Is It Cradle Cap...?

When my son was a newborn, he also had a terrible rash, exactly like the one you describe. The first pediatrician said it was baby acne and that there was nothing we could do about it. We saw another pediatrician who said it was due to dry skin and to try Aquaphor. Well the Aquaphor cleared it up in a week. It was just a bad case of dry skin - not eczema. Hope this helps - good luck!

I would hold off on any kind of treatment until the baby acne is gone. There is a chance even the dandruff shampoo is too harsh on his skin and may cause irritation. Stick with the eucerin. It will only be a few weeks until his hormones adjust.
Mine had cradle cap until she was about 14 months old, it never bothered her and our pediatrician told us to leave it alone, unless it bothers them there is no reason to treat it.

Hi C.,
The bumps might actually be your hormones being passed onto him from nursing. That's what our pediatrician told me happend with our daughter. It will go away eventually.
As far as the dry skin, our son had that. The pedi recommended using Dove body wash (just watch the eyes!!) and Aquaphor for afterwords. It worked extremely well and it's not too expensive which is a plus.

At two months old my daughter had baby acne and then developed a very bad red rash on her cheeks. I called our pediatrician's office and the nurse assured me it was just a bad case of baby acne and told me not to put any lotion or anything on it. The rash got worse and worse and her skin was so dry on her cheeks it was flaking off. Finally I decided to put Eucerin cream on it daily and it cleared up within a week. I now know the rash was eczema.
I gently washed her cheeks every day with a warm washcloth (no soap) to hydrate her skin and then moisturized with Eucerin or Aquaphor. I have also used the Wallgreen's brand version of Eucerin cream and it works just as well for us. Even though the rash has cleared I moisturize her skin at least once a day or it gets super dry and I can tell the eczema would come back. She is getting some dry patches on her arms and legs too that get scaly and flaky if they aren't kept moisturized.
My toddler son also had eczema when he was a baby but it cleared up and he never had it again. I have read that many kids who get eczema will outgrow it after the first year.

Both of my kids had cradle cap and the best thing I found for it was to massage a little baby oil into their scalp. Both of mine were bald babies though, my friends who have babies with hair don't like the baby oil because it makes the hair oily.

You don't say you are breast feeding but this applies either way. It might be cradle cap, but it might be dermatitis. (A form of eczema) It can be brought on by lots of things,. mostly allergies. My daughter has a similar issue at the corner of her mouth. We think it is just a cold sore. I am wondering if your baby is suffering the same thing and perhaps its just more serious than just one sore. Not to worry you or anything..its fairly treatable.First of all, I would make sure that he gets a fairly preservative free diet..and not too much citric acid for a bit. Get some good old fashioned "Carmex" lip balm. That did the trick for us. You said the skin is getting leathery...don't scrape at it..that is healing probably..but if its yellowy colored or anything it might well have gotten yeasty or something so maybe rub some plain yogurt on him or something similar. You can also use a weak solution of tea tree oil..you can actually take a few drops and just mix them into the Eucerin would work best. Rub a little into affected areas. It smells a bit but works wonders. Carmex worked on one little spot. Also, Burt's Bees has some good products. Their hand salve is wonderful! The buttermilk soap and lotion were great..now they have mostly coconut oil in their products but the balms and salves are still pretty good. The lip balm and hand salves have gotten her and I through some tough skin stuff. Apple Cider vinegar works wonders for some people for conditions like this. It has worked for us as well. Simply use a wet cloth dipped in the solution and dab it on. (Use like one part vinager to two parts water to start with.don't want it too strong! Avoid the eyes! Also, baking soda and honey mixed into almost any creamy conditioner will help as well. (Mix some up and keep it for later use. you can mix honey with your eucerin too. These are all good ways to treat it temporarily but if it doesn't start to get softer in a week or so you should back and find out for sure. They do a relatively painless skin scraping and can find out for sure then. With our daughter each outbreak takes about a week to get back to looking normal. MSG, citric acid and red dyes often do this to her. So do keep track of if it goes away and if he has a flare up or something. We thought it was hives the first time we saw it on our daughter..though it wasn't that bad. She can't have too much paprika or chili powder and breaks out in hives from cyan pepper. She also cannot drink red kool aid, or eat marichino cherries. She has to be careful about citrus fruits too and eat them in moderation. Good luck~

I agree that dandruff shampoo is not safe for babies. It has chemicals in it. There might be a natural one.

My granddaughter had rashes early in her life. She was diagnosed with eczema. The solution was to give her a bath everyday and then slather her with and emollient lotion like Eucerin. We found less expensive ones that were not name brands. At least one said it was like Eucerin.

