Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Monkey Love
Mae has wicked bad cradle cap today. She's had it for two weeks, actually, but it's much worse today. It started out at the back of her head, but now it's crept forward right down her forehead and into her poor little eyebrows. She looks exactly like a sea crustation.
It's really gross, but what's even grosser is the way I can't stop picking at it, especially when she's nursing. It's monkey love, I think. Some kind of deeply engrained head picking instinct. But the more dead skin I pick off and brush out with the baby comb, the more dead skin seems to come back in its place. I've tried every home remedy I can find on the Internet - which isn't saying much. The only recommendation I can find is to rub the baby's head with olive oil. It isn't helping. Not only does Mae look like a sea crustation, now she also smells like garlic bread.
This morning I seriously thought about skipping our Mom and Tot class, just because she looked so crusty and uncared for. I thought we'd walk in, and the teacher would see Mae, silently judge me an unfit mother, and then call Children's Aid the second we left. In the end, I decided to go but planned to ask, loudly, unpon entering the room, if anybody else's baby had had cradle cap and if they knew how to get rid of it (thus making sure everybody would know that #1 - I was aware of the problem and #2 - I was trying to make it better, like a good mother would).
Before I could even get Mae out of her snowsuit though, another mom started appologizing for her own baby having a crusty eye. She had a blocked tear duct. "That's nothing!" I cried happily. "Mae has cradle cap. She's crusty all over." And then we both forgot all about it for an hour and played happily with our crusty, smiley babies.
It's really gross, but what's even grosser is the way I can't stop picking at it, especially when she's nursing. It's monkey love, I think. Some kind of deeply engrained head picking instinct. But the more dead skin I pick off and brush out with the baby comb, the more dead skin seems to come back in its place. I've tried every home remedy I can find on the Internet - which isn't saying much. The only recommendation I can find is to rub the baby's head with olive oil. It isn't helping. Not only does Mae look like a sea crustation, now she also smells like garlic bread.
This morning I seriously thought about skipping our Mom and Tot class, just because she looked so crusty and uncared for. I thought we'd walk in, and the teacher would see Mae, silently judge me an unfit mother, and then call Children's Aid the second we left. In the end, I decided to go but planned to ask, loudly, unpon entering the room, if anybody else's baby had had cradle cap and if they knew how to get rid of it (thus making sure everybody would know that #1 - I was aware of the problem and #2 - I was trying to make it better, like a good mother would).
Before I could even get Mae out of her snowsuit though, another mom started appologizing for her own baby having a crusty eye. She had a blocked tear duct. "That's nothing!" I cried happily. "Mae has cradle cap. She's crusty all over." And then we both forgot all about it for an hour and played happily with our crusty, smiley babies.
