AIBU to ask you please about your experiences with "Mongolian Blue Spot".

[DotRotten]

Regular namechanger.
I ask in kind of a professional capacity.

In my job I come across MBS or Congenital Dermal Melanocytosis very regularly.

As I'm not a doctor I cannot diagnose it, so have to refer parents to hospital to have it confirmed. If we don't any mark will be flagged as potential abuse.

I am very, very uncomfortable with the whole pathway. I don't even like saying MBS in front of parents as even the name is awful.

Can I ask of your experiences if your child has MBS?

When my baby was born a midwife mentioned it and wrote it in the red book. It seems to have faded since. Ds now 6 months.

Both of my daughters have it, but not my son - or he did but it faded quickly and no one in this country ever saw it. my daughters' were noted at the hospital at the birth and I think by the visiting midwife but no one has mentioned it to us since.

Surely people wouldn't think it's abuse as they are unchanging marks aren't they?

I hadn't even thought about this. Sorry - unhelpful.

I mean unchanging as they fade but don't change colours like bruises.

My ds was born with a blue birth mark across the left side of his chest, it has faded some but you can see a faint outline.

I didn't know what it was when he was born and the midwife told us not to worry about it.

Friend was asked if her child's father was from Asia when their DC was born with one. He was from Eastern Europe, and thankfully the family were already aware of them.

Ds2 has one on his back. I asked GP about it when he was a few months old, he told me it was MBS and not to worry. It has since faded to a tiny brown mark.

Oh yes Js, that happened to us too - my husband wasn't around so they asked his ethnic background. He's Asian.

They never asked us our family history, both dh and myself are white.

DD had one on her bottom when she was born. She's 10 now, and it has almost completely faded. I can't remember any HCP ever being concerned about it.

3 of my dc were born with large blue spots, one dc had 2 and the second was on a wrist where it could easily be mistaken for a bruise. We asked that they were documented at birth by a midwife and again by a GP at routine developmental checks. They all vanished by the time each child was 5.

DS has one on his back the size of a thumb print, the dr added it to his notes at my request. I do feel the need to explain it's a birth mark to people if they see it, but now DS is 3 and has bruises from falling over etc it doesn't really look like a bruise as bruises turn yellow-ish.

I think DD has a very feint one on her back too.

Ds had one at the base of his spine. I am half greek so he probably inherited from my side. Showed it to my HV who told me it was a MBS. It disappeared by the the time he was a toddler. I would take a photo now just to have a record

I had one when I was born. I still have it now but it's very very faint and really small at the bottom of my back. It covered my whole back when I was a baby.

My brother had one too when he was born and the midwives didn't note it at the hospital and the health visitor did think it was a bruise but I'm not sure if it was ever followed up

My DD1 (7) has a circular one on her bottom from birth, slightly faded now but still there. DD2 has nothing. My husband is Asian. The HV told us what it was and told us to be aware that some people might question its origin (meaning abuse) but weirdly no one ever has!

DH has one, at the bottom of his spine.
It looks like a bruise.
He is very dark-skinned, but both parents British and pale as milk.
He is 67 . It was believed that his mother was kicked by an animal at the bottom of her back when she was pregnant !

Yes. My younger son had a HUGE one that covered much of his buttocks and lower back as a baby, as well as smaller ones on his upper arm and on his wrist.

Nothing was ever said or done beyond telling us that's what it was.

Our nanny did ask what it was, in a very nice way. I know it did look very much like bruising to her. I was fine with her asking, I would far rather that.

DS had one on the bottom of his back at birth. Midwife noted it and said it was due to him being mixed race (his father is Nepalese)

Completely disappeared now he is age 7.

My son has a large MBS on his bum. As he quite you do I am aware of telling childcare etc as they do nappy changes. Even when he was admitted into hospital, for nothing related to MBS, we told the docs for fear of them seeing it & assuming it's a bruise. I have it documented somewhere from his birth records which helps. DH & I are very aware of it when we are with strangers as we would hate people to think he was bring abused :(

My DS had the extent of his MBS (multiple) noted in his medical records because of where they were. He had bands across both his wrists and ankles, which looked like he had been grabbed, a large one across his back, which looked like he had been hit hard across the back, and one that looked like a thumb print at the top of his thigh. The Dr justt said that he thought that it would be better to be documented because the HCPs in my area didn't have a lot of experience with them (at the time).

It turned out to be a good thing because there were times when DH took DS to A&E (kissing tonsils) and it saved having to answer awkward questions. DD has just the one spot on her bum but nobody has ever mentioned it. DS's have now faded but he still has faint mark around one of his ankles.

My daughter has one on the top of the gap between her buttocks (sort of where her tailbone is)...she is 7 and it has never changed.

I think anyone who knows about MBS would not think it a sign of abuse. I am white (husband Asian) and had never heard of it...midwife told me about it and I was not offended in the least by the name.

My daughter has one of these I think. It's lime a dark shadow at the top of her buttock crease and her lower back. Don't think it ever noted or recorded by Dr. For ages I kept thinking it was a normal thing but a thread on here made me think could be MBS. My husband and I are both white though.

Sorry, that's practically unreadable!

Our midwife was really confused when ds was born with a blue spot as both dh and I are white. They actually asked dh if he was Asian (he is quite dark!). It's definitely given us something to think about about our family tree.

It was noted in our red book and we were told to ensure we told childcare about it when he started because of the potential abuse issues. We did when he started nursery and never had any problems. It had disappeared by 5yo.

Two of my DGC have them.

It was mentioned. They've faded.

End of story really.

Its just a name, use it otherwise you then make it sound offensive IYSWIM. DD had one at the very bottom of her back (I am half-asian) and although I thought it was a funny name, once I understood the context I realised why.

I think its gone now, she is 3.