Cradle cap in Babies

Also known as yellow patches or dandruff on the scalp of the baby’s head is very common in newborn babies. It can start anytime from 2 weeks old to one-year-old babies. It can start anytime from 2 weeks old to one-year-old babies. It can happen to any baby is not a serious problem and doesn’t need any medical treatment. It will go away on its own. Since newborns come with so many surprises one by one, this cradle cap is no bigger than a surprise. You suddenly notice it while you rub your hand on your baby’s head.  Cradle cap may seem like a huge word, but it is just a small yellow patch on your baby’s scalp. It looks like some yellow powdered patch stuck on your baby’s scalp and does not come off the scalp easily when you try to remove it with your fingers. It is not itchy at all. Your baby will not show any symptoms if they have this. It usually happens when proper hygiene is not maintained in babies when you don’t comb or wash your baby’s head daily and sometimes also due to genes and hormones. If your baby’s head is always sweaty due to the warm atmosphere, always closed with a cap, or if they get so much sweat on their forehead while breastfeeding, they are more likely to get dandruff, head boils, and cradle cap on their head.

Every baby is different and some babies may not get this condition though they wear head caps 24/7 because they don’t sweat too much like others. Their body’s temperature regulation is different. So parents have to watch each child carefully. No two siblings are the same. I am telling you this with my personal experience with my two kids. My kids are opposite to each other in terms of health, blood groups, eating habits, behavior, discipline, and genes. So I cannot do the same things that I did with my first child. Like giving her the same food, explaining things to her, playing with her like I played with my elder kid, and teaching her. Parenting becomes very different when you have 2 kids. You have to deal with your 2 kids in 2 different ways according to their preferences and focusing on how they like to be treated.

Since my kids’ bodies were also different, I never thought my second child would ever get a cradle cap or yellow patches on the scalp since my elder kid didn’t get it though he wore a cap all day, didn’t have a bath daily, and his hair was also long and messy. When my second child was born, she was a little tiny and weighed 2.8 kg. She had a small round head and small hands and legs. My first kid was a bit heavy. He weighed 3.5 kg and his personality was a little big. Elders tell us that newborns should be given baths from head to toe daily and twice daily in summer. The same happened with my first kid. There were so many elders at that time in my house, so they followed all the old sayings. My first kid had his daily head baths, kajal in his eyes after baths, hard body massages before baths, etc. Due to daily head baths and the way he had his bath on the legs of others with so much water going into his ears and nose, he got a severe cold which became a very big complication after a few days. The doctor told me he needed to be admitted to the hospital as his lungs were full of water and infection. But still, we didn’t admit him as he was just 2 months old and we were afraid to put such a small baby in ICU. The infection and cold cured on its own after a few days after giving him some high doses of antibiotics prescribed by another pediatrician.

After my second baby was born, I didn’t follow all these things of old sayings perfectly. Because I was so afraid that she would also get a lung infection and severe cold if I gave her daily head baths.  So I was very careful when it came to the upbringing of my second child. I made sure not to repeat any mistake that I made with my elder son. I ordered a very good newborn bathtub online so that I don’t need to bath her on my legs in a traditional way. That bathtub was very easy to use and was very helpful, especially for newborns. I will give you the link below to buy it online or learn more about it.

Since I didn’t give my second baby any body or head baths daily and since she sweated a lot more than my elder son, she started getting dandruff or yellow head patches on her head. At first, I didn’t understand what to do and didn’t even touch the yellow patches on her head. When I gave her a head bath, I left that yellow patch area and washed all the other areas of her head. Because I was afraid that if shampoo or soap touched that infected area, it would become more severe and infected. So, the dandruff grew day by day and became hard and stuck to the scalp of my baby’s head. And we all know how babies cry when we try to give them a head bath. They get so much scared, that they try to run off from the bathroom.

One day I took her to a barber shop to cut off all her hair as it became big and messy, and there was so much dandruff in it. The barber cut off all her hair but left off the yellow patches as it was very hard and didn’t come out though he used the blade to cut the hair. He just did a machine cut in that area and told us to wash that area with simple water 3 to 4 times so that it comes out from the scalp. And if it doesn’t come off with hand, he told us to use a comb or small toothbrush to remove the dandruff.  I just did the same after coming home and to my surprise, it all came off along with water. Before, I thought we needed to do some medical treatment for it as it looked very different and scary. At last, I was very happy and thrilled that her problem was solved and I do not need to worry about it again. We didn’t go to any doctor or seek medical advice regarding cradle cap. But after this, I started taking care of her more. I made sure that she was always kept clean and didn’t sweat much. Removed her head cap, gave her head bath thrice a week with sebamed baby shampoo, and made her wear light cotton clothes without socks and mittens. After that she never got dandruff. I also understood why newborns should be given baths daily and maintain proper hygiene as their skin is very delicate and not fully developed.

You should also know that dandruff or these yellow patches can come in other parts of the body too if proper hygiene is not maintained or due to more secretion of oil in the oil glands. Like the back of the neck, inside ears, diaper area, underarms, face, and eyebrows. Every baby is different and some babies may not get all these even if they don’t bath daily. Because they don’t sweat much like others because of their different genes and hormones. So it’s our job to check on our kids all the time. Every kid needs to be treated differently in terms of health depending on their body type.