Continued cradle cap in almost-three year old--help!

[McGucks]

Our little guy has always had cradle cap.  This morning, I used olive oil on his scalp, let it rest for about 20 minutes, then shampooed him with some tea tree oil shampoo and scrubbed it all out (gently, but with a very hard fine-toothed comb).

It was a complete failure.

Any ideas?  I know it's no big deal, but the yuck factor has got me going.

TIA, folks.

[momasana]

Both of my children have very waxy scalps, especially DS (5 1/2 yo).   I massage olive oil (a LOT of oil) into their scalps, let it sit awhile and then use a comb to scratch up the chunks/flakes (for lack of a better word.....ick).   It works pretty well, though sometimes we have to do 2 or 3 rounds over the course of a fews days to get it all up.  I probably do it once every six months. 

It sounds like you're doing the same thing but without success. Are you using the comb prior to shampooing? I have found that works better than oil, shampoo, THEN comb.    Also, tea tree oil shampoo doesn't work for me or my little ones. When I've used it on myself I get terrible dandruff.  The kids don't like it because they say it's too tingly.   Maybe the tea tree oil shampoo is contributing to the cradle cap?

[McGucks]

Thanks for your advice!  I might've gone too lightly with the olive oil, plus it is such a process to get it out that I wouldn't have thought to repeat it over a few days.

I use the oil, then get in the shower with him, then the scratch-off comb, then shampoo and shampoo.  Then scratch-off comb and rinse.

I had the tea tree oil around for grown-up dandruff and used it on him in thinking it'd help a little with the cradle cap.  I only used a bit of it once a week and it's probably not effective for c.cap anyway.

It is funny...the cradle cap really bugs me and DH never even noticed he had it, ever.  Guess when you nurse, you can't help but notice what's a couple inches from your face!
 

[sassyfirechick]

DD had a bad round of it when she was younger and I had great success with Weleda Calendula Oil - I did a dry scrape with with the comb to loosen everything up, then I'd load her up with the oil, wash the excess with a pea sized drop of burts baby bee shampoo trying to keep it away from the scalp and just on the hair.  I even use it for my own dry skin on my elbows and such - baby smooth afterwards ;-)

[P.J.]

I don't have any ideas but just wanted to say my almost-3 year old also has a pretty nasty layer of crud on some places of his scalp. However, he would never let me do the things you're describing. He doesn't even let us wash his hair, so we do that seldom, which I wonder if that contributes to the cradle cap. I try to just ignore it, even though it is gross if I look at it. He doesn't complain though.
 

[pek64]

My son had it, too. Oats worked for him. I just put rolled oats in cheesecloth, wet it, and rubbed it on his scalp. Then wash once. Too much washing can aggravate it, in my experience. If using olive oil, I'd limit washing afterwards to once. And wash his hair only on an as needed basis. If it's not really dirty, rinse, but don't soap. Also, make sure he's eating enough niacin containing foods. Good luck.