so most babies seem to have this crispy dry skin covering their faces and heads (cradle cap/ seborrheic dermatitis). i've noticed it on all my friends' kids and know that it's pretty normal and benign.
but it's also gross. and so i've been oiling him up with all matter of natural hippie remedies trying to treat and prevent it, thinking that it's a dry skin thing. i've also been bathing him about twice a week, maybe sometimes less than that. we spot clean when there's clearly contaminants involved, but otherwise have been trying to not further dry him out.
but it just seemed to be getting worse and worse. thick yellow plaquey patches and flaky red skin swallowing his forehead, eyebrows, hair.
and it developed...an odor. not like the new skin smell babies should smell like but more like old dead skin. sort of barn meets cheese.
i don't want my baby to smell like barn meets cheese.
so i started reading on-line and found that the suspicion is that this flaky skin issue is actually over-productive sebaceous glands from pregnancy hormones and that the answer is to dry it out, not moisturize the stink out of it. so more baths the better and exfoliation!
so, as recommended, tonight we covered his little monkey head with almond oil and let it sit for 15 minutes. then we exfoliated with a soft-bristled brush and washed him good all over. nothing but pj's covered him after all that. i'm swearing off all the baby grease options out there. we'll see if this works or if we need to try head 'n shoulders or something else.needless to say, he is not going to wear any black turtlenecks until we have this embarrassing problem resolved. :)
but he does smell better. lots. hopefully the other babies will stop picking on him.
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