CLICK HERE FOR THOUSANDS OF FREE BLOGGER TEMPLATES »

Friday, April 17, 2009

Cradle Cap Tips and Baby Acne Help

Okay, when my daughter, Maia, was 2 months old she developed an awful case of cradle cap which in turn caused her to have a really terrible case of baby acne as well. I tried many tips I found on the internet and I wanted to share what worked for me and what did not.

I tried the baby oil. Everyone recommended the baby oil. It got off a bit of the cradle cap, but Maia's cap was very thick and as soon as I had gotten it off it would literally grow back within 12 to 24 hours. It was crazy! I swear I could see the skin cells developing as I looked at her skull. It was so very frustrating.
*
*
I tried the over the counter cradle cap formula, i.e. the picture below. Now for those with mild cases of cradle cap this would probably work, but I would put this product on her head ritualistically every night and the next day. Voila! Cradle "crap" again. Pardon the word, but it was! I also felt bad for my daughter because her head was bright red and raw each night. Not a nice thing for a mommy to see. Especially since I was the one doing "it" to my precious little one!

I had heard that I should try Selsun Blue or Head and Shoulders. Hmmm. I was very cautious about this since it was so chemically based and I really didn't want to go that route. Well into month 3 1/2 I was desperate and asked the pediatrician about these products and my sweet pediatrician agreed that I should apply Selsun on her head nightly for two weeks and that should cure her. Hmmm. Okay here it goes.
*
*
Well, I tried it and while the cradle cap came off very easily with the Selsun she was still having it come back with a vengeance about every other day until the day of revelation came. Dum, Dum, Dum!!!! (I had to add the dramatic affect, it really was a very spectacular moment for a frustrated momma!) I combined the baby oil and the Selsun blue together! It has been a wonderful time since this discovery.
*
*
Here is what I did....
1. I like to work on my daughter on her changing table or the cushy ottoman in my family room.
I place a folded towel under her head so the ottoman doesn't get wet.
*
*
2. I get a warm bowl of water, wash cloth, the Selsun, baby oil, comb and soft baby brush.
3. I wet my daughters head with the warm wet wash cloth and then squirt a small dab of Selsun onto her scalp.
4. I massage the Selsun with a warm wet wash cloth till it gets nice and sudsy on the scalp.
5. Now here comes the "Voila" moment. I add baby oil all over the scalp with the Selsun suds still on the head.
6. Now I usually use my soft baby brush at this moment and scrub the head very well with it.
*
*
7. Then I take either a baby comb or a fine tooth comb and start at the cradle cap. Now I know my daughter doesn't look like she needs it, but she was just a little scaly and I thought she needed a treatment. When it was really bad, the dead skin crud would come off so easily and her scalp would be completely clear.
8. After I have done the picking of the cradle cap. I rinse her head with warm water and dry with a clean towel.
9. Then you have a clean and clear baby head. What a wonderful sight! This clear scalp would last much longer than the other treatments did. I could go about a week. And each treatment it would last a little longer. She is now 5 1/2 months old and has just a little dry skin on top that I treat occasionally. What a relief to see my sweet daughter without the ugly cradle cap!
Oh! I want to mention what I did for her baby acne. I saw this online and it really does work very well! I just would use some warm water, about two cups and then about two or three tablespoons of baking soda mixed in. Then I took a clean wash cloth and dipped it into the solution and lightly cleansed my daughters face and neck. Usually, the next morning, (if applied the night before), she was clear. Once the cradle cap was taken care of, I didn't need to worry about the baby acne.





Well, I hope this helps any parent out there that is struggling with this frustrating condition. I wish I had found this technique sooner. Hopefully you found this sooner than later!

38 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have found this pretty early on for the baby acne. I sure hope it works. Thanks for the measuements on how much to use. That is what I was looking for. I found the idea, but not how much or how to apply it. My kids tend to get yucky cradle cap too so I am saving that idea for later. Thank you!

Erika

Suth-ern Mama said...

You are welcome, Erika! I hope it works as well as it did for my sweet daughter. She is now 7 1/2 months old and she has been free and clear ever since that last post! Yay!

Anonymous said...

Hi! I have been looking for something to help with my son's baby acne (he is one month old). Each day it is getting worse and worse and I just can't "sit and wait" like everything is saying. I am going to try the baking soda and water treatment. I really hope it works. His face looks so bad and it is on his scalp and starting on his shoulders. I am going to switch detergents and hopefully that will help.

Do you think it is OK to use the mixture 2 times a day? Morning and night?? I am a little scared to put things on his face... but something has to be done. Thanks for the post!! :) MFD

jamie said...

poor little babies, they suffered acne early. .I'll try to apply what I've read here, to treat my baby brother's acne .Thanks for this post anyway, I hope this would surely work!

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for your post on cradle cap. my daughter is 12 weeks old and has cradle cap. Like you I have tried over the counter products and no joy. I will be using your method this evening and Im hoping it works for my little girl.

Suth-ern Mama said...

You are welcome. I hope it helps your daughter. It was so frustrating to research many techniques online just for them to really do nothing. God Bless!

Anonymous said...

my son is about 4 months and he doesn't have cradle cap just really bad acne I'm going to try your solution hopefully it works thnx

Anonymous said...

