Natural Remedies for Baby Acne?

[NevadaMama]

Hi and TIA for reading :) My 6 week old son has a pretty bad case of baby acne - it's all over his face and is spreading behind his ears and down his neck. I have tried putting breastmilk on it, Aquaphor, and just wiping with warm water a couple times a day and it seems to be getting worse (the Aquaphor made it really bad, should've known!) He also has quite a bit of cradle cap, not sure if this is related or not.

Are there any other natural remedies I can try? His poor face is just so red and feels like sandpaper. All I use to bathe him is a little bit of Bronner's baby mild, and we use All Free & Clear detergent for all of our laundry, so I don't think it's the soaps we use. For the last week I even cut out the Bronner's and it's still not helping.

Any tips or advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

[LindyGirl]

Sadly, there is not much you can do, as baby acne is caused by your hormones in your milk. It's very common, my babies all got it, and it's kind of heartbreaking to see. Because it's hormonal, topical treatments don't work. The good news is that it will clear up soon, it usually only lasts a couple of weeks.

The cradle cap is something entirely different, and I bet someone else here will have some good suggestions. :)

Hang in there!

[AmyPDX]

For cradle cap, I massaged in almond oil (olive oil would probably work, too), and combed out the resulting oil-skin flakes crud with a superfine toothed baby comb. It was amazingly satisfying. He was pretty into it, too. Doing this once cleared it up about 95%. I did it a second time a week later, and his scalp has been great since. We also use bronner's baby on his body and head. 

[dot1]

maybe it's actually eczema?  sandpaper sounds like dry skin, not acne.  try a super emollient moisturizer, applied thickly several times per day, immediately preceeded by a wipe with a warm wet washcloth (lotion should be applied thickly enough to seal in moisture.   www.keys-soap.com makes a great natural, vegan moisturizer called Keys Tortuga.  it's helping us