Gneiss in very small children: how to identify and get rid of yellowish crusts

A particularly large concentration of these strange formations is noticeable at the location of the large fontanelle.

Many parents begin to worry about this phenomenon immediately after discharge from the maternity hospital, when they notice yellowish, brownish or dirty gray crusts on the head of their newborn baby.

A particularly large concentration of these strange formations is noticeable at the location of the large fontanelle.

Is it dangerous, what are the causes of such formations and how to treat them - these questions very often concern young mothers.

What is gneiss?

These are seborrheic crusts, scaly formations that consist of skin flakes and secretions of the sebaceous glands. They appear from the first days of life and can constantly or periodically form on the baby’s head until the age of one.

The most important thing is that this phenomenon does not pose any threat to the baby's health. Such scaly formations do not bother the child: they do not hurt or itch. But, nevertheless, it is better for you to consult a pediatrician, since the presence of gneiss indicates the child’s predisposition to allergic reactions. Such children are more susceptible to colds and generally need more careful attention to their health.

Factors causing gneiss

With gneiss, unstable functioning of the sebaceous glands is noted, because after birth, children experience adaptation and restructuring of the body. Due to excess, sebum on the head mixes with skin flakes and hardens, forming a crust. At the same time, the hair in the places of formation can become tangled and stick together, making it difficult to comb. Some children experience a wave-like course of seborrheic dermatitis: with an increase or decrease in the formation of crusts. There are a number of external and internal factors that affect the rate of formation of crusts and their quantity.

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1. Allergy. Intensive formation of crusts on the head can provoke an allergic reaction. The mother needs to adjust the diet by removing from the diet foods that increase the allergic reaction in the child.
2. Temperature violation. Children have an imperfect temperature regulation system. Therefore, when parents dress their child too warmly, severe overheating and excessive sebum production occur. To reduce the rate of crust formation, it is necessary to give the child air baths more often and be more careful about the choice of clothing.
3. Frequent hair washing. Parents may wash their hair too often with shampoo or regular soap in an attempt to wash away milky crusts. Because of this, the skin becomes dry and dandruff increases. In this case, the body tries to compensate for the lack of moisture by separating sebum. Excessive amounts of fat and rapid separation of dry skin provoke increased formation of crusts.

Note! Children need to wash their hair no more than twice a week, and you cannot use ordinary soap, only special shampoo!

1. Inappropriate shampoo. Infants' skin is thin and extremely sensitive; it can react sharply to cosmetics, including shampoo or one of its components. At the same time, the inscription on the product “hypoallergenic” does not exclude the risk that the product is not suitable for your child’s skin. Try several baby shampoos to find the best shampoo that doesn't cause a negative reaction.
2. Hormonal disorders. In some cases, persistent, constant and severe formation of crusts may indicate the presence of endocrine disorders in the baby. In this case, the child may gain weight too quickly or poorly, and may also experience growth problems.
3. Eating disorders. Children's gastrointestinal tract is not always ready to accept new food. Therefore, gneiss may be caused by a reaction to complementary foods. If you have not introduced new foods into your child’s diet, but gneiss appears against the background of stool problems, frequent vomiting and other signs of gastrointestinal dysfunction, you should urgently consult a doctor.

Important! Your pediatrician should examine Gneiss during routine health checkups. However, if you suspect that milk crusts are formed due to systemic disorders in the child’s body, consultation with a doctor is required immediately.

The skin on the baby’s head should “breathe”

There are individual cases when, even after reaching a year, gneiss continues to periodically appear. For some this continues up to 2, 3, and for others up to 5-6 years.

In this case, you should pay attention to whether your child is overheating or whether you are dressing him too warmly. This problem is especially relevant in the hot season. In addition, the cause may still be improper functioning of the glands or a violation of the bathing regime.

The best method of prevention and treatment in such cases is the use of skin emollients and constant access of air to the baby's head. Say a categorical “no” to tight and hot hats and “yes” to the warm sun (but not its scorching midday rays).

Treatment

You need to know that gneiss needs to be treated very carefully. You can only comb it out, but under no circumstances rip it off using force. Doctors explain:

• if you intentionally injure these crusts, the baby will experience pain and, to some extent, discomfort;
• Additional infection may occur in injured wounds.

So, if it is forbidden to injure the crusts, then you need to follow a number of actions, thanks to which the scales will fall off painlessly and without the risk of infection:

• to treat gneiss you need to buy burdock and a special soft comb;
• You need to rub this oil into your head before bathing for half an hour and put on a cotton cap;
• After half an hour, you can carefully wash your hair with baby shampoo and the scales should fall off on their own.

This procedure with combing and rubbing in oil should be carried out no more than once a week. Of course, you cannot get rid of the problem in one go, but regularly performing such procedures will help to comb out the flaking from your entire head.

It happens that dermatitis comes back, but in this case the diagnosis will not be gneiss, but rather the development of an allergic reaction. You will need consultation and treatment from an allergist.

Doctors advise resorting to drug treatment only if a severe form of the disease develops. Then doctors prescribe antihistamines.

