What Is Cradle Cap? What Are the Treatments?

Written by WebMD Editorial Contributors

Medically Reviewed by Poonam Sachdev on May 01, 2023

• What Is Cradle Cap?
• Cradle Cap Causes
• Cradle Cap Signs and Symptoms
• Cradle Cap Diagnosis
• Cradle Cap Treatment
• Cradle Cap Prevention
• When to Call Your Doctor
• More

Cradle cap is a common skin condition in newborns and babies that causes rough patches on their scalp. It’s also known as infantile seborrheic dermatitis. 

When you see these rough patches on your baby’s head, you might worry that it’s something serious. Cradle cap is common and harmless. It’s the baby form of dandruff.

This skin condition got its name because the most common place for the scaly patches to show up is on the head, where a baby would wear a cap.

You can usually get rid of it in a few simple steps. Even if you don’t do anything, it should go away on its own with time.

Doctors don’t know exactly what causes cradle cap. But they think rough patches may show up when oil glands in your baby’s skin make more oil than they need to. Doctors think the extra oil may cause dead skin cells to stick to the scalp. A type of yeast called malassezia may also play a part in the condition.

Cradle cap doesn’t spread from person to person.

Cradle cap tends to appear between the 2-6 weeks of life. You may notice:

• A greasy, patchy scalp. The skin on your baby’s scalp may look greasy. They may have white or yellow patches of scales on their scalp. Over time, the scales may flake off.
• Changes in scalp color. Sometimes, the skin on your baby’s scalp may just show as a different color, rather than scaly or flaky. Cradle cap doesn’t feel itchy to your baby, although it looks like it might be.
• Hair loss. It’s rare, but a baby may lose hair where they have cradle cap. The hair should grow back after the cradle cap goes away.
• Cradle cap on other parts of the body. Aside from the head, it can also show up the face, behind the ears, the diaper area, and the armpits.

Your baby won’t need to take any tests for the doctor to diagnose cradle cap. Your doctor will only have to see their skin. 

Once you have a diagnosis, you should be able to treat your baby’s cradle cap at home.

• Wash. Keeping your baby’s scalp clean helps the problem go away, since it washes away some of the extra oils. Use baby shampoo and rub it gently into the affected areas. Your doctor might tell you to wash your baby’s hair more often than you usually do. You might need to wash it every day instead of every few days. If a mild baby shampoo doesn’t work, ask your doctor about medicated products. Don’t use shampoo with ingredients that are designed for dandruff unless your doctor says that you should. Not all products are safe for infants.
• Brush. After you clean your baby’s hair and scalp, you can gently brush their hair with a soft baby brush or comb. The scales should loosen and fall off over time. Make sure to go easy, though.
• Lubricate. Ask your doctor if it might help to rub some petroleum jelly (Vaseline), baby oil, or ointment into the scales on your baby’s scalp before you’ve used shampoo and a soft hair brush. 
• Apply. Some doctors may prescribe hydrocortisone cream for cradle cap, but only if the scalp is inflamed. This usually isn’t necessary. Don’t use a steroid cream unless your doctor recommends it. Your doctor may also suggest an antifungal treatment such as ketoconazole. 

Once the cradle cap is under control, you can keep it at bay by washing your baby’s hair often with baby shampoo and brushing their scalp with a soft brush. Ask your pediatrician how often to wash your baby’s hair after the cradle cap goes away.

If your baby’s cradle cap is severe, your doctor may also suggest that you use a steroid cream or lotion for a short time until their skin has cleared up.  

The symptoms of cradle cap usually clear up on their own. But if they get worse with treatment or last longer than a year, you should check with your doctor. 

You should also contact your doctor if your baby: 

• Is less than 1 month old and has pimples or blisters 
• Has a rash that spreads beyond the scalp
• Has an inflamed rash behind their ears
• Seems sick 

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Eczema Causes and Atopic Dermatitis Risks: Genetics, Environment, and More

Written by Joseph Saling

• Causes of Eczema
• What Doesn’t Cause Eczema
• Eczema Triggers

Doctors don’t know exactly what causes eczema. The most common type, atopic dermatitis, resembles an allergy. But the skin irritation is not an allergic reaction.

