Mongolian Blue Spots -which races get these?

[Anne2008]

Am I correct in thinking it's African and Asian countries only?

A baby can have one even if they are mixed race, aslong as they have the african/asian race in them too, right?

[liawbh]

Originally Posted by Anne2008

Am I correct in thinking it's African and Asian countries only?

nope

[wednesday2004]

A baby of any ethnicity can get them. They're just more common in some ethnic backgrounds then others.

[okura]

i thought all except (fully) Caucasian babies had them.

i know lots of mixed race babes with them.

[wednesday2004]

I remember reading that about 10% of caucasian babies have them, however they tended to be Mediterranian decent and up to 90% Native American babies had them.

[elephantine]

I have read that 3% of caucasian babies have them, then the numbers go way up from there... I think more children worldwide have them than not.

[Swan3]

Originally Posted by Anne2008

Am I correct in thinking it's African and Asian countries only?

A baby can have one even if they are mixed race, aslong as they have the african/asian race in them too, right?

Latina here (which in our case means mixed white/Aboriginal), my sister got them, I didn't.

[ernalala]

Originally Posted by Anne2008

Am I correct in thinking it's African and Asian countries only?

A baby can have one even if they are mixed race, aslong as they have the african/asian race in them too, right?

Just wondering WHY you ask?

Both my children got these mongolian spots. The marks kind of disappeared around 12-18 months. I found those scary on first notice, I thought it was some kind of bruising (????????), lol. I'm 100% Caucasian myself and had never heard of mongolian marks before, my husband is from Kurdish-Saudi descent. I checked 'What to expect the first year/toddler years' (1994) for reference to any of such thing as a greyish shadow-like marks on my baby's lower back. It says its very common in Black(98,8%), Asian (81%) and Hispanic (70%) infants. It doesn't say anything about such birthmaks being exclusive to these races, only about commonness.

I also surprised many of my caucasian descent friends and family when they asked (over the phone)about my newborns eye colour, and I replied ' dark brown from birth'. They all expected blue/greyish eyed newborns (with expectancy of eye colour change later on) and didn't have a clue that non-caucasian babies (or only partly) are often BORN with brown eyes.

My babies were born with quite a head of black hair (imo), while it is quite uncommon for caucasian babies to have much hair at birth, and eefinitely not pitch black :-). And comparing to babies born around here (Turkey) my newborns had very little newborn hair, lol. The black hair fell out over the next couple of months and got replaced by 'permanent' hair, which became first curly blondish then wavy light brown for DS1 and slightly wavy medium blonde for DS2.

These last two paragraphs being of topic of course :-).

[little feet]

My DH is Iranian, fairly light skinned, and I've got a mixed background (1/8 Indonesian, rest Western European) and a much darker complexion. I had Mongolian blue spots at birth. DD #1 is quite fair, was born with blue eyes, and now has DH's exact complexion. She did not have blue spots. DD #2 (7 mos.) has blue spots all over her back, and is a bit darker than DD #1, though not as dark as I am.

[BookGoddess]

My daughter has a Mongolian Spot on her lower back although it's fading now. She's a mix of various Asian ethnicities and two European ethnicities and she's part Hawaiian to boot.

My niece who is half Japanese has a very prominent Mongolian Spot.

My nephew who is part Chinese, Hawaiian, Filipino, Japanese has one too.

[3pink1blue]

my DD1 is caucasian. i am very fair skin and her bio dad has a darker complexion. she was born with dark brown eyes, a halo of fuzzy red hair, exceptionally pale skin.... and mongolian spots on her lower back and bottom. any child can get them. at age 7, hers are nearly gone now.

[Ammaarah]

One thing about Mongolian spots - I discussed my daughter's spot with her doctor when she was a newborn and she made a note of it in her medical record. There have been a couple cases where parents were accused of abuse by ignorant medical personnel who see a dark spot and assume it's a bruise! I've even read about kids being removed from their parents' care. So not to be paranoid or make anyone paranoid, but it's a good idea to document the spot if you can.

My daughter is Bengali and Euro-American and still has a shadow of a Mongolian spot on her tush at 3.

