Cradle Cap - Littleton, CO

The only thing that worked for me was Head and Shoulders Shampoo placed on my son's head while his hair was dry, let it sit for 3-5 minutes, then use a fine tooth comb over the hair for a few minutes, then rinse out. I did it every other day for a week and it went away.

California Baby Shampoo and Conditioner worked for my kids. You have to use the conditioner, too, though; the shampoo alone won't get rid of it. Good luck!

It makes for a greasy looking head, but mineral oil on a washcloth and massaged on the head worked great for out little one when the cradle cap flared up.

mineral oil (baby oil) for sure. my little brother had it for months and wouldnt go away until we tried that. when my little boy had it, I used it too, and it went away very quickly.

Rub baby oil all over your child's head. Then comb with a comb and it will start to loosen the cradle cap. Comb is over and over again. Then shampoo and couple of times to get the oil out. This works great. It may take a couple of times with the baby oil but its is worth it. I laid my baby on a towel and just sat and combed her hair for a couple of minutes. Works great! I am also a hair dresser and I do believe that using a name brand baby shampoo helps keep it away.
Good luck
L.

Our pediatrician recommended good old Head and Shoulders. It worked in under a week! Then if I noticed it coming back, I'd use it again for a few days and that cleared it up. Just be sure to not get it in their eyes because it will sting.

Yep, those rubbery scrubbies from the hospital. It's just dead skin, but if you pick at it, it can bleed. So just get a baby brush with plastic bendable bristles, and brush it out. Also, check that your shampoo isn't drying out their scalp.

I get this questions lots while I do hair: Cradle cap can be caused by a few things: A) not rinsing the soap out thouroughly enough B) not washing hair enough C) not stimulating the scalp enough to remove dead skin cells (not brushing enough during the day or scrubbing while washing) D) just a medical conidtion. You'll want to see if you can lift out the larger portions of flakes with a FINE tooth comb so that the healing process can begin. usually it works best if you can do this before a bath time while they sit in front of you watching a movie. Alleviate the first three options by washing the scalp well (scrubbing with the little scrubbie that they give you in the hospital with your baby) rinsing really well- much more than you'd assume you need to, and brushing a couple times a day until the problem either goes away or you can assume that it's the medical condition that creates thick yellow greasy flakes- then you'd talk to your dr about it. hope this helps :) by the way- this treatment is regaurdless of the length of their hair this is purely for their health of their scalp. If your little girl has long hair make sure to brush hers even more, wash it even more, and rinse even more.

I know it sounds crazy, but we used regular head and shoulders shampoo on our girls. It only took one time, but it completely cleared up the cradle cap! good luck!

My first son had cradle cap for a long time and around 6 months I figured a system that worked. I had a super soft plastic brush with pointy bristles. Sounds like it would hurt but it really was super soft. I had to wash his hair EVERY DAY! I used the Baby Butt shampoo (not sure if this made a difference or not), then I used a conditioner or lotion in his hair and left it in. My other two kids never got it so I always thought he was just super dry skinned. It took about two weeks but it went away when I scrubbed it every day and kept it moisturized. If this doesn't work, you need to take him to the doctor and find out if it is something else.

Huggies has an extra conditioning shampoo that worked really well for my kids.

We used a little bit of dandruff shampoo for my daughter and it cleared it up in a couple of days. Just be careful - it really hurts if you get it in their eyes.

I had the best luck using baby oil or vaseline and letting it soak. I would usually do this in the bathtub and then scrub it with the little brush from the hospital.

This happened to me with my first a few years ago before I realized it wasn't going to go away on it's own.

I agree with Colleen C -- "Gentle Naturals" from the grocery store worked best. Massaging this in and working it out with a fine tooth comb got rid of most of the cradle cap. (It looked like I was working with mashed potatoes, it was so thick!) It will look greasy for at least a couple of shampooings. We then wash regularly with California Baby Shampoo & Conditioner. (We buy ours at Vitamin Cottage, where it's the best price.)

