Home remedies · Children & infants
No home remedy here replaces treatment, and none is talked down. What has done good for generations does good — even if no one ever measured it. Where something is well studied, it says so. Where it is only experience, it says that too.
In the evening dab a little olive or almond oil onto the scales and leave it one to two hours. Then loosen it with a soft brush in small circles and wash it out with a mild shampoo. Once or twice a week is enough.
Cradle cap is greasy, yellowish scaling on the scalp in the first months. The oil softens it, the soft brush lifts it, the shampoo takes both away. It does not itch, it does not hurt, and it is not a sign of poor care.
Two things are constantly confused. Cradle cap is greasy, yellowish, does not itch and usually goes by itself around the first birthday. Infant eczema is dry, crusty, itches and belongs to atopic dermatitis — oil does little there, and the subject is the scratching, not the scale. Do not scrape or scratch anything off: what does not come loose waits for next time.
Weeping, reddened or smelly areas, spreading beyond the head, a child sleeping badly because of the itch, or bald patches in the hair.
At once: any fever in an infant under three months, a child who is apathetic or has stopped drinking, skin bleeding that does not fade under pressure, breathlessness or drawn-in ribs. A first seizure is always looked at. Refusing to drink for hours counts for more than the temperature.