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Acne Treatment and Prevention

How do I treat baby acne and cradle cap?

My one month old daughter has baby acne and cradle cap and it's getting worse. It's now all over her head, face, and neck. The doctor told me to put baby oil on the cradle cap and wipe it off after 10 minutes with a wash cloth. I've been doing this for awhile and it's not going away. Is there anything else I can do to make it better? How long will this last?

Public Comments

1. That craddle cap takes forever to go away, that skin has to finish peeling then it will be gone. Baby acne, well just be sure to clean her face well when you bathe her. It's just something they get when they are brand new lol. Both my boys had it. I hate craddle cap, you feel like you can't take them any where because they just look terrible. Don't panic, it will go away on it's own. I used something for the craddle cap but it's been years and I don't remember. Call and ask a pharmacist what something good is. Or tell the pediatrician that the baby oil is not working and what else can you try. Pharmacist is the best bet though.

2. you actually have to kinda scrub the cradle cap to get it off. I would put some baby oil in my babies ( 2 out of 3 had cradle cap in their scalp and down to their eyebrows) and then just hold them ( like if you were breastfeeding, just cradling them in your arm) and then gently just scrape it off with my finger. They usually fell asleep while I did it and you do it gently enough not to scratch of course. Once they got tired of it and got cranky or uncomfortable I just stopped and did it again next day.
I only had to do remove the whole thing once and it didnt come back. I think they were both around one or two months when I did it. I just got tired of it one day and started scraping it off.
For baby acne theres not much you can do. You should not put any lotion in their face and you also shouldnt wash it more than like once a way with just water. It will disappear on its own. I dont remember exactly how long it took for it to clear out but I know they had none in their face around 6 mos anymore. It might have been much sooner than that, I just cant remember exactly anymore

3. The acne will go away. Make sure you are gently wiping her face with water and a clean wash cloth. The craddle cap got bad on my daughter. I remember I put olive oil on her head and brushed her scalp very gently with one of the baby brushes. Then shampooed her head to remove the excess oil. A lot came off i had to do this for a couple of weeks until it all came off. Make sure you don't brush for too long or too hard.

4. This is what my sister e-mailed me about her son's very bad acne/cradle cap "Head and Shoulders has worked miracles on Xander's full body rash. I love when the doctor has a solution that doesn't cost a fortune. H&S's active ingredient is selenium disulfide. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selenium_disulfide " He is about 6 weeks old and I saw him the other day and his rash is almost gone. Her doctor told her to lather him up with Head and Shoulders and let it sit on his skin for 5 minutes (once a day).

5. Not sure about the acne, it could possibly be due to her diet... Is she breastfed? I also think acne in babies is pretty normal.

But for the cradle cap happening on my 4 children I just assumed it was a good thing because it meant I didn't have to use sun screen to protect their heads from summer sun!

By the time they are 2 years old and have more hair it seems kinda gross so usually I just try to pick it off; scratch it off. I haven't seen anyone else offering this kind of advice but it has worked for us.

6. theres not much u cn do bout the baby acne... it will take its own time to go away.

in regards to the cradle cap, when u wash ur daughters hair u kinda have to softly scrub her head.

i never used any oil or products to get rid of my sons cradle cap just kept washing his hair as often as i could n it went away within a couple weeks of him being born.

make sure u use a good moisturizing shampoo (baby johnsons shampoo)

7. It takes a while. I used dentinox cradle cap treatment, It worked. ( I think its only for the scalp tho). I used a soft baby brush and massaged the head with it in a circular motion, The instructions says to wash the hair twice each time.

It got better slowly

I think her cradle cap cleared up at about 6 months but everyones different.

She had some on her eyebrows, I used olive oi