You are a new mom. Enjoying but exhausted taking care of your newborn.
Your baby has angry red face, not much hair on scalp but for a yellow cake on scalp or not and is 3 weeks old.
What do you do?
Baby is fussy and crying and you can’t seem to get any sleep!
Well see your Pediatrician or call their office, make sure it is nothing serious.
You are told it is cradle cap, so now what? doctor says it will get better, try Aveeno or oatmeal to dry it out or better yet, do nothing it will get better by itself. In the meantime, baby is not able to sleep. You are not sleeping.
Bath time for babies, kids and everyone else
Some tricks that help your baby: Bath time and products:
- Avoid Oatmeal products, avoid products with chemicals in them, only natural products: this is the one that worked for my baby: Biotique, on Amazon for bath soap.
- Bathe baby in lukewarm water, make sure to soak for 10 min
- Do not rub the baby dry after the bath, just pat dry all over
- Apply moisturizer 4to 5 times a day: Cerave is the best!
Cradle Cap
Now for the cradle cap:
—when you wash scalp: make sure the water does not fall on the baby’s body or soon you will have a baby that is covered in red bumps head to toe. So what do you do? wash the baby’s scalp over the sink, and yes, you will need help to do this.
–Ask your doctor for prescription of Selsun 1% to use as shampoo for the scalp. Apply this on the scalp, leave on for 15 min, brush scalp gently with a baby head brush, toothbrush is fine too. And then rinse scalp as per instructions above, do this every 2-3 days.
— This is a very itchy condition and the itchiness is what keeps the baby up at night and fussy. So what should you do? Ask your doctor for a prescription on hydroxyzine, this is a safe drug if used per prescription.
–Wait 6 weeks, and see things turning around in this time.
Things are getting worse or new symptoms have started, it is time to call your Pediatrician!
Red Face
So now, you want to know about the red face and what does that have to do with the cradle cap.
The red rash on face can happen as a result of the seborrheic flakes falling on the face causing irritant dermatitis. It improves on the cradle cap improves. This is the reason not to let water from scalp run on to the face!
Sometimes, it can be due to yellow flakes in the eyebrows and can fall on face sin irritating it and causing the red rash on face. If there is indeed, yellow flakes in scalp, use hydrocortisone OTC[ over the counter] twice a day for 7 days over the eyebrows.
Some red faces can be due to eczema as well so your pediatrician is an important care team member for you and your baby.
Contact your pediatrician if not better in 7 days, you may need something stronger or antibiotic cream since the rash can get infected!
Remember this is just one mommy trying to help another, and that this mommy just happens to be a doctor as well and so is sharing my wisdom.
Life, a daily exploration 