Cradle Cap – Baby Has Flakes On Their Scalp

When babies are small, they may develop a flaking or yellowish crust on their scalp called ‘cradle cap’. Cradle cap is just an infant version of seborrhea. The flakes or crust on baby’s head is merely their oil glands working overtime. Babies sometimes develop the same symptoms on other places on their body. This is also harmless. Usually, these flaky or crusty patches don’t bother the baby.

As a mom, I found a few methods of clearing it up. If the baby only had a few flakes around their scalp, brushing baby’s hair with a very soft bristled baby brush would help sweep the flakes out. Be very gentle, avoid their ‘soft spot’ and sweep the flakes away from baby’s eyes.

If the cradle cap was thicker in patches, and a bit more persistent, I used a bit of baby oil and massaged it gently into the irritated area and then shampooed it out. When shampooing, be careful to not get shampoo or oil in baby’s eyes. A good method to wash their hair when babies are small is to hold the baby in a ‘football hold’ and wash their hair over the kitchen sink. If you have a sprayer for your sink, you can leave the faucet on low flow and use the sprayer to help rinse out all the soap.

The best method I found to clear out the worst patches was to put some dandruff shampoo on the soft bristled baby brush and lather it up like an old-fashioned shaving brush, then brush the suds into the hair and onto the scalp. I would gently swirl the brush in circular motions over the b

by’s scalp, massaging the soap in and loosening all the dead skin. A good rinse afterward and the cradle cap was visibly diminished.

Finally, prevent more crust from forming and to soothe inflammation, I massaged a tiny dab of cortisone cream into the scalp.

I found the best time to try this method was before bedtime. The bath would tire baby and while they were having their last feeding of the day and contently cuddling, I could massage the cream in without upsetting the child.

While cradle cap can look awful, it is a harmless and normal stage of baby’s growth. Most of the time, cradle cap will clear up in a couple months. If it doesn’t, speak to your doctor about it during baby’s next check-up.

Kim Prissel has successfully raised three children with the help of her husband, Joe. This article has been submitted in affiliation with http://www.BabyNameVote.Com/ which is a site for Baby Names. She can be emailed at legerdemain@writing.com