A baby born with lots of hair on the body is completely normal. This phenomenon is called lanugo. After the birth of the baby, everyone is excited to see a little bubba for the first time. But a baby can sometimes look very strange with hair all over its body and that sometimes scares parents.
This is really nothing strange and one should not be frightened, because this fluffy body hair will shed off before you know it. The same thing happens with the baby’s hair. Sometimes the infant’s head is full of hair that is sweetly disheveled, and sometimes the baby is born completely bald.
But let’s go back to lanugo, known as the thing, soft hair that covers a newborn’s body. It can appear on the hands, shoulders, upper lip, and the baby’s back.
Lanugo starts to develop in the mother’s womb as early as the fourth or fifth month of pregnancy and falls off around the fourth month of the baby’s life. However, sometimes lanugo sheds off while the baby is still in the mother’s belly, so the baby is born without any body hair.
Lanugo primarily serves to make the special liquid in the mother’s womb bond to the baby’s skin more easily. This liquid easies the delivery process. Some scientists claim that lanugo also serves to regulate the baby’s body temperature.
Lanugo in some babies can be more pronounced, thicker, darker, and make parents worried. Whichever is the case, parents should know that lanugo hair is normal, won’t harm your little one, and has no impact on the baby’s health whatsoever.
So, parents don’t worry if your peach was born with a lot of body hair. Quickly and almost unnoticeably those hairs will shed off before you know it.
Is it normal for a newborn baby to have body hair?
Yes, it’s normal for your baby to have hair all over its body. That hair is there for a purpose. It serves to protect your baby from the environment, and it helps the infant to regulate its body temperature.
The genetic factor influences how strong, dark, visible, pronounced or soft, light, or invisible the hair will be. Lanugo serves to regulate hormones and stimulate the growth of the baby, regulates and retains the baby’s body heat, and a special liquid adheres to the baby’s skin to protect it.
Those delicate silky hairs will fall out, on their own, around the fourth week after the birth. As a result, worried parents can sleep peacefully, if the baby allows them, without worrying about the baby’s body hair.
Why does my baby have hair on his back?
Baby born with lots of hair on the body usually has hair on their back too. This means, as mentioned above, that the baby has lanugo hair. That soft little peach fuzz can cover the infant’s whole body including not only the back but arms, legs, shoulders, and feet.
Lanugo hair has a very important and vital role in a baby’s life. Since it developed in the mother’s womb, that hair has the role of protecting the little one’s skin while regulating the body temperature.
Baby’s have a lot to adjust to, and this soft hair allows them to explore their little world softly and safely. Once born, Lanugo hair should disappear within a few weeks up to a few months, depending on the baby.
It’s important for parents to know that lanugo won’t interfere with care, because it’ll vanish within the first few months.
After the birth, not before long, your baby will lose this type of hair that was formed in utero. Some babies’ skin color is lighter than others; at times their hairs can be darker than the skin tone.
The same thing happens when you rub off the peach fuzz: it could look like a few dark hairs on the infant’s body. Don’t worry about that because that hair isn’t permanent and it won’t last much longer.
When do babies start to shed their hair?
When we talk about lanugo hair, some babies shed it while still in the mother’s tummy, around the seventh or eighth month of pregnancy.
If the baby was born with body hair, the lanugo hair has lingered, it usually disappears within the first weeks or until the baby is around four months old. The second one is usually the case for prematurely born babies more than the ones born on time.
If we talk about hair loss in babies, it usually happens in the first 6 months of a baby’s life. The regrowth of hair sometimes occurs at the same time as hair falls out. While in other babies it takes some time, leaving your infant cue-ball bald.
Where does body hair come from in children?
The main reason why is your baby born with lots of hair on the body is genetics. As usual, the genes are always the on-duty culprit.
So, there is the possibility that the baby has inherited the body hair from one of its parents or from someone from the family if that person also had body hair back in the childhood days. Body hair is usually softer and darker thus it is more visible.
The body hair usually appears on the back, shoulders, and chest, but if your baby also has it on his face (like a mustache), then you can be sure that he has inherited this characteristic from one of his parents too.
Summary
A baby born with lots of hair on the body is not unusual. This is something that is developed while in utero and that body hair known as lanugo has its own purpose. It helps the baby to regulate its body temperature while protecting the little one’s skin.
However, lanugo hair tends to fall off while that baby is still in the mom’s tummy, somewhere around the seventh month of pregnancy. But some babies are born with body hair, and it is usually the case for infants born prematurely.
Lanugo will shed off in the first weeks of the baby’s life, but sometimes it takes up to four to five months. Whichever is the case with your baby, parents should not worry because there is nothing wrong with having a little bit more of the body’s hair even in newborns.