Eczema is probably caused by a combination of things that may include:

• Genetics. A major risk factor is having relatives who have or had eczema, asthma, or seasonal allergies. A large percentage of children with severe eczema will later develop asthma or other allergies.
• Problems in the way your immune system works
• Mother’s age at time of birth. It’s not clear why, but children born to older women are more likely to develop eczema than children born to younger women.
• Environment. Children are more likely to get eczema if they are in higher social classes, live in urban areas with higher levels of pollution, or live in colder climates.
• Activities that make your skin more sensitive
• Defects in the skin barrier that allow moisture out and germs in
• Endocrine disorders such as thyroid disease

Eczema is not contagious. You can’t catch eczema by coming in contact with someone who has it.

Eczema is not an allergic reaction. Even so, a large number of children who have eczema also have food allergies. That doesn’t mean that certain foods such as dairy, eggs, and nuts — common food allergy triggers in children with eczema — cause it or make it worse. Before removing particular foods from your child’s diet, talk with your doctor to be sure your child’s nutritional needs will be met.

A trigger is not something that causes eczema. But it can cause it to flare or make a flare worse.

Skin irritants

The most common triggers are substances that irritate the skin. For instance, in many people with eczema, wool or man-made fibers that come in contact with the skin can trigger a flare.

Examples of other things that can irritate the skin include:

• Soaps and cleansers
• Perfume
• Makeup
• Dust and sand
• Chlorine
• Solvents
• Irritants in the environment
• Cigarette smoke

Infections or allergies

Flares can also be triggered by certain conditions that have an effect on the immune system. For instance, things that can trigger or worsen a flare include:

• Cold or flu
• Bacterial infection
• Allergic reaction to something such as mold, pollen, or pet dander

Stress has also been identified as a possible trigger.

Your environment

Actions and environments that cause the skin to dry out or become otherwise sensitive can trigger flares. Some examples include:

• Prolonged exposure to water
• Being too hot or too cold
• Sweating and then becoming chilled
• Taking baths or showers that are too hot or last too long
• Not using a skin lubricant after a bath
• Low humidity in the winter
• Living in a climate that is dry year-round

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Itchy skin in a child with atopic dermatitis: causes, treatment

Itchy skin in babies

Slight rash or blisters, redness and swelling of the skin, scaling and peeling in areas of dry skin – these sometimes not very noticeable changes should cause parents to take a closer look to your baby. Perhaps the reason for his suddenly disturbed sleep and constant crying lies precisely in them. Sensitive children’s skin is much more prone to irritation than the skin of adults, and any violation of the skin is very painful and most often accompanied by itching.

Itching itself is not a disease, it is a reaction of the immune system to the action of an irritant (allergen). Itching is manifested in certain skin diseases (dermatitis), disorders of the internal organs (primarily the digestive tract) or problems with the nervous system. In newborns and infants (babies), we can only understand by external signs on the skin that they are tormented by itching: after all, they still cannot say or show. Older children begin to comb itchy areas of the skin, damaging the top layer of the skin – the epidermis.

What are the causes of skin itching in infants?

There can be a lot of factors for the appearance of itching, and sometimes only a doctor can determine the true cause of this condition.

There are 4 main groups of causes of skin itching in a child:

– non-compliance with hygiene, resulting in diaper rash, prickly heat;

– skin diseases: atopic dermatitis, herpes, scabies, etc.;

– allergic reactions caused by insect bites, food, plants, drugs.

Even simple dryness of the skin can cause discomfort to the baby, creating stress, which, alas, he can only tell parents about by crying. Itching is one of the main signs of atopic, contact or allergic dermatitis. Most often, itching in infants is the result of contact with allergens, both from the skin and from the gastrointestinal tract (food allergy). It is possible to accurately determine the factor that caused the allergy only with the help of a special test. If the baby is breastfed, the mother should be very responsible about her diet, sometimes follow a special diet, especially if she herself or other close relatives had an allergic reaction to certain foods in childhood.

