Would anyone like to talk to me about cradle cap?

[iwouldgoouttonight]

DD has had it since birth (now 16 weeks). We tried olive oil on it for weeks but it seemed to be making it worse - kind of seemed to build up and make it thicker even though we were brushing it regularly. So then we've been using Dentinox cradle cap shampoo for about two weeks and that has dried it up and made her head flaky, but it seems to make her itch, and even though her nails are really short she manages to scratch at it until it bleeds.

Poor thing, her head looks horrible, really sore and dry with red scratches all over it.

DS used to have it but he had loads of hair so it wasn't noticeable and Dentinox cleared his up quite quickly.

hi, my lil one dont have it, but i kno olive is really ment to help. when washing lo's head gently massage it. it should clear after few weeks my cuzon had it. sry hope that helps

Boots own brand cradle cap cream worked for DS. It seems to be just a really rich cream. I used to slather it on a few hours before bathtime, then wash it out and it did the trick in a few days.

I found the olive oil alone just made the cradle cap thick green and even more disgusting. What I finally found to work was putting as much olive oil on as I could without it dripping a couple of hours before bath time, then I'd use dentinox, but really rub it in, and leave it on a few minutes before rinsing of, but I'd firmly wipe it off with a wet flannel, then wipe it firmly afterwards with a dry towel and it went really quickly. My ds also found it irritating, and would claw at it, and had so many bloody scratches all over his head people would do double takes and stop me in the street it looked to bad, poor mite. Then I developed this all out attack approach and it worked very well.

What finally got rid of cradle cap on my two was using the nitty gritty nit comb on them. I plastered on lots of conditioner first and the cradle cap came out easily without pulling out great chunks of hair. It was an unexpected bonus as I was really just trying to rid my dcs of some little friends who had taken up home in their hair.

Ooh, just noticed you said your dd's head is sore. I wouldn't use the nitty gritty comb in that case. I'd wait until it has healed a bit before having a comb.

Your poor DD sounds very uncomfortable. I use olive oil and then gentley comb through with a fine comb/nit comb then shampoo as recommended by my HV. Seems to work for us. Have you spoken to your Hv?

I found Dentinox to be great as like you said it dries it up. I used to wash his scalp (he had no hair) then get a baby bristle brush and quite vigorously brush all over his scalp with it. This loosened all the flakes and they fell off. DS didn't like it much, but he never liked being lifted out of the bath so would be crying anyway at that point!

I think olive oil on babies heads is gross! My SILs baby girl was drowning in it and she stank!

You all seem to shampoo the olive oil out of the babies hair, I think my SIL just used to leave it there! I'm sure your babies don't smell!

I was told to leave it on, but yeah, it stinks and goes green. yuk, no, slather it on, let it soften up, then wash it off with dentinox & give firm rub with flannels and towel.

Yes have to wash it off after it's been on a while or it smells

Dd had cradle cap until she was three or so. We got rid of it by plastering her head in vaseline, and leaving her to sleep overnight, then washing her hair in the morning. It sort of lifted off.

We did have to repeat it though - it was a real pain when she was little.

Dd1 had it and olive oil just didn't make any difference so I rubbed in some cocoa butter cream, left it for a few hours and then with a soft brush most of it came away.

Your poor little dd.

If you are still reading this iwouldgoouttonight then the bestest thing to use is Head and Shoulders. I have no idea who told me to use it, but have used it on all three of my boys and its worked on all three first time. I hardly have to re use at all. Just be very careful of their eyes as obviously it will hurt if it gets in them! Just normal stuff, nothing all singing and dancing, just plain old head and shoulders. I put it on and then rub it gently with a sponge and then wash off as normal shampoo. Think it was shampoo and conditioner in one but not sure that matters. Good luck with it. Let us know.

I would NOT use head and shoulders, have you seen the list of chemicals in it, its got aluminium in it.

I found Head and Shoulders worked really well too.

Ok it's full of chemicals but so are even mild baby shampoos. Just make sure you rinse properly, it's not like you are going to feed it to your baby.