Dr. Komarovsky about why there are crusts on the baby’s head and what to do with them
A cute little tot, which undoubtedly made happy parents and other relatives with its appearance, can greatly perplex adults - rough and ugly crusts can appear on its head. Moms immediately begin to look for the cause of what is happening and the way to eliminate it. In this material, we will describe what the so-called milk crusts are and what the famous doctor Yevgeny Komarovsky thinks of them.
What it is?
Milk crusts are popularly called physiological seborrhea. Seborrheic whitish or yellow crusts in the scalp, behind the ears in infants - a fairly common phenomenon, and it should not frighten.
Crusts on the head of the baby just look unattractive, they do not deliver any significant inconvenience to the child: they do not hurt or itch. Such seborrhea is not contagious. Also, it can not be considered the appearance of a sign of poor or inadequate care for the baby. Even a very clean mother, who is closely watching the child and devotes a lot of time and effort to caring for him, can face seborrheic formations on the head of the baby.
Previously, seborrheic dermatitis was popularly called “mud”, although, of course, plaques on the baby’s head are not related to dirt or maternity.
Causes
The cause of seborrhea in infants is traditionally considered the age feature of the sebaceous glands. It is where the glands are located most of all, and yellowish plaques appear, terrifying impressionable mothers.
However, the sebaceous glands work excessively in all babies, without exception, but not all of them have a milky crust. The main “provocateur” of plaque formation is the yeast-like fungi Malassezia restricta and Malassezia globosa. They are on the skin of each of us, fungi are not considered pathological flora.
They feed on fungi secretions of the sebaceous glands. Infants produce a secret a lot, and immunity is not yet able to “track” and regulate the number of colonies. Because of this, their growth occurs, which leads to the formation of a crust.
Milky crusts are very widespread: they are registered in every fourth child from the age of birth to six months. The congenital maternal hormonal background, which promotes fungal activity, strongly influences a child at this age.
Most often, “ancestral dirt” manifests itself in winter, when parents spare no effort to dress the child warmer and warm the room. Heat in the room, a warm bonnet, increased perspiration due to this, provoke the development of seborrheic dermatitis. Sometimes provoking factor is excessive hygiene: daily bathing with soap, and the use of cosmetics that are too aggressive for the baby.
Expert opinion
Yevgeny Komarovsky, a well-known children's doctor and author of numerous books for parents, claims that seborrhea for infants is an absolutely normal and physiological phenomenon. She is not worried about the child, but about his parents, since she does not fit into the concept of aesthetics. To disturb the child milk crusts begin only when the parents develop large-scale actions to eliminate them.
Remember: it is parental actions that bother the child, and not the plaques on the head and behind the ears.
Turn to the pediatrician Komarovsky advises only if seborrhea is extensive and plaques appeared not only on the child’s head, but also on the face, neck, body, and groin. It is possible that such seborrhea is hereditary. The child may need prescription of medicinal cosmetics for the care of the scalp.
Do I need treatment?
It is worth noting that congenital seborrhea is very rare. She is not subject to special correction. But the good news is that most children still have seborrhea acquired - the same milk crusts.
Yevgeny Komarovsky claims that their treatment is not mandatory: plaques and scales will pass on their own.
Even if nothing is combed out, lubricated or removed, the crusts will self-deplete in about half a year to a year. But if parents are absolutely not able to observe such a phenomenon in their beloved offspring, you can remove them. If you do it right, there will be no harm to the child.
How to remove?
Evgeny Komarovsky advises to leave children with long hair alone. Sometimes, a child already in half a year has a rather impressive head of hair, it is a pity to cut it, because the crumb looks so good with it. It is inconvenient to comb the crusts to children with long hair, and it will give unpleasant sensations to the children themselves. According to Komarovsky, the parents have two options: leave everything as it is and wait until the crusts pass by themselves, or cut the baby and begin to comb them. The choice is for parents.
In order to remove the crusts, Yevgeny Komarovsky advises using any vegetable oil. They soften the scalp, gently rubbing it into plaques. Also, parents will need a small frequent scallop - always with blunt teeth! Sharp teeth can cut the scalp and cause pain to the child, which is not necessary to endure.
After gentle combing, the child should be bathed with baby soap to remove residual vegetable oil from the skin - the skin should breathe freely.
There are other ways of removing milk crusts. Some doctors recommend doing it with your fingers, some recommend daily moisturizing baby cream.
It is strictly forbidden to remove plaques with tweezers and other sharp objects, since such removal is dangerous by injury to the deeper layers of the skin and the development of inflammation.
Prevention
Experienced parents know that the milk crusts are quite insidious - they can appear again. To avoid this unpleasant phenomenon, you should maintain sufficient humidity in the room. Evgeny Komarovsky recommends buying a humidifier and adjusting it to the parameters for maintaining air humidity at a level of 50-70%.
Do not wash the head of the child too often with soap, even if it is hypoallergenic, baby. Any soap is an alkaline environment that dries the delicate baby skin and provokes the sebaceous glands to overwork, so that the skin moisturizes at any cost.
For information on how to properly remove seborrheic crusts on the baby’s head, see the following video.
