HOW TO: Best Tips for Treating your baby's cradle cap
DOES MY BABY HAVE DANDRUFF? Just as you are settling into your new life with baby, many little ones will develop small yellowish crusty patches on their scalp or top of their face. This is called “cradle cap” which is caused by an overproduction of sebum (skin oil). Sebum traps the dead cells on the skin’s surface, leading to the formation of crusty patches, like adult dandruff. Cradle cap has nothing to do with poor hygiene and causes no harm to your little one. This condition affects two-thirds of babies and is completely benign. Cradle cap, however, is unpleasant to look at and can be become infected by bacteria or fungi, so we have compiled our best tips for prevention and treatment.
PREVENT CRADLE CAP
For cleansing, use a gentle cleanser to soothe and hydrate the scalp. Our cleansers hydrate and protect sensitive skin without the use of harsh chemicals and are the perfect solution for moisturizing while bathing. Remember to gently massage your baby’s scalp when you wash his hair (using your fingertips- not nails).
Carefully brush his hair every day with a soft brush. Our personal favorite is Natemia.
To avoid irritating the skin, don’t wash the baby's hair too often. Once every two to three days, plus simply rinsing his hair in water every day, are more than enough.
TREAT EXISTING CRADLE CAP
Pre-treat the area by warming balm in your hands and gently massaging into the scalp to loosen the dry patches prior to bath time.
Carefully wash your baby’s hair with a gentle shampoo, then after gently towel drying, use a special skincare product like a balm or lotion that works to both prevent and treat cradle cap.
Never try to remove affected areas with your nails.
Always check in with your pediatrician if there’s no improvement after two weeks of treatment, if rough red patches appear on other parts of the body, if pimples break out around the cradle cap or if it becomes inflamed.
1 comment
My 5 month old Kingsley gets cradles cap between and on part of his eyebrows, we use the original care and repair balm and it works really well and also leaves his skin soft and hydrated!! We also use it when his cheeks get dry because we leave at an altitude of almost 8000 ft!