My babys scalp smells! Need help

[OhCarolina]

Dds scalp is really wiffy. It smells slightly sour or as my 5 year old niece puts it 'of poo'! She's 2.5 months and has smelt really since she was born. I bathe her every other day so she's clean. She has eczema in her hair and i've done a brief web search which suggested the two things may be linked. Has anyway else had experience of this? Really want to solve it.

Could it be cradle cap? A cradle cap shampoo cleared my ds's up in a few days.

Well i thought it was cradle cap but GP said it was exzema. Did your ds's scalp have an 'odour'? If i ignore the doctors diagnosis and try a shampoo for cradle cap i'm worried it will aggrevate her exzema if it isn't infact cradle cap. But maybe it's worth a try anyway? Or should i return to the GP and ask her to smell my baby?? Guess it's possible that she misdiagnosed.

DD had cradle cap and she smelt like an old library, really musty. I used a cradle cap shampoo and it took ages but once gone she smelt normal again.

Oh good to know someone else's baby smelt! I'm going back to the GP tomorrow to get some shampoo. Thank you.

Cradle cap is a form of eczema - seborrheic dermatitis.

Use a mild shampoo and apply oil 20-30 min before washing the scalp to loosen any scales; do not pick them off. If you read through threads, you will find all sorts of variations on this (some use plant-based oils, others find it makes it worse so use mineral-based oils, leave overnight etc.). You may need to try a number of things. Mineral-based oil and Weleda calendula shampoo worked for us (once we got the infection under control, see below) so do keep a close eye on things as they can get out of hand.

If the scalp is getting very irritated be careful though as the skin may break and become infected. This happened with our DD; our GP did not agree it was cradle cap and it spread out from the scalp and was terribly messy. She oozed and stank; antibiotic ointment helped (Fucidin).

Our DD had had a number of skin-related conditions and we have found this website useful - www.dermnet.org.nz/dermatitis/seborrhoeic-dermatitis.html

It was useful esp. when our GP insisted it was not cradle cap and it got so bad it became infected and spread down her face. We managed to get a referral to a paediatrician and she was brilliant.

My DD's head smelt of crisps. It was cradle cap, cleared up with the shampoo.

I second Weleda calendula shampoo.

I gave my DD's head a rough wash/massage with a flannel twice a day and it sorted it right out. Her head did smell horrid. It took less than a week to get back to normal and not been back since.

Ds2's scalp smelt like an old man's head almost from birth. Which astonished me, because my other dc had smelled nothing like this - they both had had their own lovely, delicate smells. Ds2 also had weight-gain issues, and wasn't pooing so wasn't clearing meconium.

When he was 3w old a breastfeeding councillor mentioned something about iron-tablets and constipation. Lightbulb moment! I have problems with anaemia in pregnancy, and had lost a lot of blood in labour, so had continued taking my iron supplements after ds2 was born. I stoppped taking them and within days he was pooing lovely yellow newborn poo every day and his head had stopped smelling.

As for cradle cap, ds1 and dd both had it. I tried everything under the sun for ds1 but nothing cleared it, so I left it alone and just used olive oil or evening primorse oil to lift the scales away if it got too thick. For dd I didn't bother trying the soaps, but went straight for the leave it alone and use oil strategy. Neither of them had smelly scalps at any point.

Apart from trying the cracle cap soaps on ds1, I never use soap of any sort on any of my babies.

HTH

P.S. we call it 'cradle crap' in our household because it was a nightmare until we figured out what was going on!

thanks so much for the replies. So happy i'm not alone in dealing with this. I was very embarrassed about how much dd smelt. I will try the suggestion of oilling the scalp then shampooing. May even slightly scrub scalp gently as the scales are very thick. Thanks again.

An alternative to cradle cap shampoo less likely to cause an allergic reaction is to gently rub in Olive oil or a natural vegetable oil each morning and night and gently brush out it will then start coming off! I found this better than the shampoos.....

DD's smelt also but the smell of Denitox was worse! Olive oil cleared it much quicker than the shampoo and is quite frankly more pleasant!

I used normal baby shampoo then Almond Oil after, left overnight and brushed out the flakes in the morning...not very pleasant.. and it took a couple of weeks, but did clear up

If putting oil on overnight, lay down an old (and folded) towel and secure it under the mattress so the sheets don't get stained.

It may take a few days but you will notice fairly quickly whether it's helping.

DD's scalp was so bad that we had to put cloths down on the bed and would change them at night when she was up for her nibbles. They would be drenched. I cried. I know how distressing a smelly head can be!

Do be patient and willing to try different things. Some parents find natural oils e.g. olive oil, almond oil etc. will make it worse but I would recommend starting off there. And go through the old threads... tons of suggestions to try.