[ernalala]

Originally Posted by Ammaarah

One thing about Mongolian spots - I discussed my daughter's spot with her doctor when she was a newborn and she made a note of it in her medical record. There have been a couple cases where parents were accused of abuse by ignorant medical personnel who see a dark spot and assume it's a bruise! I've even read about kids being removed from their parents' care. So not to be paranoid or make anyone paranoid, but it's a good idea to document the spot if you can.

My daughter is Bengali and Euro-American and still has a shadow of a Mongolian spot on her tush at 3.

Good idea.
Yes, my initial thought was that it was some kind of bruising - where did that come from - help! And then still when I found out about the phenomenon I got somewhat relieved, but not completely, I was frantic that anyone else who saw the bluish shadows would think it was bruising, incl (ignorant) medical staff??? I immediately informed dh about the presence of the mongolian spots too.

Especially since ppl like to question every kind of mark on your children... A neighbour even was convinced that I must have 'dropped' my baby when she'd found some tiny reddish/purple marks on his head and the back of his neck - the last moments of the premature birth of DS1 had been an emergency and it ended in a lot of pulling from my obstetrician, a midwife pressing all her force on my belly, and a vaccuum delivery.

I only did notice the mongolian spots on DS1 when he was already several months old. These were more like shadows and he has a dark (olive) complexion, and I was not usually looking at his back :-), he also was severely jaundiced as a newborn so it took a while before that dramatic orange colour faded away.

He has another kind of (prominent) mocha birthmark on his leg, but that only got visible after several weeks or months, too. That one has the shape of a squirrel; later he developed a dark mole on the same leg and we decided that it must be the squirrrel's nut . (Seen too much Ice Age too - lol).

[FondestBianca]

my ds has a very large one on his upper back. It's a big purple (exactly like a bruise) squareish area scaping the UPPER left side of his back just below his shoulder all the way down almost to the middle of his back. It even extends out onto the back of his left arm and has one tiny spot (about the size of a dot from a sharpie marker) that is darker than all the rest. He is only slightly darker skinned than I am so it's pretty noticeable. A lactation consultant was actually the first to notice it in the hospital a few hours after he was born. Thank goodness she did because if I had discovered it I would have thought it was a huge bruise! I actually had my doctor make an official detailed note in his medical charts so no one can wonder if it's a bruise or not!

I'm prodominatly white as far as I know but, dh is half mexican, a bit over a 1/4 native american, and the rest is european of some sort I imagine. No one in my side of family has these kind of birthmarks, The only person on dh's side that I know of that has one is his sister's daughter. Her mark is the typical size and placement on the lower back. She is 3/4 mexican, 1/8 native american, and I'm not sure about the rest.

My little guy is only 2 months so I have no idea how his birthmark will change over time. I have a birthmark that is a medium brown color and dh has one that is a color lighter than his skin tone. Dd has one of each of those which I find kind of funny.

[Jezzy]

My lo has one, I am white (french, dutch, irish, indian)and dh is 100% german so I guess any baby could get one

[FondestBianca]

Originally Posted by okura

i thought all except (fully) Caucasian babies had them.

i know lots of mixed race babes with them.

there is absolutly no such thing as full anything these days! I think we're all a lot more colorful than we think we are.

[pixiepunk]

i had one as a baby, and my youngest has one (both small, and on the butt). My heritage is Turk/Ukrainian/Belorusian/Israeli. DH is mostly a Euro-mutt (as he calls it ) but his grandmother is 1/4 Native American.

i didn't realize they were so common, though, that is cool! i was the only one in my extended family with one, and no one on DH's side has ever had one that we know of.

[Bad Mama Jama]

my daughter had multiple ones on her back as a small baby and one on her butt, which has since faded. also, she had one on one shoulder that also faded. i kind of miss 'em.

[LaffNowCryLater]

My kids are black/white and have them

[Erdbeer]

My son has one. My family heritage is mostly German with a bit of Syrian. My husband is German and his mother is German/Polish. I assume it must come from the Syrian part of the family! My son came out with olive skin and black eyes, and I am a pale-skinned redhead. My husband is your typical brown haired, brown eyed caucasian with very slightly olive skin.