedy tip I heard came from a girlfriend of mine who said that she rubbed unrefined, organic coconut oil into her daughters hair and scalp and then washed it out at the end of the bath… she said it was gone in just a few days. 

“I understand that as mothers, we want our babies to be the picture of perfection… and cradle cap is definitely not something that we enjoy seeing on their sweet little heads. However, keep in mind it is harmless and should clear up on its own within their first 6-12 months of life.”

If you are not patient (like me) to wait that long for it to go away on its own… you may want to try some of these ideas to help the process along… but make sure you check with your pediatrician first to be on the safe side. If you tried out other cradle cap cures please share your experience and results with us via the comments box below.



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