As the child grows, his immunity will also become stronger, the crusts will become much smaller, or even disappear completely.

As an alternative to burdock oil, you can use decoctions of medicinal herbs - chamomile, string, burdock root.

How to remove crusts at home?

Many mothers try to treat gneiss on their own. Doctors warn against this, since the skin of infants is very delicate, sensitive, it can be easily damaged and cause pain to your baby.

Gneiss goes away on its own over time.

Of course, if you see that a lot of crusts have appeared, then you can use a simple method to remove them. Prepare glycerin or sterile vegetable oil and apply to areas where crusts have accumulated about half an hour before evening bathing. Place a hat or bonnet on the baby's head. The crusts will become soft and some of them will be removed during bathing.

After bathing, look at the condition of the child’s head and, if necessary, treat problem areas with oil again. The scaly formations will become softer, and you can try to remove them with a cotton swab or, as a last resort, a small brush.

If the skin on the baby’s head remains oily after these procedures, you will have to wash it one more time. But do not do this often - such combing very easily causes irritation and redness on the delicate baby skin.

You must understand that after some time the crusts will form again, because by removing them, you do not get rid of the cause of their occurrence - childhood allergic diathesis.

What does gneiss look like in infants?

Gneiss in newborns looks like yellowish scales. They usually appear on the head in the crown area. They are formed from the sebaceous glands that the body secretes and mix with the not yet formed scalp.

If irritation of the skin on the head occurs, weeping may occur; the secreted glands shrink into the form of a yellow mass that slightly resembles a shell. This shell can be dry and easily crumble.

In the following photographs you can see examples of what gneiss looks like in newborns and infants:

As a rule, it forms immediately after the birth of a child and does not pose a danger to the normal development of the baby, does not cause him discomfort, but is a signal that he needs to visit a pediatrician.

The appearance of gneiss indicates that the baby has a predisposition to develop high sensitivity. At the same time, such children have weak resistance to various infections and the health of such children must be closely monitored.

Children's cosmetics to combat gneiss crusts

Modern cosmetic brands offer special products for removing gneiss crusts in children. The Mustela company has released a foam shampoo for babies against seborrheic crusts. This product is not cheap, but after the first use it guarantees excellent results.

If gneiss continues to cause problems for your baby after reaching a year, try Friederm Zinc or Friederm Tar. These are special shampoos, sold only in pharmacies, which are often recommended by pediatricians and dermatologists. During bathing, the product is foamed on the baby's head and immediately washed off.

You can practice all the procedures described above only with the permission of your attending physician. If gneiss formations are few in number and appear from time to time, then it is quite possible to wait until this phenomenon in your baby goes away on its own.

Why do crusts appear on a child’s head?

Scaly growths of yellow or white color appear on the head of every second baby in the first months of his life. They most often form on the head, sometimes appearing on the face or groin area. In some cases, you may notice a rash and redness next to them. With proper hygiene, the crusts gradually disappear by the age of 3 months.

Until now, scientists cannot give a 100% accurate answer to where these unpleasant growths come from. The main reason for the appearance is usually said to be the unadaptability of the baby’s skin to new living conditions: milky crusts on the baby’s head occur due to the fact that the sebaceous and sweat glands do not fully cope with the load. As a result, excess sebum is formed, which mixes with dead skin cells and creates unpleasant growths.

Other possible causes of cradle cap include fungal infection and the activity of Malassezia yeast.

Whatever the truth, doctors agree on one thing: crusts on a baby’s head do not pose a danger, they do not cause any discomfort in the baby. Sometimes eczema is disguised as “cradle cap,” in which the child experiences itching and constantly scratches. If you are in doubt about the diagnosis, we recommend consulting with your pediatrician. It is also worth consulting a doctor if crusts grow throughout the baby’s body.

Reasons for development

Doctors do not know the exact causes of seborrheic dermatitis. Moreover, these reasons may differ for children and adults. Scientists believe that seborrheic dermatitis can be transmitted genetically. It is also believed that it is related to hormonal levels, since the disease often appears in infancy and disappears before puberty. Another likely cause is a fungus called Malassezia. Normally, it is present on the skin in only small quantities, but sometimes its presence increases significantly, causing skin problems.

Finally, seborrheic dermatitis is sometimes associated with neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease and epilepsy, but the reason for this association is still unknown.

What processes accompany the appearance of gneiss?

An exacerbation of the disease that caused the appearance of gneiss is manifested by the presence of rash elements on the skin. Skin rashes are represented by papules that appear on reddened skin. Most often, gneiss appears in the folds of the skin - the bends of the knees and elbows, behind the ears. This is accompanied by severe dryness and flaking of the skin. With strong manifestations of gneiss, the face takes on an “atopic” appearance, when the color becomes duller, pigmentation around the eyes intensifies, and an additional fold of skin forms on the lower eyelid. When the exacerbation of gneiss passes, all that remains is dry skin and the presence of cracks on the back of the hands or between the fingers.

