Seborrheic dermatitis is a common, inflammatory skin condition that causes flaky, white to yellowish scales to form on oily areas such as the scalp or inside the ear. It can occur with or without reddened skin.
Cradle cap is the term used when seborrheic dermatitis affects the scalp of infants.
So now with all the fancy talk out of the way what do moms have to say about it??? IT SUCKS!! It makes babies fussy and miserable and can be very hard to get rid of. The good news is in most cases just changing your grooming routine will get it under control.
Our youngest had it pretty bad. At first we thought she was having an allergic reaction to the laundry soap we were using. After changing soaps it still didn't change. From her neck up she had this horrible rash that was now starting to become crusty and gross around her ears, nose and neck. We tried all kinds of lotions and nothing was helping. After some trial and error I found a way to really nip it in the butt.
First I started giving her baths daily. When I bathed her I would use her baby brush in a circular motion to exfoliate the areas where she had the rash. Note that this was not painful to her. Should you try this and your baby starts crying STOP. I also used Burt's Bees baby wash to clean her. The whole process took about 45 minutes as I wanted to make sure I removed as much of the flaky skin as possible.
After her bath I used a very heavy unscented or naturally scented lotion such as shea butter. I rubbed it into her body and also her scalp. Again, this was not painful to her so if your baby starts crying stop. I did this every day for a week and after the first day she had cleared up almost completely. After the week I cut down to every other day then every three days. This process was great for us because we avoided using drugs or unnecessary testing to diagnose and treat something that was a common childhood ailment.