HERE'S THE TRICK -- once you get back to a normal scalp, you need to regularly stimulate the scalp to keep it from coming back. Nothing excessive, just combing the hair against its natural growth pattern after every bath should do it.

Good luck!

I used Selsun Blue on my daughter when she had it. Ask your baby's Dr. if he thinks something like that might work. My dr. told me cradle cap was baby dandruff.

Hi Dena - "Gentle Naturals" from the grocery store worked well for my son's persistent cradle cap. The key is to work the dead skin off of the scalp and out of the hair with a very very fine tooth comb. The little spongy/brush scrubber just wasnt enough.

I liked this product because it was relatively easy to wash out and didnt take 3 or 4 washes to remove.

Good luck!

This easy method has worked well for both my kids. Soak the scalp in baby oil for 5 minutes. Take their brush and brush backward or in a soft circular motion then back. The flakes should lift up and fall out. Then wash baby's hair with baby soap well, once or twice to get all oil out. You may have to do this over the course of many days to get it all out. Do not put baby oil in the baby's hair after bath, just baby lotion. Oil is the main cause of cradle cap. But you have to use it to lift up the flakes, that's why make sure you wash it all out good afterward. Hope this helps. Good luck!

Dear Dena,
Are you certain it isn't a reaction to there shampoo? Or eczema? Next thing I love these momma's on here but NO, NO, NO on mineral oil. It impedes good ingredients from penetrating the skin!!! It creates a barrier on the skin, allowing irritations & not allowing the skin to breath.

I would recommend a shampoo/wash for extremely sensitive skin. And a good oil or lotion. I recommend Arbonne's ABC line. The wash- gently wash their hair while using a baby brush or washcloth to break up the dead sticky skin cells. Then after washing use the organic ABC herbal oil (to heal & protect).www.naturallylovely.myarbonne.com
The tea tree is awesome, natural antiseptic but as she said be careful next to eyes (it's also great for cuts, sunburns, burns). Take care. :)

At my baby shower a month ago, a friend gave me a baby shampoo from Mustela. She called it the "best baby shampoo ever" and said it has the same active ingredient as Head and Shoulders but that it is made for babies. She said she got it at Babies R Us.

L.

Use mineral oil massaged in with a baby brush. Massaging the scalp while shampooing is important.

the only thing that worked for us was scrubbing his head with a soft, but firm brush.

I have always just used lotion or mineral oil, let it set for a few minutes then lightly scrap off the dead skin with your finger nail. It has always worked for me, and its alot cheaper.

Mustela foam baby shampoo is the best for cradle cap.

A friend was using olive oil on her son's head. I don't know how much, but I've heard it suggested for everything from face lotion to bath oil. It's worth a shot! You could always mix in a bit of essential oil to cut down the olive smell. Or maybe try the ethnic hair care aisle-I know I've seen olive oil something there.

I have been successful using baby oil. You may want to try it. Good luck P.

This advice probably won't help you at this point, but wash their hair A LOT! I have two boys, a three year old and a 3 month old and neither of them have ever had cradle cap. I wash their hair every other day at the least and I think it has prevented it. Maybe I am just lucky, but I think washing their hair often has something to do with it. The books say that washing a baby too much can dry out their skin, but if you don't want to give them a full bath every other day, just wash their hair. I gave my babies a bath about once a week when they were tiny, but I would wash their hair every other day. My advice probably only helps to prevent it, so I am not sure how to get rid of it. I hope you find something that works for you, so that you can get rid of that annoying stuff! :)

Dena,

My baby got cradle cap all the time. The best remedy I found was at the start of his bath I would pour some olive oil on my hand and rub it on his scalp. I would let it soak through his whole bath. Then I would take a gentle cradle cap brush and do circular motions all over his head. I would rinse his head and then shampoo like usual. I didn’t think it would work, but it did! The cradle cap would be back in a few days, there is really nothing you can do prevent it, but he got a bath every other day so it kept his head clear for the most part. With in a few week it was gone for good. He had a few more flare ups hs first year...but I just used the olive iol again. My grandmother taught me this and I really didn’t think it was going to work but it did. It’s cheap and worth a try!