I've got a question for you other moms. My dd who is 4, has what looks exactly like cradle cap on her head. I wash her hair 3 times a week, so I know her hair is clean, but she is getting the same yellow build-up you see on infants. i do let her wash her hair sometimes, but i always check to make sure all the shampoo is rinsed out. We use a shampoo/conditioner combo and I scrub her head pretty well. I don't brush her hair a ton, usually in the morning and if we are going somewhere, and I'm wondering if I need to brush it more. If any of you have dealt with this, I'd appreciate some advice on how to get rid of it and prevent it from coming back. Thanks a lot!

Yes, it sounds like cradle cap to me. I think that it is not uncommon to still have it at 4 years old - though not so obvious at this age as it is normally covered by plenty of hair. The best way to remove it is to coat with oil (baby oil, pure olive oil...) and leave it briefly to losen the cradle cap then gently remove the flakes with a fine comb. If you are too rough the skin will become raw. Ds (aged 4) gets a tiny bit that actually comes off easily with a bit of baby oil and a washcloth.

I'm not sure about how to prevent it - but I have read that vitamin B and zinc in a breastfeeding mother's diet can reduce cradle cap in a baby. So maybe try foods or supplements with vitamin B7 (biotin) and zinc if it is really bad.

One of my four suffered with cradle cap on and off until she was over 5. It sounds like you're doing most of the right things such as washing frequently and close supervision. I never found a complete cure-all but what I did to manage it was to check at least weekly for it while we were washing dd's hair. I would use a fine tooth comb to work the scales off while her fair and scalp were still wet then do one more rinse. As she got older the patches and problem spots got smaller. Combing in general seemed to work better than brushing and made any trouble spots easier to spot.

We managed it and I haven't seen any for almost a year now (dd will be 7 in Feb) but I've heard that doctors can recommend certain shampoos to help if needed.

I have heard that the shampoo/conditioner combos can be very hard on your hair and scalp. My little guy had problems off and on with cradle cap. Yes, combing the scales out works great. I also found that working a little vaseline in at night helped a lot. Yeah, it makes the hair look a little oily in that spot, but it works.

My 4 yr old still gets patches as well...hers seem to be the back of her neck/behind her ears. My boys have gotten it around this age as well.

I tend to shy away from the shampoo/conditioner combos...they seem to lead to more build up in my kids. No matter how well we rinse and how little we use. We just seem to have a problem with build up on the scalp. Perhaps that could be lending to the problem? I dunno. Just wondering, as we stopped using those combos some time ago and her outbreaks don't seem to be as often or severe as before..and the boys haven't had any problems in over a year since stopping those shampoos. May just be coincidence. But...worth looking into anyway. :)

Thanks for all your advice! I was wondering if it could be the shampoo/conditioner stuff. I was kind of wodering if it would build up after awhile. I think I'll try plain shampoo with a little conditioner on the longer part of her hair, not her scalp. I'll try the comb too. Thanks again for the help!:-D

hth Sinead is 5 and has it, I bought her some special cradle cap shampoo. I think judging by the smell of it, its got rose oil in. Maybe you could buy plain unscented shampoo and put some rose oil in.

Yeah Timmy has had it all his life (he's 5 now). I've tried everything (when he was a baby I used to gently scrub at it while he was nursing lol), but nothing has completely gotten rid of all of it. I've never used anything but baby shampoo, but I'm trying dandriff shampoo right now to see if it helps, I've only used it a couple times now though, so I'm not sure yet.

My oldest still gets it at times. Her ped has us use a dandruff shampoo every other wash.

They sell at any local store, a turquoise bottle I think from Johnson and Johnson, of cradle cap shampoo...it works SO fast and well.... I used it for my oldest for clearing it up and then with continued scalp issues once every other week as a preventative type thing....worked great for us and washes out just like shampoo.

Thanks, Breezy! I will definately look at that, I wonder if Walmart has it....:-D

I bought mine at either walmart or super target....it had a picture of eeyore and whinnie the pooh on it! Sorry, oh so helpful! LOL! It looks like a small bottle for the price, but it goes a long way, and I concentrated it on the scalp to rub in well, not neccessariy all the hair because the excess washes over the rest on the way out well enough....actually last a long time!

My 2 year old DS has it...but not real bad.
Good luck with it! I'm going to use some of the remedies mentioned on here as well!