You may always wonder what a normal baby should look like. And what seems odd to us sometimes are actually normal characteristics of a newborn.
Before you became a parent, you might have a picture in mind of what a newborn baby looks like. You may imagine a cherub-like baby with soft and tender skin, bumpy cheeks, and a sweet smile.
However, when your baby is first born, you were caught by surprise that they look different from what you thought.
Freshly delivered newborns have the normal characteristics of being covered in good and other fun stuff. Their skin may look blotchy and rashy-red, and their hands and fingers might have a tinge of the colour blue.
It is very much understandable that parents would be frightened by the sight of their newborns. But, most of these icky and unsettling features are actually normal characteristics of a newborn. Yes. N-O-R-M-A-L.
It may be helpful to know what to expect so you may not be alarmed if what your baby would look like after birth. So mums and dads, let us review what the normal characteristics of newborns are.
Normal Characteristics of a Newborn
Whether you are a new parent or a veteran, you might be concerned and curious about why your baby looks like that. Many of the (physical) conditions that we will be talking about here are common and normal characteristics of a newborn.
These conditions will diminish or change as soon as your baby develops and grows. But to make sure if a feature is really normal, you may need the help of a paediatrician.
The list below enumerates the normal characteristics of newborns:
Newborn characteristics of skin
- At birth, the skin of a normal newborn has purplish-red colour. Then, within minutes, the skin turns pink. We can frequently see that the skin and feet are blue during the early hours of your baby's life.
- Jaundice to some degree is normal for newborn babies in their first week of life. Usually, this is due to the immaturity of their livers and is not a health condition for your baby.
Newborn characteristics of the head
- Molding may refer to the long, narrow, cone-shaped head that is caused by the passage through a tight birth canal. If the OB-gynaecologist sed a vacuum to deliver your baby, you might notice more molding and/or bruising. Your baby's head will return to its normal shape in a few days.
- You may also notice a "soft spot" found in the top front part of the head.
- The head closes with a bone when your baby is between 12 and 18 months old.
Newborn's eyes
- The newborn baby's eyes are puffy because of the pressure on the face during delivery.
- The production of "crossed-eyes" and jerky, uneven movements, are normal. Your baby's muscle control of their eye movement is still in development.
Newborn characteristics of the nose
Your baby's nose could have been misshapen during the birth process. It may be flattened or pushed to one side. It will look normal after 1 week of age.
Newborn's reproductive organs
- Swollen breasts are noticeable during the first week of life in many boy and girl babies.
- Your baby's genitalia may be swollen, too.
- Erections usually occur in a newborn baby boy, which means the bladder is full and nerves are normal.
Newborn characteristics of feet
Your baby's feet might be turned in any direction inside the cramped quarters of the uterus or womb.
Newborn's Hair
In some cases, you may find lanugo in your baby after birth. Lanugo is the fine downy hair that is noticeable on your baby's back and shoulders. It is more common to happen in premature babies.
How to Assess the Characteristics of a Newborn
To use the APGAR scale, a doctor gives a score for each sign at one minute and five minutes after birth. If there are problems with the baby, an additional score is given at 10 minutes.
In caesarean-delivered babies, a baby is additionally assessed 15 minutes after the delivery.
A means activity movement of the muscles, P stand for a pulse, G means grimace (response to care), second A stands for the appearance of the skin, and R means respiration/breathing.
| Sign | 0 pts. | 1 point | 2 points | |
| A | Activity (muscle tone) | Absent | Arms and legs flexed | Active movement |
| P | Pulse | Absent | Below 100 bpm | Above 100 bpm |
| G | Grimace | No response | Grimace | Sneeze, cough, pulls away |
| A | Appearance (skin color) | Blue-gray, pale all over | Normal, except for extremities | Normal over the entire body |
| R | Absent | Absent | Slow, irregular | Good, crying |
- A baby with a score of 7 to 10 is considered normal.
- 4 to 7 points may require some resuscitative measures.
- A baby with APGAR of 3 and below requires immediate resuscitation.
You may request or demand your doctor to get your baby's APGAR, just to make sure. Either way, your doctor or OB-gynaecologist shall give it away to prevent any complications, and to ensure your baby is alive and normal.
When Does Baby's Skin Colour Stop Changing?
We've established that pinkish or purplish skin is part of the normal characteristics of a newborn. However, have you noticed how quickly your bub's skin lightened after a few weeks?
Researchers accounted that a baby's skin became lighter and less red between 2 to 2o months old. Additionally, a baby's skin was found to increase yellow pigment until they reach 20 months old.
However, this study was performed on a small sample size, and the racial and ethnic orientations of the babies in the research are unclear. Various ethnic skin tones may change differently, becoming either darker or lighter over time.
Newborn babies can have different skin colours when they are born. Your baby's skin colour might change over time and should settle fully at around 20 months old.
Due to a natural occurrence of genetics, your baby may look more like one of the parents than the other, or may not look like either.
Certain skin colours are typical and common for a newborn baby. But there are various complications or health conditions that can result in a baby's particular skin colour. If this is alarming, you should contact your baby's doctor immediately.
When Do Babies’ Looks Change From the Past Normal Characteristics
This article was written by Nathanielle Torre and republished with permission from theAsianparent Philippines.
Here at theAsianparent Singapore, it's important for us to give information that is correct, significant, and timely. But this doesn't serve as an alternative for medical advice or medical treatment. theAsianparent Singapore is not responsible for those that would choose to drink medicines based on information from our website. If you have any doubts, we recommend consulting your doctor for clearer information.