Atopic dermatitis pruritus

Atopic dermatitis is usually not diagnosed in newborns. Most often, it manifests itself at the age of 1-6 months, and it all starts with itching. If the baby is atopic, then parents should remember the most important thing: atopic dermatitis is a chronic disease. The skin may look better or worse, but it is always dry, even in remission. And itching, especially at night, is in most of these children. Atopic skin needs help: maintain its moisture level with the help of emollients, and at the first manifestations of itching (the child began to comb the skin or began to sleep restlessly), apply special cosmetics. You can not let the baby comb the skin, because by doing so it increases irritation, damages the epidermis and accelerates the development of an exacerbation (inflammatory process). If an exacerbation does occur, the doctor may prescribe topical medications in the form of an ointment or cream.

Itching with urticaria, chickenpox, herpes

Urticaria as a manifestation of contact dermatitis goes away on its own if the irritant that caused it is removed. The appearance of changes on the skin and itching at elevated temperatures may indicate the development of so-called childhood infections – measles or chicken pox. Parasitic infections caused by lice (on the scalp), scabies mites, worms (in the anus) cause very severe itching at the sites of parasites. Herpes is manifested by the appearance of papules (blisters) on the face, lips, and oral mucosa. In these cases, you should immediately consult a doctor.

Itching in the summer

In summer, several other causes of skin irritation and itching are added: insect bites and overheating of the baby. Excessively caring mothers often wrap babies in warm clothes or diapers even in the summer heat. The baby begins to sweat, the skin in the folds is irritated and itchy. The solution to the problem is to dress the child in accordance with the temperature outside the window, leave them without clothes more often, providing air baths. And a good baby cream, for example, with panthenol, copes with all such irritations.

Allergy to insect bites

Mosquito bites are not only painful for adults. The immune system of both adults and children reacts to them in the same way – redness and itching. Unfortunately, it is possible to protect a baby from mosquito bites only with the help of protection in the form of curtains, curtains, fumigators. For babies, children under one year old, there are no suitable repellents. (Repellents are blood-sucking insect repellents that are applied to the skin in the form of a cream or spray). All baby products in this category are approved for use from 12 months! Only a small group of repellents are designed for children’s skin, for example, based on IR 3535®, so you should carefully read the information on the package and buy an insect repellent according to age.

Atopic dermatitis in children – causes, symptoms and treatment in the “SM-Clinic” for children and adolescents

The clinical picture in atopic dermatitis is due to the formation of a large number of foci of inflammation in different parts of the skin. In this regard, the main manifestation of the disease is itching, which interferes with sleep, worsens general well-being, and leads to constant irritability of the child.

Eruptions form at the site of local inflammation. They may have a different appearance depending on the stage of the disease:

• In the acute phase, the elements are bright red. Due to the influx of additional blood into the area of ​​​​inflammation, local edema is formed. Scales, plaques may be present. On palpation, the skin elements are moist.
• In the phase of incomplete remission, the rash is flesh-colored, dry, and may flake off. The appearance of new elements is often caused by skin rubbing against clothing.

The localization of skin rashes differs depending on the age of the child. In infants, they often occur in the head (its scalp), neck and chest. A favorite place for new rashes are the extensor surfaces of the joints.

Additional symptoms of atopic dermatitis in children are:

• dry and flaky skin;
• formation of painful fissures, especially on the extensor surface of the arms and legs;
• increased discomfort at night;
• skin hyperpigmentation;
• the appearance of dry plaques and scaly spots in places of the most active rashes.

As a rule, the symptoms of AD appear brighter in the cold season and significantly decrease with the onset of the warm season.

In adolescence, the “geography” of rashes moves to the back, abdomen, groin.

Constant itching disturbs sleep, the child becomes capricious and labile. In adolescence, edematous rashes that change the aesthetics of the skin become the cause of psychological complexes. Skin elements in places of friction can become infected with the formation of local abscesses. This is accompanied by an increase in body temperature, general weakness of the child, deterioration in general well-being.

Signs of atopic dermatitis in children largely depend on the form and stage of the disease, as well as the cause of its occurrence and the age of the child.

Infant form

The inflammatory process is the most acute. Swelling and redness of the skin develops. Abundant rashes in the form of papules (“pimples”) and small vesicles, upon opening of which a richly weeping surface is formed.