Why Your Baby May Look Strange

By baby care

 

This post is a part of serial posting about You and Your Newborn; The First Hours of Life, now this blog post is about;

 

Why Your Baby May Look Strange

 

Many things you notice about your baby may worry you. It helps to understand the wide range of the normal and to realize that the baby may look very different once she has uncrumpled after a few days.

 

Lanugo

The dark hair that may cover large parts of the newborn's body, especially if it is premature, is called lanugo and drops out over the next week or so. The hair on the head is often a different shade from that which will grow in a few weeks' time to replace the original hair. Some baby even was born with almost black hair and in a few months was change to a flaxen blond.

 

Vernix

The creamy substance that may coat the baby's skin, sometimes quite thickly, is vernic. It is produced by skin cells as they drop of into the amniotic fluid and forms a protective coating. Vernic is gradually absorbed, so it is not necessary to wipe it off, except on the head, where it tends to stick to the hair, and in the folds and creases under the arms, in the neck and in the groin.

 

Caput

Some babies are born with a peculiar bump like a large blister on their heads, often just off center. This is where the head was pressing down through the inadequately dilated cervix before the second stage of labor; the swelling does not affect the baby's brain, and will gradually go away. The bump is known as a caput.

 

Moulding

Usually the brow is sloped back and rather low in a newborn baby, but some babies who were in a posterior position during labor have, when they are born, high, domed heads like figures in an Egyptian hieroglyph.

A baby who was presenting by the face is usually very swollen, bruised and puffy but, again, this gradually goes away.

 

Mongolian spots

Some babies have patches of slate-blue skin on their tummies or backs. These are called 'Mongolian spots'. They have nothing to do with mental handicap or Down's syndrome, and are completely harmless. They occur most often in families of African, Asian, Mediterranean or Native American and Canadian origin.

 

Sexual characteristics

A newborn baby's genitals can look very large, especially if the baby is premature. Sometimes there is milk in the breasts of both girl and boy babies. It is harmless and disappears without treatment. This is a result of the withdrawal of estrogen received from the mother's bloodstream and the action of prolactin released by the baby's pituitary. Some baby girl even experience pseudo-menstruation as the result of the withdrawal of maternal estrogen. It is nothing to worry about, and stops within a few days.