THANK YOU SO MUCH.
I'll start minute my little one wakes up. He has a bad cradle cap for last 2 months.
Again, Thank you for your post

fraNKlin said...

those babies are so cute.. wish i have a baby like that... by the way, try puraskin acne treament in curing acne's..

JenniferK said...

I have tried washing my baby's face with a cloth soaked in warm water containing baking soda. It didn't disappear overnight but it improved. So I kept doing it and it really did help. The acne/rash is continuing to show up in new places so I kept washing her in a baking soda bath and it does seem to do a lot.
One of the places were the baby acne was bad was on the back of her neck/upper back. The next time I looked she had developed cradle cap on the back of her neck. So it appears like a continuation of the baby acne but manifesting slightly differently where she has hair. So I treated it the same way with a baking soda paste then shampooing with a baby shampoo and then using a soft baby hair brush over the region. It helped quite a bit. Tonight I tried rubbing olive oil on the region for a few minutes before her baking soda bath. We'll see how it works.

Anonymous said...

My daughter also had severe cradle cap...as weird as it sounds I researched and came up with butter as a solution..i didn't have butter so I used smart balance (butter substitute) and a baby comb. I never saw the cap again!

skin tightening said...

Cradle cap tips and baby acne help them. Read to know more

Anonymous said...

Hey . I just wanna share that selsun blue with the yellow cap that has a big 2.5% on the front of it works so much better for cradle cap and believe it or not works like a charm on ringworm

Anonymous said...

dove sensitive bar soap worked wonders for baby acne.

Tori said...

Does anyone know if you should wash off the water/ baking soda mixture? Or do you leave it on? Thanks in advance!

Dash's mom said...

My son had terrible cradle cap until another mom told me about Mustela Newborn shampoo. Place the foam on baby's head at beginning of bath, let it sit until the end and then rinse. After bath use a comb of soft brush. Take a day or two to go away but so effective and gentler then using Selsen. Good Luck!

Anonymous said...

For my girl's acne, I used chamomile tea. I'd brew a cup for her, and one for me to drink. Then, during bath time, after the tea was lukewarm, I'd swab it on her washed skin and leave it to be patted dry on the towel. Cleared up quick and stayed that way.

Suth-ern Mama said...

Thanks! I did not realize that! :)

Suth-ern Mama said...

I left it on.

Anonymous said...

This is the only thing that has worked for my son's cradle cap. Thank you so much for sharing!! It really works.

Suth-ern Mama said...

Yea! Glad it helped!

Suth-ern Mama said...

Yea! Glad it helped!

Anonymous said...

Definitely going to try this.. how often should it be applied?

Unknown said...

Great, This specific net webpage is seriously thrilling and enjoyment to learn. I’m an enormous fan from the subjects mentioned. Dermatologia

Baby acne said...

Thank you very much for the valuable information
  I have researched a lot about the kids acne
At this site got a very excellent information

Chev425 said...

Thank you so much for the advice on treating the baby acne! I've tried essential oils and coconut oil and they where not working at all, my 5 week old just kept getting worse and worse each day and your recommendation has been the only thing to work so far!

Unknown said...

Wash your baby’s skin with a mild non-drying soap. Since infant acne appears because of clogged oil glands from hormonal changes in your baby’s body, it’s important to keep the skin clean and dry during an outbreak. Just listed a few ways to help treat baby acne on my blog http://babyacnetreatment.net/

tanamanhidroponikku said...

article which is very unusual, very helpful let us share information about baby acne, may help many mothers out there, God bless

http://babyacnearticles.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Cradle cap is like a yeast infection...a fungus, same with dandruff.

Anonymous said...

My little guy is reactive to most all deterhents. We actually ended up having to make our own laundry detergent and I did the same for his cradle cap as the article above, but switched out coconut oil for baby oil. If you're little one has skin sensitivity and fragrance sensitivity, it's a great switch. We used selsun blue or head and shoulders, made sure to buy the fragrance free hypoallergenic type. Hope that helps anyone with sensitive little ones!

Rodriguez said...

Nice blog...Very useful information is providing by ur blog..here is a way to find.


Baby Cradle Cap

Anonymous said...

I've never heard of using Selsun Blue for cradle cap...I'll have to remember that! My youngest son has really bad baby acne though. I discovered that gently dabbing fresh breast milk on his skin cleared up his ance really well! :-)

Unknown said...

When both of my kids were born, they had long thick black hair. A friend of mine told me to use baby lotion. It worked wonders! It keeps the skin soft and not oily. Never had a problem with cradle cap.

Unknown said...

When both of my kids were born, they had long thick black hair. A friend of mine told me to use baby lotion. It worked wonders! It keeps the skin soft and not oily. Never had a problem with cradle cap.

AugustBloom said...

I tried this but used olive oil instead of baby oil. I lathered the Selsun Blue on my son's scalp, added olive oil, then combed the scalp with a fine-toothed baby comb. I couldn't believe how easily the crust lifted from his scalp! There was so much of it that I had to rinse and repeat. Thanks for the help 😊

Suth-ern Mama said...

Awesome!

Anonymous said...

Bless you for this information!

Brittany said...

I have tried everything and thank goodness I found this because its first thing to actually work!!!