Cradle Cap advice please

[Gillyan]

Hi

My DD2 is 1 next week and she has really bad cradle cap. She has eczema also.

I've just been researching it and there is so much conflicting info so thought I'd try trusty mumsnetters.

I have tried Dentenox and that made her hair fall out and never cleared the scalp.

I have tried baby oil with aloe vera, leaving it on over night.

Her hair is really long now too.

Any advice on what to do?

Two of my dc had cradle cap that lasted well beyond 12m. TBH I tended to leave it alone. Nothing seemed to improve it and I saw no point in scrubbing chemicals into their scalps. Sometimes I think they just have to outgrow it. It certainly hasn't affected their hair - they have beautiful heads of hair.

If it got very thick, started flaking, or bothered them, I would rub olive oil or evening primrose oil into the scalp in the afternoon, and wash it out with baby shampoo that evening. A day or two of that and thescales would lift so I could comb them out with a plastic nitcomb in the bath.

I never used any soap n the bath, abd only washed their hair with water. I would wash it with baby shampoo if we had been swimming, else about once in three weeks.

Do you use oats in the bath for the eczema?

i used to massage baby oil into ds hair in the bath then rinse out with shampoo, then comb and the flakes would come out. i also did this when dd had it too.
i also found it quite therapeutic to pick at dd's when she is in the sling

ds is 2 next week, and dd is 15 weeks

Olive or almond oil worked for us. I did love to sit and pick it out though.

Baby oil, if I'm not mistaken, is made from petrochemicals, just like Vaseline. These can irritate some skins (they do mine). A neutral biological oil might be better, such as virgin olive or cold-pressed almond.

Thanks ladies - I too love to pick it, I remember DD1 having it and having a right good old pic for an hour when she fell asleep on me one day!

Like you pretty candles I tend to just ignore it but it has got bad the last few weeks.

I use Aveeno Oil in the bath for her eczema yes and thats made from oats, thats why I've always just thought it would be ok.

From what you guys have said I might stop washing her hair with shampoo and put some olive oil on tonight and leave it overnight.

Thanks

My dd2 had cc very badly, the gp said I should do something about it, before it became infected. I did exactly as she said, and as she promised it was gone in a week, and belive me it was bad, covering her entire scalp and yellow, scaley/crusty and flakey.

The advice was, every night for a week, before bed, cover dc head in vaseline. (you might want to put an older sheet on the bed, or I covered the area where her head went with a muslin which I changed every morning.) In the morning wash dc hair with a normal baby shampoo, using a baby toothbrush to rub at the scalp. Then use an ordinary comb to comb through the hair, and remove any flakes that have come away from the scalp.

This really did work, after a couple of days I was unconvinced but I am so glad I didn't give up, because by the morning of the 7th day (ooo sounds biblical!) it was all gone and has never come back.

Good luck

I used to use Savlon. Apply it the night before and rub in gently. Next day rinse the hair with warm water/very mild baby shampoo and gently comb out any loose flakes. Savlon is medicated which I think helps the healing process, but extremely mild so there is no chance of stinging.

Olive oil I always found to be too heavy... and if you experiment on yourself and rub some olive oil on your own face, you'll find the skin underneath gets quite hot and irritated quite quickly.

olive oil on leave for a few minutes to soak in, then add sugar - rub gently (sugar exfoliates the cradle cap), then wash off with shampoo

Have you ever tried using just oats, not Aveeno? Aveeno is great (I use it myself), but there are various chemicals in the various formualtions that may not agree with everyone.

Olive oil worked great for DD

Thanks for all the comments, did baby oil last night but she woke up this morning and had been sick everywhere ( first proper sick she's done ) so had to bung her in the bath this morning and wash her hair twice so will try again tonight and think I'll try the vaseline tonight.