New Borns Appearance
Tags: Birthmarks, Bowel Movements, Breasts, Cord, Eyes, Genitals, Hair, Head, Jaundice, Limbs, newborn, newborns apperance, Skin
When your baby is born they may look different to how you may have expected. Below are deatils about how your new born may appear.
* If you are concerned with anything about your newborn baby do not hesitate to speak to you doctor or Health Advisor.
New Borns Appearance - Birthmarks
Birthmarks are very common on new born babies, most birthmarks fade over time some will be permanent. Those that may affect your baby can be treated.
Types of birthmarks include:
- Moles – should cause little concern unless they change in colour or start to bleed.
- Brown Patches – these are quite common and can vary from light to dark brown, these may fade in time but are nothing to worry about and do not need treatment
- Mongolian Blue Spots – these look like small bruises or blue marks normally found on the lower backs of darker skinned babies. They normally fade in time.
- Stork Marks – these are pink blotchy marks that can occur between the nape of the neck on or between the baby’s eyes. These are very common and will fade in time.
- Strawberry Birthmark – these are usually found on the baby’s face or neck. They are bright red and normally raised. These will be small to start with but tend to grow during your baby’s first few months. They will normally disappear on their own during early childhood. Talk to your doctor if you have any concerns.
- Port Wine Stain - These are flat purple marks that can be found anywhere on your baby’s body. These can be removed by laser treatment. Your doctor will advise you of any treatment necessary.
New Born’s Appearance - Bowel Movements
When your baby is born their bowel will be full of a brown sticky substance called meconium. Over the first few days your baby’s stools start with the meconium and then change colour to greenish brown and then yellow.
Breastfed babies stools will be quite loose and bright yellow with a sweet smell. Bottle fed babies will be more solid and more of a brown colour with the smell more like an adults.
New Born’s Appearance - Breasts
Due to your hormones that are still in your baby’s system, your baby’s breasts may appear enlarged and swollen. This is quite normal in both boys and girls and will change back to normal over the first few days.
New Born’s Appearance - Cord
The clamp that will have been put on your baby’s cord before it was cut will usually be left in place for two to three days. When it is removed you will see a small yellowish stump, this may bleed and your midwife should show you how to keep it clean. By the end of your babies first week the cord will have shrivelled and turned black and eventually fall off.
New Born’s Appearance - Eyes
Your baby will normally be born with bluish eyes, darker skinned baby’s may be born with brown eyes. The colour of your baby’s eyes will change during the first six months of their life.
Your baby’s eyes may be puffy from the birth, ask your midwife to show you how to bathe them.
New Born’s Appearance - Genitals
Your baby’s genitals may seem enlarged and swollen and if you have had a baby girl they may even produce some discharge, this is due to your hormones that are still in your baby’s system, this will normalize within the first couple of days.
There is no need to pull back or clean under a boy’s foreskin.
New Born’s Appearance - Hair
Some babies are born with full head of hair and some with none at all. It is common that any hair your baby is born with will rub off and grow back a different colour.
Some babies can be born with fine hair on their body, this is common if your baby has been born early and will rub off within the first few weeks.
New Born’s Appearance - Head
In the first couple of days after you baby’s birth their head may be slightly oval, this is due to being squashed in the birth canal. If forceps or ventouse was used during the delivery their head may be slightly bruised, this will all fade in the first few days.
The bones in your baby’s head have not yet fused together. There are two soft spots (fontanelles) on top of your babies head where the bones do not meet.
New Born’s Appearance - Jaundice
It is very common for new born babies in the first couple of days to get a form of jaundice. Their skin will turn a yellowish colour and they may be very sleepy, this is due to the fact that their liver is not mature enough to process a particular chemical in the blood.
Your midwife should take a blood sample to see how severe the jaundice is and if treatment is required.
New Born’s Appearance - Limbs
In your womb your baby was curled up, in the days immediately following birth your baby will hold their arms and legs in the same position – knees bent up towards the chest and elbows bent so the arms are by the face. Your baby will unravel itself naturally.
New Born’s Appearance - Skin
Your baby may develop little white spots over their face, these are called milk spots, they are the sweat glands beginning to work. Milk spots are harmless and will disappear.
Your baby’s skin may be blotchy or spotty, if you have any concerns talk to your midwife.
A newborn’s skin may look translucent, this is due to the fact it is not very thick. Be careful when you take them out into the sun, see our section on Sun Care for more details.
* If you are concerned with anything about your newborn baby do not hesitate to speak to you doctor or Health Advisor.
