Cradle cap and mineral oil

chizzle91

DD has had fairly heavy cradle cap almost since day one. I finally got tired of looking at it and asked our pediatrician about it. She said to rub a little mineral oil on her scalp before a bath, let it soften the scales, and use a fine tooth comb to comb them off. So we did, but DH and I noticed teeny tiny bright red (blood maybe?) scratches on her head as we were getting them off. He wasn't combing her head very hard at all, so we're just wondering what might have caused it? Is her skin THAT fragile? I mean he was BARELY touching her...or can the scales be that thick that they might get down to blood vessels? I'm thinking of calling her doctor when they open tomorrow but at the same time I wanted to get an opinion from other people that have done this first.

Dstevens429

My LO has cradle cap also and I find Olive oil to work the best. When you remove the scales the scalp will be red almost raw depending on how thick the cradle cap is. Good luck it's a long process

kgs0505

I would try a soft baby brush instead of the comb.

smash1228

I have never noticed any red spots on DDs scalp, but she has a fairly mild case of cradle cap.

I tried olive oil and it didn't work for DD. The other night I finally tried vaseline and it worked wonders. After only one application it was gone. I rubbed it on right before bath time and just washed it out. It took a couple times washing it to get it out and her hair was still a little greasy afterwards but I figured it would be good for her to leave it. I have been applying it every couple baths to help keep it away, so far so good.

PipSqueak0313

smash1228 said:

I have never noticed any red spots on DDs scalp, but she has a fairly mild case of cradle cap.

I tried olive oil and it didn't work for DD. The other night I finally tried vaseline and it worked wonders. After only one application it was gone. I rubbed it on right before bath time and just washed it out. It took a couple times washing it to get it out and her hair was still a little greasy afterwards but I figured it would be good for her to leave it. I have been applying it every couple baths to help keep it away, so far so good.

To remove vaseline from hair use a grease cutting dishsoap or cornstarch. ...file that away for future years. At this age I would use the cornstarch.

Instead of vaseline I would rub the olive or coconut or whatever oil in and wait a bit before washing out.

Zippydoo

Put shampoo in the baby's hair at the very beginning of the bath, don't rinse it out, wash the rest of the baby and then rinse out the shampoo at the end.  That is what we did and it was gone after a while.

rockyrollgirl

I used Mustela's shampoo for cradle cap and it never came back.

ebp913

rockyrollgirl said:

I used Mustela's shampoo for cradle cap and it never came back.

This!  Their newborn foaming shampoo is awesome.  Put it on and rub it in, wait 1-2 minutes and then scrub lightly with a brush.  It worked on both my kids in a few days.