Friend insists babies can’t have freckles

[ActonBell]

Just that really. My 8 month old has at least 3 tiny brown freckles on his body. One is on his back and has certainly been there since birth. He’s always been kept out of the sun and he certainly hasn’t had the sun on his back. A friend came over with her baby and they were playing in just nappies because it was really warm. She saw the freckles and insists that ‘babies never have freckles, all freckles are caused by sun damage, that’s not what those are’.

I googled it and most of the results are along the lines of ‘why don’t babies have freckles’. But they do right? Some people are born with a few freckles aren’t they? Both my husband and I have loads - though I don’t have any on my face. My 5 year old didn’t have any when he was born but has some on his face now (always use factor 50+ and a hat). I just assumed they were genetic.

My friend is just so insistent. It’s like a ‘dogs can’t look up’ thing. She’s adamant and says if I really want to know what they are I should take him to a professional dermatologist!
Is she wrong?

She's right,they're likely moles as freckles occour with sun exposure.

I think!

My baby had a couple of freckles on his body/arms which have since become moles (he's now almost 4). I asked the health visitor about it when he was a baby and she was unconcerned, just said that babies often develop the odd mole quite early on.

She's right. Freckles are caused by sun damage. If your baby was born with pigmented patches, or they developed soon after birth, those are I think technically moles.

I should clarify... they were obviously always moles, but they looked like freckles at first!

I think they’re tiny moles rather than freckles if they’ve not been caused by sun exposure.

I'm not quite sure I get the sun damage thing though as my ds had tons of freckles and I covered him in factor 50.

Oh right! I always thought moles were bigger and the one on the nhs birth marks website looks massive but now I realise you can’t really tell what scale that picture is supposed to be at.
That makes more sense. So do I have loads of freckles or loads of moles? All mine are pretty tiny. How do you tell the difference?

You can still get sun damage with factor 50 sunscreen. I burn very quickly and even with sunscreen I only go in the sun for short bursts and mainly stay in the shade. I am covered in freckles too!

I have freckles EVERYWHERE, and I do mean everywhere. They didn't go away with age either.

They do become more pronounced in the summer ,and tend to fade in winter,but they're always there.

First of all,freckles are genetic, however they tend to appear around 2/3 years old. So it's likely your baby will have freckles if both you and DH have them.

Second, yes they do react to the sun, however sun exposure is not the same as sun damage, and a particular area doesn't need to be exposed to the sun to have freckles on it. They simply form melanin.

It's very likely what your son has on him now are some tiny little moles. Moles can also be flat(ish) just darker than freckles and the area tends to be more defined.

That's because they are caused by sun exposure,not damage which are two very different things.

Freckles aren’t skin damage. They’re and inherited feature and they appear to stop skin damage. They do appear after exposure to the sun though which is probably why people think it’s damage.

They’re probably little moles on your baby.

Ds had them from 18 months and had very minimal exposure to the sun. People who have them must be so pre disposed to developing them that the slightest exposure triggers them.

Sorry, I cross posted,that's interesting.

I am so glad I read this. I took my son out when he was 3 one evening in September from 4-7pm. Didn't think suncream was needed and he got quite badly burnt. Freckles appeared shortly after and every time I see them I feel so guilty that I let him get sunburnt that one time!

Freckles are not sun damage any more than a tan is. They’re caused by sun exposure (which can lead to damage).

They’re like an uneven tan - only parts of your skin tans and the rest doesn't.

*Not saying they are an even tan, but that’s what it feels like to me (I burn instead of tanning, but my freckles develop:with sun exposure).

Freckles are caused by exposure to UV radiation - sun rays

UV radiation can penetrate clothing so just because your baby has been slathered in factor 50 and covered when in the sun, depending on the material covering them they will still be exposed to UV.

I was told off earlier this month by a dermatologist who examined every one of my numerous freckle/moles after I had an iffy looking one. I've rarely been sun burnt, never blistered and never peeled, never used a sun bed and I always apply factor 50 to myself as I worked outdoors for many years and am regularly at the beach but apparently that's not good enough and was told to wear UV 50 clothing instead. She said I was at high risk of skin cancer due to my numerous freckle/moles and would be having annual check ups from now on.

My boys are 10 & 8 now and both have freckles that appeared as toddlers. We're all dark haired, dark eyed and olive skinned.

My DH has a ton of them so I figured they were genetic, but we also live in the Caribbean so theirs probably came out sooner due to sun exposure. DH didn't get his freckles until he was much older.

DS2 definitely had a couple of little birth freckles on his lower back and ankle which were there when he was born.