Causes and mechanisms

Gneiss in newborns is not a disease, but only a symptom. He talks about the development of a condition called exudative-catarrhal diathesis. The latter is an anomaly of the constitution and is also not considered in the context of pathology. The process is based on a certain feature of the body, a kind of adaptive reaction that forms a predisposition to certain diseases.

Physiological factors serve as prerequisites for the development of diathesis. In infants and young children, the intestinal barrier function is reduced, digestive enzymes are still insufficient, and secretory immunoglobulins are also synthesized in smaller quantities. Many bottle-fed newborns have antibodies to cow's milk proteins.

Exudative-catarrhal diathesis is similar in its development mechanism to an allergic reaction, but there is no immunological stage in this process. And the increased release of histamine and the reduced ability to inactivate it are of decisive importance. In this case, degranulation of mast cells is provoked not only by the antigen-antibody complex, but also by other substances: proteolytic enzymes, toxins, monoamines, peptones. Children have low histaminase activity and increased tissue sensitivity to biogenic amines, which increases the risk of constitutional abnormalities.

Diathesis, and with it gneiss, appears as a result of the influence of external factors on the child’s body. Its manifestation is facilitated by food products (cow's milk, eggs, strawberries, chocolate, citrus fruits, fish, cereals). The risk of constitutional abnormality also increases in the following cases:

• Early transfer to artificial feeding.
• Deficiency of vitamins and microelements.
• Intestinal and respiratory infections.
• Dysbacteriosis.
• Taking antibiotics.
• Family predisposition.
• Influence of weather conditions (hypothermia).
• Preeclampsia and nutritional defects in the mother during pregnancy.

Gneiss in children is a manifestation of a pseudoatopic constitution. But it cannot be attributed to allergic diathesis itself, given the differences in development mechanisms. However, a tendency to such reactions can still be traced in some children.

The appearance of gneiss on a child’s head is most often considered as a variant of constitutional anomaly (exudative-catarrhal diathesis).

Causes of gneiss in newborns

It is worth immediately telling and reassuring parents that the formation of scales occurs immediately after birth or after some time, 2-3 weeks. If the crusts are removed mechanically, then, as a rule, upon reaching the age of six months, the baby’s head becomes clean.

Pediatricians reassure and tell not to panic if the spots on the skin do not go away after a year. This may be the reason why parents did not forcibly interfere with the natural processes of the body. Then the gneiss leaves on its own, but much later. Sometimes the symptom does not go away when the baby reaches 1.5 years of age. It is extremely rare when formations indicate disorders in the baby’s body or certain developmental features.

It is important to know! The disease occurs as a result of overactivity of the sebaceous glands.

The infant's body adapts and gets used to the new world. Some factors can aggravate the course of gneiss, then spots on the child’s body appear again and again and do not disappear until 6-7 years of age. Then parents need to consult a specialist.

Doctors include the following manifestations and characteristics of the child’s body as such negative factors:

• tendency to diathesis (allergic reaction);
• frequent washing of hair with special products (baby soap, shampoo, etc.);
• overheating of the scalp;
• improper use of scalp care products.

Each point has a reason. A tendency to diathesis and any allergic reaction makes the baby more vulnerable, disrupts the natural protective functions of the body, which leads to long-term gneiss. Frequent bathroom procedures using soap or shampoo dry out delicate baby skin. As a result, the sebaceous glands receive an alarm signal and begin to intensively secrete secretions to moisturize the head.

Overheating often occurs as a result of improper use of caps, when parents, fearing for the baby’s delicate skin and fragile body, put a cap on the child in any weather and even at home. As a result, the sebaceous glands also begin to work more actively, which contributes to the rooted appearance of scales. An incorrectly selected shampoo or soap can lead to an allergic skin reaction and provoke the development of gneiss or its enlargement.

You should only see a doctor and worry if the cause of excessive spots on your head is an allergy. Parents can eliminate all other factors on their own.

Additional diagnostics

Gneiss is not difficult to identify - you just need to examine the scalp. But it must be differentiated from seborrhea of ​​newborns, which is the result of increased secretion of sebum. Exudative-catarrhal diathesis should be distinguished from allergic and some skin diseases (eczema). Additional research will include:

• General blood analysis.
• General urine analysis.
• Biochemistry (immunoglobulins E).
• Coprogram.
• Analysis of stool for dysbacteriosis.

Mothers are recommended to keep a so-called food diary, recording in it all the foods that she eats herself (while breastfeeding) and gives to the child. This will help identify the factor that provokes the aggravation of the situation.

Gneiss, as a sign of exudative-catarrhal diathesis, requires additional research. This will help determine the cause of the constitutional anomaly.

Crust removal algorithm

Gneiss removal algorithm:

1. Preparation of materials.
2. The woman washes her hands with soap and puts on sterile gloves.
3. Treat the surface with a disinfectant.
4. Free the child from clothes.
5. Put dirty clothes in the wash.
6. Prepare a cotton swab and treat the affected areas with sterile vegetable oil.
7. After completing the procedure, you should buy the child and wash your hair thoroughly.

It may be difficult for mom the first time, but if you repeat such manipulations often, it will be easier to remove the gneiss. The treatment process can last up to 3 years.