Bruising on newborns?

My3LilMonkeys wrote: Just a curious question I'm hoping someone can help me with because I'm too lazy to do a lot of research on it.

A friend of SIL's just gave birth last night to a little girl. She was born with what looks to SIL (I haven't seen her yet) like a dark strawberry birthmark covering the left side of her body from under her ribs to her face. The Dr. said it could be a birthmark or it could be a bruise.

I've never heard of babies being born with a large bruise like that. Has anyone ever experienced this? Do you know what might cause it?

~Roo'sMama~ replied: I have never heard of it happening, but I can see where it might - they get squeezed awfully tight coming out. Maybe she was in a weird position for part of the way down, or maybe she just has more sensative skin.

Hopefully that's all it is and not a birthmark - a birthmark like that would be not fun to live with - and would maybe even need to be removed.

gr33n3y3z replied:
I have seen babies with birthmarkslike that but i cant ever say I saw a bruise

luvmykids replied: Sounds like it could be stork bite or something. I know its a pretty tight squeeze for those babies but I've never heard of bruising.

punkeemunkee'smom replied: Sounds like a Stork Bite-which I think is the wierdest name for a birthmark ever! I hope not but I have never heard of a bruise that big on a newborn.

huggybugboy replied: I dont know about being on the body, but Miles was born with a bruise on the top of his head and I've heard its really common in babies who are delivered really quickly. (That was not my problem, Miles didn't want to come out.)

MamaJAM replied: A friend of mine had a baby in high school -- the baby was too wide for her hips...though was delivered vaginally anyway. The baby was born with a broken pelvic bone and had quite a bit of bruising. She wore a brace for the first 3 or 4 months and was fine after that. I think the brusing took about a month to completely go away.

Though the mark your SIL saw is, more likely, a birth mark. I always thought 'Stork Bites' were just birthmarks on the back of the head/neck? Three of my kids were born with those.

Boys r us replied: That's really odd! Braedon when he was born had a "bruise" right above his butt. I freaked when I noticed it b/c I thought I had bruised him somehow..like by holding him with my hand there too long or something( I know sounds stupid now..but I didn't know..not like he was up getting into things getting hurt, he was 1 week old) so I took him to the doctor who said it was a Mongolian spot or something like that. Basically my husband has strong and recent blood lines from the mediteranean and these marks that are blueish that look as though they are a bruise are common in "mixed" families with one parent being either african american or from a mediteranean country. So that's what his is, he's 3 and it's still there.

MyBlueEyedBabies replied: That sounds like a birthmark to me. Katy had a bruise and a huge(small but huge for a new mom to be seeing) scrape on her head from my pelvic bone. I don't see how she would have been squeezed so tightly arround her neck to cause bruising but not arround her head.

C&K*s Mommie replied: One of my nephews was born with what we thought was a bruise right around his left set of ribs. For the longest time we swore, although we knew better, that it was a bruise. It was a fuzzy looking brown mark, like when bruises start to go away.

Christian had a strawberry mark on her head, that eventually faded in time.

It probably is a birth mark, some are just bigger then others.

Hillbilly Housewife replied: Stork bites look like a triangular small birth mark - shaper like a "stork's bite", hence tha name... and mongolian spots are blueish, right around the tailbone. Naomie was born with one - she still has it. Anyone can have it, not just mixed blood lines.

It's important for the doctors to mark down when they see the mongolian spots... because further down the road they can easily be mistaken for signs of abuse - remedied quickly with a peek at medical records.

It could also just be...reddish skin. Naomie looked almost a raw skin color... she was a little reddish for a couple weeks.

jcc64 replied: Ditto what Rocky and Nicole said. All 3 of my kids (who are bi-racial) were born with Mongolian spots, which look exactly like a bruise on or near the butt. At 3.5, Corey still has 3 of them. The dr recorded them in the charts so I wouldn't erroneously be accused of abuse. Doesn't sound like the same exact thing, but my point is that birthmarks can look exactly like bruises.

BAC'sMom replied: Sounds like a birthmark to me too. My son has a birthmark in between his eyes (brow) area and on both eyelids. It was very dark and reddish/purple, it’s faded a bit since he has gotten older, but if he is mad or gets hot running around outside let say….. then it gets dark again!
My pediatrician told me that it is called an “Angel’s Kisses” birthmark.

paradisemommy replied: yep..skyler was born with a mongolian spot on her butt..i freaked after the first day home thinking it looked like a bruise and knowing i had been with her the whole time since she was born..

my ped said that it happens in predominantly asian babies and that it will eventually fade (normally does)... so no worries..

fashionmumofboys replied: It sounds like a birthmark to me to. I've never heard or seen bruising to be that large in size.

Both of my boys have birthmarks. Alesio had a strawberry in the back of his neck, which now has faded and Rambo on his head where there is a little spot with no hair on it, but you can't see it, cause the rest of his hair covers it.