Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Cradle Cap

Hello Everyone,
Yes, I am back!! My little booger bear, Jonathan, has been keeping me very busy. I am finally getting back in to the swing of things. Back to work, gym, volunteering, social outings, and last but not least, my blog.  

3 months
I learn something new everyday when taking care of Jonathan and I wanted to share with any new moms out there what I learned. With a bit of trial and error I have cured Jonathan's cradle cap! For those of you that don't know, cradle cap is very common in infants and it is an inflammatory skin condition that causes flaky, white to yellowish scales to form on oily areas such as the scalf or inside the ear. I first noticed he had cradle cap when I saw him constantly scratching his head sometimes to the point of it bleeding and then you would just see a bunch of white flakes in his hair. He would get really irritated and fussy so I had to find something to get rid of this quick.

First, I started giving him a bath and washing his hair more frequently. I used Johnson's Baby Head to Toe Wash and then I would rub some olive oil in his head. The flakes would lift out of his head and I would comb them out but hours later he was scratching again. Next, I tried washing his hair with the same wash but instead of using olive oil I put my shea butter-olive oil mix in his hair. This cut down on the scratching but the flakes got bigger and brown looking and his hair just seemed really dirty. Then, I went back to just olive oil after washing his hair but instead of just putting it in there I would massage his head for about 10 minutes to really work the oil into his scalp. That didn't work either, the flakes returned! Then, the other day I had an epiphany...why not wash his hair with natural products like I do for myself.  So, I got a 3 oz bottle and mixed apple cider vinegar and water.

 
Vinegar
Added water
I washed his hair with that and he was screaming!!! I guess it hurt a little because he had cuts in his head from all his scratching. I dealt with his screaming because I saw all the gunk and flakes just lifting out of his head. After I got his hair completely clean, I massaged olive oil in his head for 10 minutes. With this method, he has been scratching a little still BUT there are no more flakes. When I see him scratching during the day, I wet his hair and apply a little vaseline and he is good to go. By the way, he doesn't cry anymore when I wash his hair because all his open wounds from scratching have healed.




HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY!

Please share any home remedies you have used on your baby for anything (eczema, dry skin, cradle cap, colic, constipation, colds, teething, etc).