The appearance in the family of the baby is always a great joy. Relatives, friends and close people come to the “bride”. Everyone is considering the baby, trying to figure out the main question - who does he look more like? Relatives of the father claim similarity with dad, and close mothers see signs of her features.
Some parents are complex if the newborn has hair on his ears, forehead or back. It is believed that this is an abnormal phenomenon, their child will remain so, ashamed to show it to their relatives and try to get rid of any excess hair, in their opinion, by any means.
The older generation of people begins to give "practical" advice on how to remove the hair on the ears of a newborn, for example, shearing with scissors, using cosmetics, pulling out hair with tweezers, shaving and other barbaric methods. Just imagine how painful it will be for your barely born baby. After all, he has such a delicate and thin skin, and any irritation can lead to an inflammatory process.
In the article, we will examine why newborns have hair on their ears, what kind of phenomenon it is, when it appears and why, it will pass or remain on the child’s body. And also what to do to parents, why it depends, and how to care for such a child.
What is lanugo
The original thin fluff covers the body of the fetus even before it is born. It does not contain pigment and is present in absolutely all people and animals. The hair is the rudiments of the first follicles that form even in the womb. Such a gentle fluff of a newborn is called lanugo. According to popular beliefs, hair on the ears of a newborn appears when the mother experiences heartburn. But this is not scientifically proven.
Hair begins to form at the 12th week of fetal development and is on the body for almost 8 months. They grow for a reason, and perform a very important function. In the mother’s stomach, the baby’s body is coated with a special substance, the so-called primordial lubricant. It is similar to wax and protects the child from the effects of amniotic fluid. It is also of great importance for easier passage of the baby through the birth canal at the time of birth.
The hairs on the fetal body retain such lubrication, preventing it from slipping. Most often, lanugo falls on its own even before childbirth, approximately at the 40th week of pregnancy. In most, premature babies are born with the presence of such a gun, since the hairs have not yet had time to fall out. However, sometimes lanugo lingers on the body. Often, hair remains on the ears of the newborn, but it happens that they cover their forehead, back, and sometimes even the arms and legs of the baby. What it depends on, we will consider further.
Causes of Increased Hair
The amount of hair on the baby’s body depends on several reasons:
- Heredity. If the parents have thick thick hair, then the child can be born with hair and a plentiful lanugo.
- Nationality. Southerners have more dense hair - these are Spaniards, Italians, Caucasians, residents of eastern countries.
- Race. The amount of hair also depends on the belonging of people to a certain race, for example, Mongoloid and Negroid. Their hair is very strong and thick.
If the newborn has hair on the ears, then think, maybe one of the above factors is guilty.
What can be hair
Children with different numbers and hair colors are born. There are newborns completely bald, in some places the body is coated with grease. There are options for a light, barely noticeable gun. Parents are most afraid when the child has long, thick and dark hair, resembling stubble throughout the body or in separate areas. When the hair is on the back or arms, then they are not so noticeable when the baby is in an envelope or clothes.
Many parents are embarrassed by the hair on the ears of a newborn. How to get rid of excess hair, both mothers and fathers think. However, you do not need to do this forcibly, since the lanugo falls out quite quickly on its own. It will take only a few weeks, and the hair will roll out and disappear from the baby’s body.
Surprising new parents and hair color, often not consistent with the genotype. For example, blond hair gives birth to a baby with black hair. It all depends on the amount of pigment melanin, which is formed at the genetic level and a certain hormonal background. The endocrine system takes part in the process of its production. The real hair color will appear in a child only by 5 years.
When to worry
There are cases when experts consider abundant hair growth of a newborn to be an anomaly. Consider the following options:
- Stigma. These are the so-called small anomalies, among which there is a significant increase in the amount of hair in the baby. Hypertrichosis can be expressed as eyebrows fused together or a triangular cape on the forehead from the hair.
- "Island" hair covering. Also considered a deviation from the norm, especially if the abundant presence of hair is not characteristic of race, nationality, or heredity of the child;
- The hair on the ears of the child remains for a long time, and also appears on other parts of the body, except the palms and feet. This is characteristic of Wolfman syndrome, most often combined with abnormalities of the outer parts of the ears. This is a fairly rare occurrence, found mainly in India.
If in doubt, your child has lanugo residues on his body or there is some kind of anomaly, then consult a doctor for advice.
Getting rid of lanugo
The hair on the ears of the newborn will go away on its own, doctors recommend that they not be manipulated. This can take from several weeks to several months. The natural causes of hair loss are hormonal changes in the body after birth. Now the newborn has no close connection with the mother's body, this is reflected in the condition of the hairline. Even having been born with long dark hair, the baby gradually loses them, bald patches appear. This is not necessary to be afraid of, the process of baldness is quite normal, all children pass through it.
So that your hair is not wiped only in one place where the baby most often moves or friction occurs with bedding, a bonnet, try turning the child on the other side, not wearing a hat, and laying it more often on his stomach. The embryonic fluff should completely disappear by six months. By this time, old hair is updated to new.