Do you keep him slathered with lotion all the time? This would be important if his face is dry and feels leathery. Could he be allergic to the Eucerin?

For awhile we used creamy vaseline. It is a bit sticky but her skin was better.

At the same time I wonder about using a cream if it's baby acne. I think that they recommend that teens not use lotions and creams. Have you researched baby acne on the Internet?

If the skin is dry and leathery the skin does need a thick emollent lotions. I don't know which would be best.

How often do you apply the Eucerin. We used it in the AM and in the PM. Her face was shiny all of the time. The rashes on her face cleared up within a couple of weeks, perhaps a month. The ones on the rest of her body didn't so the face must've been baby acne.

You didn't say how old your son is. As another mother said, babies are born with excess hormones from the mother. Baby acne, in my experience, clears up in a month or so.

My granddaughter was several months old when she was diagnosed with eczema.

Cradle cap is different than baby acne. It causes a white cheesy sort of substance on the skin. It's a yeast infection, I think. Other mother's have asked about cradle cap and have been given some choices for treatment. You could look them up.

Even tho our babies are beautiful, the acne can be unsightly. It will clear up.

Wash his hair several times a week with dandruff shampoo. Careful to keep it out of his eyes. It will clear up the cradle cap and also helps with the acne. I promise!

Our pediatrician said to use olive oil. He has very sensitive skin and had cradle cap on his forehead. She said olive oil can help with all types of skin issues. I massage him with the oil every day. His skin issues cleared up very quickly.

Dear C.,
My name is T. and I have twin 9 month old twin girls. I think your doctor might be right about the baby acne. My girls got rashes and bumps in all different spots at different times. When I consulted their doctor about it she said the girls would get many crazy different rashes and bumps but that the only thing I could do was wait for them to go away. They would after about a week. She also suggested to try to use products like Aveeno baby lotion, and Burt's Bees soap and shampoo. And for the cradle cap my mother in law suggested using baby oil on the head while she was in the bath for 10 minutes. Well, sometimes it worked sometimes it didn't. But it was worth the shot. I hope everything clears up okay. Also have you thought that it could be egsema, sometimes that's hereditary if it runs on either side of your family.

C.,

My daughter started developing these really nasty pimply rashes on the back of her neck and under her hair when she was a month or two old. I would wash it really good and it would seem to start to go away and then come back.

I finally discovered one day that she was spitting up, it was dripping down her face and around her neck and shoulder, and drying while she was asleep. When I would pick her up, everything seemed fine! I didn't notice any spit up! Later the rash would come back.

Try examining the bedding really closely when you pick up your baby--my baby's spit up was really thin and it was hard to tell without close examination whether she spit up. She also was born with lots of hair and it would get rubbed in there from her moving her head around.

I know, really gross--but if you catch it and wash it right away it takes care of the problem. Don't scrub too hard! Just make sure the skin is clean and wash his hair if you need to.

This may not solve your problem, but it definitely worked for us.

And if that doesn't work (you should see an improvement really quickly, like a day or two) then I would go see a dermatologist. You've had four children and I think you probably know better than anyone if it's more serious. Plus, sorry to say, some doctors don't know everything.

Good luck!
L.

My son had eczema which looked like cradle cap. It was itchy for him. His skin is still very sensitive. I recommend finding a good goats milk lotion and soap. Your skin absorbs alot and it is one of the best things to put on their skin. AKA: chemical free. I have tried Eucerin but once you start using it, you usually have to continue. I don't know your location but we get ours from Windrift in Montana. They have a website. Once you start using it, you will be able to tell the difference. Hope this helps!!

When my daughter was a month or so old she had what seemed like really bad baby acne. I had been taking the mini-pill and the extra hormones were being passed on to her. As soon as I stopped taking the mini-pill the acne went away with no more problems. I later found out that I have severe issues with hormones. If you are going to put a cream on his skin the Eucerine is one of the best. Its very safe for your little one. Good luck!

My daughter had a bad case of baby acne/cradle cap after she was born. I didn't do anything more than just scrub with my fingertips when washing her hair and skin - stimulation is good for it - and sometimes before church or a picture I would sit with one of those really fine tooth baby combs and pull off some of the dead top layers of skin. She was either sleeping or didn't mind when I did it. (It probably felt good to her, actually!) I wouldn't use any chemical-laden products. Good old coconut or grapeseed oil helps just as well.

I was told to get a good dandruff shampoo. It worked.