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Mongolian spots


Mongolian spots!  

1 member has voted

  1. 1. Mongolian spots!

    • Yes, I'd totally know it wasn't a bruise.
      121
    • I've heard of them, but may not know on sight what it is.
      55
    • What on earth is a Mongolian spot?
      52
    • I like to vote in polls!
      3


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Are you familiar with these? Would you recognize on sight it's not a bruise?

Brought to you by a mom with a child with a large Mongolian spot and someone not knowing it was a birthmark. :glare:

 

I would now, but I wouldn't have known before I had children. One of mine had one on his backside, very blue. It is faded now. I can see how someone might have thought it was a bruise, noone but us and the doctor ever saw it.

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I would know. One of my dc's has one, but no one else in the family as far as I know. If I hadn't lived in Japan, where nearly all babies have them, I wouldn't have known what they were. And if dd had been born in Japan, dh may have wondered where it came from....

 

I have heard of a case where a mongolian spot was mistaken for a bruise and, thus, sign of abuse.

 

At each well-check our pediatricians have noted the mongolian spot and put it in her records. It was without my request but I was grateful for it.

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My step-mom (children's pastor) wanted to call CPS on a family because their baby had a large one. I reeducated her :)

 

These usually occur on Hispanic and African-American babies and I've found that a lot of white people are clueless about them. My dh is Hispanic and 2 of my babies have had these, so I had our pediatrician make note of it on their charts at their newborn appointments, just in case of situations like you described.

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DD5 had one that looked like full-size-finger-shaped bruises as a baby and another that was large but more round in shape. It looked just like someone had slapped her or grabbed her very hard. I specifically showed the case worker, daycare center and her doctor and asked them to note it in her chart when she was little.

 

 

 

Incidentally, my sister believes in reincarnation/past lives. She believes that birthmarks are from severe trauma left over from previous lives, and are often indicative of how the person died. She believes that dd5 was killed at the hand of another person in her previous life. :001_huh:

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Yes, but not until I had kids.

 

My daughter's ran the length of her back and had a mottled appearance. It totally looked like she had been smacked with an open hand repeatedly. At our doctor's suggestion, we had photos kept with us and digitally dated, as well as in her medical file, in case there was ever a question. My son had one just above his bum and one on his arm, that people asked, "where did you get that bruise?" more than once.

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Incidentally, my sister believes in reincarnation/past lives. She believes that birthmarks are from severe trauma left over from previous lives, and are often indicative of how the person died. She believes that dd5 was killed at the hand of another person in her previous life. :001_huh:

 

:001_huh::001_huh: Wow.

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I thought they usually on Asians??

My sisters boys had them, and people thought my sister beat the kids up. I am Asian but my kids are mix and none of them have it.

 

If I remember right, they are most common on people with darker skin tones like Asians, Polynesians, Native Americans, Africans.... I think anyone can have them they are just more common within certain groups.

Edited by Tap, tap, tap
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People are stupid and need to learn to keep their mouths shut.

 

From the mom of a dd with a facial port wine stain who has been asked how she burned/scraped/bruised/hurt herself. We don't get that many truly hurtful comments, but have received enough that I have stories to tell.

 

I voted yes, but because of all my research, I don't know how common I am.

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As a former daycare worker in an infant/toddler room, I can also say that plenty of children of middle-eastern descent have them, too. They are quite bruise-like in appearance, and I can see why they would cause alarm if someone did not know what they were.

 

We were told that if they weren't documented in a child's file that we must report all 'suspicious' marks - (and yes, there were several that turned out to be harmless - but IMO it's better to cause a little embarrassment over a birthmark, than to let an infant that actually was being abused fall through the cracks.)

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These usually occur on Hispanic and African-American babies and I've found that a lot of white people are clueless about them. My dh is Hispanic and 2 of my babies have had these, so I had our pediatrician make note of it on their charts at their newborn appointments, just in case of situations like you described.

 

I thought they usually on Asians??

My sisters boys had them, and people thought my sister beat the kids up. I am Asian but my kids are mix and none of them have it.

 

They're also very common on Native American people, and 5%+ of caucasian babies have them.

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As a former daycare worker in an infant/toddler room, I can also say that plenty of children of middle-eastern descent have them, too. They are quite bruise-like in appearance, and I can see why they would cause alarm if someone did not know what they were.

 

We were told that if they weren't documented in a child's file that we must report all 'suspicious' marks - (and yes, there were several that turned out to be harmless - but IMO it's better to cause a little embarrassment over a birthmark, than to let an infant that actually was being abused fall through the cracks.)

 

Ok, but I'm asking if a Mongolian spot is recognizable vs something you'd see and find suspicious. I mean, a stork bite is also a birth mark, but I don't know anyone who has ever had an issue over it, you know?:001_smile:

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I know only because my dd had two of them. We did carry around a note from the ped explaining what they were for awhile, and she had a note on file with her preschool. They've since faded almost completely. If it hadn't been for our own experience, I could see myself easily mistaking them as bruises on another child.

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I had to double check that I was thinking of the right thing, but I did recognize the term for what it was. I wouldn't have known if a childhood friend of a sibling hadn't had many very visible ones until he was much older. I wouldn't have confused those with bruises, but I could see being unsure about some in photos that google pulled up.

