A mom writes in looking for advice about her 2-month-old’s hair and dandruff. What can she do, and is this normal?
A Community Member asks:
“Hey mamas! My baby is almost two months old and has a head full of hair. I noticed she has dandruff, and I’m wondering what I can do about it? Anyone else has babies with dandruff.“
Community Advice For The Mom Whose Baby Has a Full Head of Hair and Dandruff
To see what advice the Mamas Uncut Facebook community has for this mom in need, read the comments of the post embedded below.
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Advice Summary
The community moms gave some great advice and letting her know that this is very normal in newborns.
“It is called cradle cap and it is normal. Just comb it with a very fine comb and be patient. It will go away on its own in time.“
“My Mexican friend had a baby that had the fullest and longest head of hair that I had ever seen in my life!! She also had cradle cap. It was a struggle but I can say she stopped washing the baby’s hair and parted it many ways dripped baby oil on it day and night rubbing it in and at bath time she would only wet her hair and combed it, it took a bit but it worked.“
“That young sounds like cradle cap and you can use baby oil, it’ll start coming off a little more and eventually be gone just brush it gently after don’t try to force it off it will come off on its own, it’s normal mama.”
“My daughter was the same. I put baby oil on her scalp before bath time and let it soak and then put her in the tub and lightly combed it (not enough to irritate her scalp) and washed her hair till the oil was out. I think I had to do it one more time for the next bath but after that, it was gone.”
“It may not be as simple as cradle cap. When my son was 3months old the doc thought he had cradle cap, so I used the shampoo and oils they recommended but it turned out he had eczema. Which ended up all over. Good luck.”
“It’s probably “cradle cap” use a soft bristle brush with baby oil to loosen up the dead skin before every bath. It’s a pain, but generally goes away by around 6 months old, good luck!“
Final Thoughts
Cradle cap is very common in babies and there isn’t a ton of things you can do. I will post some tips from the mayoclinic.org below.
- Gently rub your baby’s scalp with your fingers or a washcloth to loosen the scales. Don’t scratch.
- Wash your baby’s hair once a day with mild baby shampoo. Loosen the scales with a small, soft-bristled brush or fine-toothed comb before rinsing off the shampoo.
- If the scales don’t loosen easily, rub petroleum jelly or a few drops of mineral oil onto your baby’s scalp. Let it soak into the scales for a few minutes, or hours if needed. Then brush and shampoo your baby’s hair as usual. If you leave the oil in your baby’s hair, the cradle cap may get worse.
- Once the scales are gone, wash your baby’s hair every two to three days with a mild shampoo to prevent scale buildup.
Many of the comments talked about their own experiences and what they did. I hope that with all of the comments and the link above you can have some peace of mind and suggestions of things to try.
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