Sacral Dimple

[Cosywosy]

My 2 week old DD has a crooked bum crack with a birth mark. The midwife mentioned a sacral dimple on her first visit when DD was 2 days old. She literally just said she has a sacral dimple, didn't explain what is was or point it out. I also don't see it mentioned in DD's online notes but looking at her spine it's definitely there.

I didn't think anything of it but remembered tonight and decided to Google 🙄 Now of course I'm worried about tethered cord syndrome and spina bifida.

I'll mention it to the health visitor this week and bring it up to GP at six week check. Does anyone have any experiences of this? Her bum cleft veers to the left and there's a red birthmark to the right of it.

My 2 yo daughter had/has exactly this And I fell down that same Google hole!

I noticed it a couple of hours after she was born and the midwife on the delivery ward didn’t make much of it. At the 3 day check I mentioned it to the midwife and she referred me to a GP. She was pretty reassuring and said we’d just keep an eye on it.

So a couple of weeks later I was very surprised to receive a call from the same gP to say she’d been thinking about this and was going to refer us for a scan.

My daughters bottom crack veers off to the left and there’s a small hole, just bigger than a pin prick. The scan reassured us that it’s nothing to worry about and that her spine is closed over.

Easier said than done, I know, but try not to worry (step away from Google!)
As you say, mention it and see if they’ll organise a scan for peace of mind. We were told that it could become infected with baby nappies but we’ve never had a problem.

Good luck and congratulations!

I have a dd (now 18 months) with a wonky bum and slight sacral dimple. No birth mark though. She is healthy with no issues, although they were worried about spina bifida. Hopefully someone who is more helpful will come along soon.

Congratulations on dd

My dc had this. The midwife said “it’s nothing to worry about, you’ll just be able to recognise their bum in a line out”. There was never any question of if being something worrying. I have never googled it!

I have one. No issues.

Thanks all! I'm not quite sure what I'm hoping to achieve with this post except to overthink it further. I'm annoyed that I didn't ask what it meant when the midwife first mentioned it.

It wasn't picked up during the newborn check before DD was discharged. Hopefully GP can offer some checks or advice.

I think the birthmark as well as the dimple is what's concerning me. From what I see online having just one is generally fine.

@pennysays I wish I hadn't googled!

My youngest also had this. Picked up by a physio when we were being shown some exercises for her talipes. I hadn't noticed. No birthmark, but a patch of hair at the base of her spine. After googling I did initially panic. When I raised it at the next GP check they had a good look and weren't concerned. The patch of hair has since fallen out and no worries 3 years later.

Ds1 has a wonky bum crack and a sacral dimple. It wasn't picked up at birth hut the GP had a really long look at the dimple at the 6 week check. Luckily for him. The dimple didn't go all the way through to the spine so no measures were necessary. Aged 11 now there's nothing wrong with him at all. The bum crack will always be recognisable though...

Thanks @Flossieskeeper, I will ask for a scan. I don't think I'd be reassured without one.

I'm glad your son is ok and got the support and treatment he needed.

My DD had this picked up on her newborn check, they weren't worried and it wasn't mentioned again. I think they weren't worried because the skin was closed over. I just had to remember to clean it during nappy changes.

DD2 has one, it was found at birth & she had to go back to see a dr at the hospital a few weeks later. They were satisfied that the dimple wasn't too deep & she was discharged.
This week we discovered that 8mo DS has one too, but much shallower.
Bringing it up with HV is a good idea, hopefully it will out your mind at rest.

Dd has one. She isn13 now. As skin was closed over there was no further tests done. She has a wonky bun crack but not aware of it herself!

dd had one along with birthmarks She's early 20s now. There hasn't be any issues.

Myself and my son have one, never had a problem. My mum had one also, she suffered with large abscesses in it, she ended up having an op to remove all the flesh from the area, this was in the 70's, so probably not as informed as they are now.

My youngest son has this, he's in his 20s now. There've been no issues but I'm very glad Google wasn't around when he was born or I'd have worried myself silly.

My daughter has two! Double dimple. Midwife said she had never seen that before in all her years. Had scan, all perfectly normal.

Thanks everyone, it's actually quite reassuring to read that more often it's not an issue.

I'll speak to the health visitor on Thursday.

DD had the exact same, dimple, wonky bum crack, birthmark. I was worried sick. She's now 10 and has had no problems at all.

It should have been spotted and checked at birth. Certain dimples because of their shape and placement someone who knows what they’re looking at can tell if it’s one that needs to be investigated further or not. Most do not.

If it was a problem it would have been mentioned! It's only really an issue if you can't see the bottom of it.

One of mine has a sacral dimple that wasn't really mentioned/only mentioned in passing.
Another has a deep dimple that was picked up on immediately after birth - they did some checks and measured it before we even left hospital but it was also deemed fine (and has been).