Your New Baby May Not Look Like You Expect
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Updated June 18, 2015.
The image of newborn babies is largely distorted by the media these days. We see chubby, bright eyed, smiling babies. This means that when your baby is born, you might be in for quite a shock as to what a real, healthy newborn looks like in person. This is a guided tour of some of the elements of newborn appearance that might surprise you.
What a newborn baby looks like is not a baby model. It's not a smiling, well-coordinated little person.
What a newborn baby looks like varies from baby to baby in terms of weight and length. The photo tour included here will show you what a newborn baby looks like in terms of what's common in newborn babies.
Umbilical Cord Stump
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Updated June 18, 2015.
Let's start with the umbilical cord stump. This is from where the cord was cut. A cord clamp is placed on the stump to prevent your baby from bleeding through the umbilical cord stump. It is sometimes then dyed with an antibiotic stain. This may make it look purple or blue. The cord clamp usually is removed by the time you are ready to go home from the hospital or by the second day if you had a home birth or birth center birth.
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Newborn Baby with Vernix
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Updated June 18, 2015.
Vernix is a cheesy like substance that covers your baby's skin. Every baby is covered in vernix, even if you don't see it at birth. Vernix helps protect the baby's skin from amniotic fluid. Most of the vernix will disappear by the time of birth. The earlier your baby is born, preterm or late preterm, the more vernix you will see. The last place for vernix to be found is usually in the folds of skin, like the arm pits, in the ears, etc.
Stork Bites and Angel Kisses
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Updated June 18, 2015.
Stork bites and angel kisses are terms for red discoloration of the skin on a newborn. They are also known as nevus simplex or salmon patches. Angel kisses are usually found on the forehead or on the eye lids, while stork bites are typically on the back of the baby's neck.
Some parents are really upset by the appearance of stork bites and angel kisses. These usually fade over time. Though sometimes the area will return to a red color if the person is upset.
Newborn Baby with Blue Hands
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Updated June 18, 2015.
A newborn baby often has blue hands and feet, known as peripheral cyanosis (acrocyanosis). This blue tinge is the result of decrease blood flow to that area of the body. This is where most babies lose points on the APGAR scoring. Blue hands and feet in a newborn is not a problem.
Fetal Head Molding
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Updated June 18, 2015.
Molding is the term used to describe the look to your baby's head after birth, when it's a bit misshapen. As your baby is coming down into the pelvis, the fetal skull will actually alter its shape to fit. The plates of bones in your baby's head slide over one another. This will resolve itself within a day or two after birth.
Newborn Baby with Lanugo
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Updated June 18, 2015.
Lanugo is the first hair produced by the baby's hair follicles. Lanugo is soft and downy like. It appears during pregnancy and begins to fall off before birth. At birth you can sometimes see some spots that still have lanugo. This might be the face, near the side burns or ears. You can also see it on the back and top of the buttocks.
Written or medically reviewed by a board-certified physician. See About.com's Medical Review Policy.
Updated June 18, 2015.
After your newborn is born, you may notice that she has puffy eyes. This is pretty typical from the labor and birth. Pressure on the baby's face causes some swelling that goes down fairly quickly. Some newborn babies may actually have small broken blood vessels in the whites of their eyes, also from birth. This goes away as well.
Most babies will have antibiotic ointment put in their eyes close to the time of birth.
This can leave a gel like substance on their eyes. This is done to prevent infections in the baby's eyes.
Obstetrics: Normal and Problem Pregnancies. Gabbe, S, Niebyl, J, Simpson, JL. Fifth Edition.
Written or medically reviewed by a board-certified physician. See About.com's Medical Review Policy.
Updated June 18, 2015.
This is a collection of blood between your baby’s skull bones and a tough thin tissue called the periostium, which surrounds the bone (almost like shrink wrap). Cephalhematoma most commonly occur over the parietal bone and occipital bone. You might notice that your baby has a bump on his or her head. This occurs in 0.2 to 2.5% of all live births, but is more common after a birth with forceps or vacuum extraction or long labor.
Your pediatrician may decide to do nothing or may order an ultrasound or other exam based on the size and findings of the area. This will rule out other complications like a skull fracture. It can take two weeks to three months for the this bump to go down, this happens as the blood slowly reabsorbs back into the body.
Sources:
Fluoria, M, Kreiter, S. The Newborn Examination: Part I. Emergencies and Common Abnormalities Involving the Skin, Head, Neck, Chest, and Respiratory and Cardiovascular Systems. Am Fam Physician. 2002 Jan 1;65(1):61-69.
Cephalahematoma. Family Practice Notebook. Accessed 2/2/11 at http://www.fpnotebook.com/nicu/neuro/Cphlhmtm.htm
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