cradle cap...help!

[s_gosney]

kylee's had this for a little while now. At first I was just planning to wait it out since I had read that there isn't anything to make it go away for good, but now it's getting worse. Also, I read somewhere else that it can last until their first birthday. It will drive me crazy by then! Does anyone have any tried and tested approaches to make it go away? I've heard many different things and I'd rather not experiment with rubbing 50 different things on her head when I'm sure someone here can help.
The ped recommended head and shoulders shampoo 3x a week, but this seems a little harsh for baby skin. opinions?
I've heard of rubbing various types of oil on and then removing the flakes with a comb. We only have vegetable oil and lavender vanilla massage oil. Not sure these are okay for babies or not. If not, any ideas on what kinds to buy?
Finally, DH's grandma swears that if you let EBM separate and then rub the cream on, it will make the cradle cap go away. Any experience with this? I assume that you would just dump the rest of what's left? I have a hard enough time getting enough ebm just to feed her, but if this really works, I'll find time to pump.
wow...that got long. thanks for reading this far and thanks for any insight you can give! :)

[toomanystrollers]

Sherri,
I had very good results using Gentle Naturals "Cradle Cap Treatment" - by Baby Orajel. It's in a mint green bottle and I found it at Target in the baby shampoo/wipes/diapers section.

HTH

[TaChapm2]

We tried everything under the sun. I actually went to Babies R Us and the drug store and bought everything they had for cradle cap. None of them worked. I would not use Head & Shoulders. We tried this and it made DS scalp crack and bleed behind his ears. It was aweful! We finally started using Mustlea's Newborn foam shampoo and it was cleared up within a matter of days. The shampoo lasted forever. We would put the shampoo on his head and rub it around really good then use his baby brush and lightly massage it in. We only used the brush for the first few days and then just washed his hair normaly. I washed his hair every day as well. This was our miracle cure!
Good Luck!
Tara
Mommy to Jackson (11-10-02)

[cmyk]

It took only one application of the head and shoulders to get off most of the cradle cap. I would say DD had a mild to moderate case. We used the shampoo a second time (a few weeks later) to get the rest. DH rubbed a very small (pea-size) amount into DD's scalp, lathered it up and rubbed it in, then gently used a fine tooth baby comb to remove the bits. It worked great. Never had to use it again. Oh, we bought a regular size bottle (WalMart's Equate brand, actually), but I wish we had bought a little trial-size bottle of head & shoulders instead.

HTH!

Shelley

[sadie427]

Sammy had it on his head and eyebrows, although it was fairly mild. It went away after one or two applications of baby oil--rub it in and comb out the flakes (I rubbed it out of his eyebrows with a cotton pad). I wouldn't use the massage oil as I'd avoid strong fragrances for a baby's skin. Vegetable oil would probably be fine, but I might go get baby oil, it's really cheap and good to have around for dry skin, lubricating the thermometer, etc. It may just be that anything oily helps loosen the flakes--that would be why EBM would work, but it seems like a big waste of EBM. And I wonder if the cradle cap treatments actually have anything in them besides oil and fragrance? Anyway, I'd try baby oil first.

[khakismom]

Both my kids had it and we found the Mustela's Newborn Foam Shampoo to work. I still use it on Ellen even though she doesn't have it anymore. While the shampoo was still on her hed, we would use a brush or comb to massage the scalp--that really helped to remove the flakes. The good news--at least for us--is that with this treatment it disappeared by the time they were 7-8 months.

[Rachels]

Abby had a tough time with it, too. I tried everything, but what ultimately worked (and also tremendously helped her reflux, sleep, etc) was identifying and eliminating her allergenic foods. Within a day or two, the cradle cap just went away.

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02

[s_gosney]

Thanks everyone for the help. Is the mustela stuff available in stores or just online? I'm going to visit my mom tomorrow where they at least have a target and a bru, so I will pick some up if someone can tell me where to find it.
Rachel--hmmm...interesting thought. Although we've stopped giving Kylee Zantac now, I've definitely noticed a correlation between me having dairy and Kylee having a spit-up filled day. So I try not to have any dairy. Any other ideas for possible allergies?
Thanks again!

[TaChapm2]

You can find Mustela at some high end baby stores. In Austin I found it a USA Baby. I usually buy it online though. Ebay usually has it at a good price. It is about $10-12 per bottle but it lasts 4-6 months so it is well worth it. Be sure to get the Newborn Foam Shampoo to clear up the cradle cap. We use the regular now, but I would recommend the Foam to clear things up.
Tara
Mommy to Jackson (11-10-02)

[Tondi G]

We tried baby oil and all it did was break DS out on his face! When I asked my ped he said to use regular old baby shampoo and an old soft toothbrush and scrub away.... sure enough it worked! When DS started to get a build up again we tried the head and shoulders and it worked for a day and then he got a really dry flaky scalp so back to baby shampoo and he was fine again!!!!

Good luck

~Tondi and Mason 7/8/01

[memedee]

I second the Mustela.It really works

[supersparkee]

My ped advised using Olive Oil and a soft bristle toothbrush. And you know - it worked great! And the Olive Oil didn't bother her skin at all. I did have to scrub some spots a little hard but it didn't seem to bother DD. Plus it made her hair really, really soft (but it took 3 shampoos to get all the oil out).

[jec2]

Same thing here. But, we used the Burt's Bees Apricot oil. We used the soft-bristled brush to get it all up and then bathed the baby. We did this twice and it was all gone.

[jubilee]

We did olive oil and a soft toothbrush and it worked wonders

[Vajrastorm]

We also used olive oil and a baby brush and comb. We also used Burts Bees Apricot oil, but I didn't like how it smelled so now we do olive oil when she has flare up.

An LC I know who used to work in a ped's office as a nurse recommends Head and Shoulders - but only the lather, not the straight shampoo. She suggested taking H&S, lathering it up in your hands, and taking some of the foam/lather for use on the baby. I never tried it, but it might be an effective yet not too harsh approach.