Body Handbook Catalogue Profile Ranking
Skin BODY HANDBOOK
Skin ยท ยง396
Cradle Cap
The greasy, yellow scaly patches on your newborn's scalp look alarming and mean almost nothing. Cradle cap isn't dirt, isn't eczema, and isn't an infection anyone can catch or pass on Ro and Dawson 2005. It runs on leftover pregnancy hormones, and essentially every baby is free of it by the first birthday Mimouni 1995. A little oil and a soft brush hurry the scale along. What's worth learning is the short list of signs that mean it's something else.
Condition Evidence Emerging Chapter Skin

It's on a clock, and the clock is hormonal. For a few months a baby's oil glands run on maternal androgens left over from pregnancy, making more sebum than they will again until puberty. A normal skin yeast, Malassezia, breaks that sebum into fatty acids, and in some infants those irritate the skin just enough to raise the scale 1. As the hormones clear, the glands quiet and the scaling has nothing left to feed on. It is the same yeast and sebum that make dandruff on an adult scalp, one decade apart 2.

Two moves: soften the scale, and watch for the red flags.

The fine print โ€” when to skip it, and what people get wrong

It isn't caused by poor washing, and scrubbing harder only damages the skin while leaving the scale. It isn't eczema: cradle cap doesn't itch. It isn't contagious and no one caught it from anyone 1.

When the red flags show, the likeliest real diagnoses are atopic dermatitis, a fungal infection, or another rash a clinician should see 2.

References
  1. 1Ro BI, Dawson TL (2005). The role of sebaceous gland activity and scalp microfloral metabolism in the etiology of seborrheic dermatitis and dandruff. Journal of Investigative Dermatology Symposium Proceedings. link
  2. 2Naldi L, Rebora A (2009). Clinical practice. Seborrheic dermatitis. New England Journal of Medicine. link
  3. 3Mimouni K, Mukamel M, Zeharia A, Mimouni M (1995). Prognosis of infantile seborrheic dermatitis. Journal of Pediatrics. link
ยท
396