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Cradle Cap
What Causes Cradle Cap and How Do You Treat It?
By Keath Castelloe Low
The exact cause of cradle cap is unknown.
In their book, Caring for Your Baby and Young Child: Birth to Age 5 (Bantam, 2004), the AAP explains that cradle cap "certainly is influenced by the hormonal changes of pregnancy, which stimulate the oil glands. This overproduction of oil may have some relationship to the scales and redness of the skin." It is also possible that cradle cap is caused by yeast on the baby's skin.
Most of the time the best plan for cradle cap is to just leave it alone. "It will usually go away in the first year whether or not you mess with it," Dr. Shu says. If you feel compelled to do something about it, Dr. Shu suggests the following:
- Rub some baby oil, mineral oil or olive oil onto the baby's scalp prior to shampooing. After shampooing, brush out the flakes with a soft hairbrush or toothbrush.
- Ask your pediatrician if an anti-fungal shampoo or cream might help because it's possible that cradle cap is caused by a skin yeast/fungus.
- Try any of the several cradle cap care products available for babies.
- If the rash spreads to other parts of the face or body, your pediatrician may recommend using a mild cortisone cream to keep it from getting worse (more red, flaky or irritated).
Dr. Shu shares a funny story about cradle cap: "One mom, when I asked who in the family the baby resembled, looked at her baby's patchy scalp and said, 'I think she got her father's receding hairline.'"
Fortunately, for this mom and for many others, cradle cap is temporary and usually clears up in a baby's first year.
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