You can speed up the process with hygiene procedures. These are frequent warm baths with rubbing problem areas with a mitten or a soft sponge. In water, the hairs get wet and can be easily removed without special tools.
The appearance of bristles
However, in some cases, the embryonic fluff is in no hurry to fall out, and the hair is bent and becomes stiff. In the photograph of the baby, such bristles are clearly visible, which the people nicknamed the "poker" because of the bent ends.
Doctors explain this phenomenon by sticking to a secret secreted by the sebaceous glands, hairs of the baby’s gun and the remnants of dead cells of the upper layer of the skin. This phenomenon is observed at the age of 3 months.
In any case, doctors reassure us that such a problem does not pose any danger to the child. So do not worry too much and find out how to remove the stubble in a newborn, since pediatricians believe that it should disappear on its own.
The difference between bristles and lanugo
The baby's embryonic fluff is soft and thin, over time it rolls up and falls out completely painlessly for the baby. If the hairs did not fall out before birth, then the process ends in approximately the first two weeks.
The bristles do not cover the whole body, more often they are located between the cannon hairs. To the touch they are more rigid and twisted. Such hairs are in no hurry to get out, and they can cause a lot of inconvenience to the child. Often they are on the ears. Even after taking a warm bath and wiping with a special mitten or sponge, they do not fall out.
The hard hair on the ears of a newborn, according to young mothers, interferes with children, pricks and causes discomfort. There are several ways to easily get rid of excess hair without harming the baby. Consider the most popular reviews of mothers and doctors.
How to remove the hair on the ears of a newborn
The accumulation of hair on the ears does not pass on its own, especially if it is not a thin fluff that grows there, but hard bristles. What can mothers do to get rid of them painlessly? Everyone knows that hair is wiped more likely in places of frequent friction, so you need to rub your ears using different methods. This can occur during active movements of the child, wearing a cap or hat will also contribute to the friction of the tissue through the hair on the ears of the baby.
While swimming, rub them lightly with soft gloves, tampons, or a sponge. All rubbing actions will help to quickly deal with the problem of unwanted hair.
Rolling out with a ball of bread and dough
Since ancient times, excess hairs have been rolled out using a crumb rolled into a ball. To do this, you need to take freshly baked bread, remove only the soft part with your hands and roll a round, even ball in your palms.
After taking a warm bath, the baby’s body will warm up, the pores of the skin will expand and only then can you begin to act. The ball is rolled through the hair on the newborn’s ear for 2 or 3 minutes. Then gently pat the rubbing area with a dry and soft diaper. If you notice redness on the skin, then the best way, according to our grandmothers, is to rub such spots with a few drops of breast milk. It has not only a calming, but also anti-inflammatory effect on the delicate skin of the baby.
Another effective way of rolling out the bristles with dough. It consists of 2 tablespoons of water, a little flour and a teaspoon of vegetable oil. Knead the dough and roll out a small, but tight ball. They roll out hairs that stick to the dough. They will be noticeable visually.
Honey cakes
Before using this method when removing excess hairs on the baby’s body, check if he is allergic to honey. To do this, apply a small amount to your hand and wipe off with a damp cloth in a couple of minutes. If there is no red spot, you can use this method calmly.
Honey in a water bath is heated a little so that it melts, but was not hot. Then lay it on the bristles and cover with a bandage folded several times. From above everything turns into a plastic wrap. Such a compress must be held for 5 minutes, and then remove and wipe the place with warm water. Everything will pass from such a procedure, the hair on the ears of a newborn baby will gently come out of the skin and will not appear again.
Roll out a boiled egg
Let's get acquainted with another effective method tested by our grandmothers and mothers. One hard boiled egg is boiled. Cool it to a warm state. Before the procedure, the baby’s body is lubricated with baby oil or cream, and an egg is rolled over the skin on top of it.
You need to make movements within 5 minutes. The child will enjoy a warm massage, he will not resist. Friction will cause the hairs to leave their growth sites after warming the skin.
Contraindications
Categorically not:
- Shave your hair with a razor.
- To oil with a lighter or a candle.
- Cut lanugo with scissors. From this they do not disappear.
- Pull hairs with tweezers or forceps.
- Use modern hair removal products for adults, both cosmetic and chemical.
Reviews about these methods
The opinions of parents were divided. Some are categorically against the forced removal of the bristles and say that their babies themselves have lost their hair, some at the age of 8 months. Others decided to try folk ways. Rolling out bread crumbs helped get rid of unnecessary hairs in two days.
Others were only helped by water procedures and wiping with a glove. In two weeks, all the bristles got out and did not appear again.
The article describes in detail why a child can grow hair on his ears, back or forehead after birth, how to relate to their appearance, how to distinguish lanugo residues from developmental abnormalities and hormonal imbalance. Simple folk methods of getting rid of unnecessary hairs on the body without causing harm and pain to the baby are also described.