 

I had people ask if a reddish/pinkish birthmark was a recent injury all the way up to high school, for what it's worth.

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Ok, but I'm asking if a Mongolian spot is recognizable vs something you'd see and find suspicious. I mean, a stork bite is also a birth mark, but I don't know anyone who has ever had an issue over it, you know?:001_smile:

 

To people who know what they are and have seen them before - I think they would be recognizable - but I think that for someone who was unfamiliar with them, they would probably automatically think 'bruises.'

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Incidentally, my sister believes in reincarnation/past lives. She believes that birthmarks are from severe trauma left over from previous lives, and are often indicative of how the person died. She believes that dd5 was killed at the hand of another person in her previous life. :001_huh:

 

Whoa, Nelly. There's a conversation stopper right there.

 

I first saw this on a Japanese friend's toddler many years ago and thought it was a bruise until she explained it to me. Only one of my three half-Asian children had one, though, and it was more like a shadow.

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Incidentally, my sister believes in reincarnation/past lives. She believes that birthmarks are from severe trauma left over from previous lives, and are often indicative of how the person died. She believes that dd5 was killed at the hand of another person in her previous life. :001_huh:

 

:001_huh:Yikes! I hope she doesn't share that comment with your dd.

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Our children have them. We actually got a letter from our doctor to carry with us documenting that they were indeed birthmarks not bruises so that we might avoid any unnecessary attention. Our kids are adopted and it was the caseworker who recommended it.

 

My MIL was the only person to ever mention it. She got to read the letter.

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My mom and dad adopted me and flew to Korea to pick me up. I was 2 months or so old. When they landed stateside, Mom freaked out when she changed my diaper because of my Mongolian spot. She thought she had bruised me by holding me the whole flight!

 

All my kids have one to some degree. DS had spots on his ankle up to his shoulder. I thought the security anklet he had in the hospital at birth had given him a bruise!

 

:)

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I only know what they are because my husband is Korean and when I was pg with DD I had several friends who were married to Asian men tell me to be sure to check for Mongolian spots and to be sure to get them documented, as some of them had had trouble with people thinking they were bruises and trying to report them.

 

But DD never had one, so I've never seen one in person and I'm not sure I'd recognize one if I saw it.

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I would not have known if dd hadn't had them. For a long time I assumed that they were from falling on her butt while learning to walk, but when they didn't go away after awhile, I finally asked her doctor and he told me what they were.

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Are you familiar with these? Would you recognize on sight it's not a bruise?

 

I have no idea how to vote in the poll. :D My son had (it's faded now) one on his back that was light blue, and the doctor nearly fell over from shock because you just can't get whiter than a mostly Norwegian/Irish mix;). His best guess was the Italian blood on dh's side. Anyway, all that to say that I really don't know if I'd be able to differentiate among all the various shades on various skin tones and a bruise, if that makes sense, because I've only ever seen the one.

 

FWIW, I have a strawberry-colored birthmark, and someone in high school swim class once asked if it was a hickey. :001_huh: Um...no. If people have never seen something before, they try to fit it into their own construct of knowledge, and...well, sometimes it just doesn't go well;).

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I would now, but I wouldn't have known before I had children. One of mine had one on his backside, very blue. It is faded now. I can see how someone might have thought it was a bruise, noone but us and the doctor ever saw it.

 

When we first got our boys, I knew it wasn't a bruise (it was huge, covered my oldest's whole backside. my little girls also have them that cover their entire bottom, too!) but I didn't know what it was! I was a little concerned someone might think it was a bruise.

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I've never heard the term before, or seen one...that I know of. Of course, I wouldn't automatically report anything to anyone or assume abuse for "bruises" anyway. My kids are active - they get bruises often. Even I manage to get bruises that I have no idea where they've come from. For the most part, I don't even ask my own kids about their bruises because the standard answer when I ask where it came from is "Oh, I dunno."

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All 3 of mine have had them at birth and they fade by age 3-4.

 

 

I've been "interrogated" about them by a well-meaning nursery worker. After that, I showed anyone who might change a diaper the mongolian spots and explained what they were before leaving them.

 

 

If it's bruising, it's going to change over the course of a few days. Bruises turn from blue to green to yellow over the course of days. Mongolian spots stay the same color and only fade very gradually over the course of years.

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I had not heard of them until I was in training to be an adoptive parent.

 

Thank goodness for the training, because one of my daughters had a large one on her butt/back and it seriously looked like she'd been paddled hard. I would have lost my mind in that hotel room upon taking custody.

 

I voted with the 1st choice, but I can't honestly say I'd know instantly upon seeing one. I always worried that someone would suspect me of child abuse. Whenever it would show and others were around, I was quick to educate them before anyone had a chance to suspect abuse.

 

I'm glad to hear that a lot of people here do know what they are. But there are still many who don't.

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Both of my kids (both adopted, both bi-racial) had them as babies. I remember the nurse at a well baby check up thought ds had a bruise on his forehead and mentioned it to the Dr. before asking me about it. I can only imagine what she was thinking. The Dr. knew right away that it wasn' a bruise though. You'd think a nurse would know. :confused:

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