Hair on the body of the newborn

It may not seem normal but it is, babies are born with body hair. In fair-skinned, fair-skinned children, it is not so obvious, but in dark-skinned newborns, it is surprising, especially for first-time parents, to see how their little arms, back, legs or even their little ears and cheeks are full of

It may not seem normal but it is, babies are born with body hair. In fair-skinned, fair-skinned children, it is not so obvious, but in dark-skinned newborns, it is surprising, especially for first-time parents, to see how their little arms, back, legs or even their little ears and cheeks are full of hair It is not a strange fact and this hair is called lanugo.

Lanugo in the skin of the newborn

We are used to seeing the images of babies in advertisements, posters, television ... They present us as perfect babies: round, with big eyes and rosy mouth. However, the newborn is very far from the idyllic image that is sold to us. He is surrounded by a white fat called vernix caseosa, his face is often swollen and also ... está he is covered in hair! First-time parents are often surprised to see that their baby has hair all over their body and they think if it's going to be like that forever. However,

a lot of this hair that surrounds your shoulders, back and earsgoes down as the days go by. The amount of hair of a child also has a genetic component, children of parents with a lot of hair usually inherit this characteristic.Lanugo appears during pregnancy. The baby's skin throughout pregnancy is very thin and soft, almost transparent in the early stages, so there is no fat under it.

The lanugo acts as a protective layer , as well as the vernix caseosa, a whitish and sticky fat, since otherwise, being constantly in contact with the amniotic fluid would soften. Lan The lanugo appears at the end of the first trimester of pregnancy, first in the baby's head, and by the middle of the gestation it covers the entire body. Some babies lose it before or during birth and others are born with it. It can be long and very dark in color.Preterm babies tend to have more hair than full-term babies because they have not yet lost that protection that would help them to move more smoothly through the birth canal.