Adjusting to life outside the womb, babies are prone to all sorts of splotches, blotches, dots and bumps. The baby you've spent so long picturing may look nothing like the baby placed in your arms after delivery. What's normal when it comes to your newborn's appearance?
You spend nine months picturing the moment of delivery and the blissful newborn stage: you see yourself cuddling a tiny, round, pink, and perfectly dimpled cherub of an infant, basking in the glow of new parenthood. But when the moment finally arrives, your illusions are shattered by a baby that looks more like a plucked turkey than a descended angel. Don’t worry; regardless of appearance, you’ll still think your baby is beautiful – but there are some things that may look alarmingly strange, both at the time of birth and for the first few weeks (or even months). What’s worse is that, since babies don’t come with detailed instruction manuals, you may be unprepared and even frightened to see some of the bumps, lumps, and rashes that pop up spontaneously. It’s okay – here’s a guide to some of the weird things you might notice about your newborn.
Let’s get a “head” start.
Your baby’s head may be an odd shape if she was delivered vaginally. Babies’ skulls are designed to form to the shape of the vaginal canal in order to make delivery easier, so more than likely, your baby will come out resembling the Coneheads from Saturday Night Live. This is called molding and isn’t permanent; her head will round out and take on a more normal shape within a couple of days. If you’ve had a C-section, your baby has an advantage in this department – no trip down the vaginal canal, no cone head!
Sometimes, pressure on the head during delivery causes swelling on the top of the head or all over the scalp. It’s called caput and is due to fluid being squeezed into the scalp during the birth process. Though it may look serious, it isn’t, and it’ll disappear pretty quickly. Again, C-section babies are exempt from this particular condition.