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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

...to ask if any of you thought your babies WEREN'T attractive?

134 replies

DangerGrouse · 08/07/2015 22:00

This is not meant to be a serious or mean post, I was talking to my friend the other day who causally mentioned that when her son was born she secretly thought he was ugly as he was bald with bulgy eyes and sticky out ears.
I was fascinated as I've NEVER heard anyone admit they thought their baby was ugly, I thought we all get slightly 'deluded mum brains' and all think our baby is the most beautiful thing ever to have been born - (when, let's face it some new borns are a bit odd looking). But now I wonder if there's others out there who didnt think that but didn't admit it either?
I'm really curious now!
Again, this isn't a nasty thread just seeing what people think as its maybe even a bit taboo?!

OP posts:
ancientbuchanan · 08/07/2015 23:50

I thought Ds was plain. Not hideous but not good looking. Emcs. Pink and white, more white than pink, uncrumpled. But plain with a disappointing nose. I argued with the paed and registrar when they each said he was incredibly pretty.

It was when he smiled that my heart turned over.

NorahBone · 08/07/2015 23:52

I always thought all new parents were deluded, so imagine my surprise when my baby was born perfect in every way (except for the peely skin and the gooey eye).
When the Bounty lady came round asking about photos, though, I still thought "good God, no". If we were paying for photos we'd wait for him to get cute first.

Fatmomma99 · 08/07/2015 23:53

What a great thread! My mother always tells me how when I was born (her pfb), my aunt, her SIL turned up at the hospital and commiserated about how ugly I was. My mum still regrets not punching her! SHE thought I was beautiful (she is still the only one who does!)

When MY DD was born (and it took us 6 years to conceive) the first thing I thought when I looked at her was "Oh shit! She's got my piggy eyes" and my second thought was "She's got a pretty pouty-mouth, she'll be ok".

We then went on thinking she was gorgeous. My first indication that she wasn't was when my boss came to visit. He met her and said in false tones "oh, what a cutie". That was the first time I looked at her anew.

When she was born (in 2001) there was an advert for the soft drink, Sprite. It had this bald cartoon character with sticking out ears. (you'd have to be there at the time to know what I'm talking about) At the time we didn't clock it, but we now know she was the SPITTING IMAGE of this thing.

She was HIDEOUS.

Now she does turn heads! And we have loved her in each and every phase!

ArmySal · 09/07/2015 00:05

A dead giveaway your baby may not be the best looker are comments like ''Ooh, isn't he small?'' It was all I could muster when I saw my sister's first born, he looked like Kenneth Williams sucking a lemon.

My first was a beauty, big and beautiful.
My second was covered in white hair and looked positively frightening.

CocktailSausage · 09/07/2015 00:07

Ds1 was born with very dark, long hair - everywhere and his eyes were so wide apart I thought I'd given birth to an alien monkey.

Ds2 was equally shocking. He was born the spitting image of my father. The first thing I remember saying after I'd given birth was "oh my god I've given birth to my dad"Confused

DixieNormas · 09/07/2015 00:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

bloodyteenagers · 09/07/2015 00:12

Yes.
When one of mine was born everyone kept cooing saying ooh he's really bonny. Or beautiful. Or all the girls will be chasing him. You get the drift.

I used to stand there listening thinking omg are you insane. He looks like a cross between mr
Potato head and ET... His face looked odd for months.

sleepyhead · 09/07/2015 00:12

I thought ds1 was gorgeous from the moment he was born - classic mummy goggles, feeling slightly sorry for all the other mums with babies who were clearly not as beautiful as ds1, the whole cliche.

Ds2.... he is fabulous, and very cute now he's a toddler, but man he was an ugly newborn. He came out fast with a nose squashed like a boxer's, red, blotchy and looking seriously pissed off with the world.

BabyFeets · 09/07/2015 00:19

I think all new borns are ugly until they get to around 4 months then they are super cute

CainInThePunting · 09/07/2015 00:23

DS looked a lot like a skinned rabbit...(over baked).

But he grew on me.

RagstheInvincible · 09/07/2015 00:24

Yes. I have to say my first thought on seeing newborn DD was that she was not a beauty. She's made up for it since though.

CoffeeTwo · 09/07/2015 00:25

DS looked shockingly like Fil. He was also bruised and swollen from a difficult birth then turned bright yellow with jaundice. I joke that he looked like a yellow baked potato but DH gets really upset and insists he was beautiful.

He is actually the most beautiful child in the world now though Wink

Canyouforgiveher · 09/07/2015 00:28

DS and DD1 were both very beauiful newborns with long dark eyelashes. DD2 was completely bald and her eyebrows and eyelashes were so blond they were non existent. She too a bit of getting used to :)

theQuibbler · 09/07/2015 00:28

DS1 was truly an unattractive newborn. Nose like a lumpen potato, baby acne after about a week and peanut shaped head. DH and I were both taken aback and wondered if we should bring it up with the paediatrician, but could not quite work out how to phrase it ...

Luckily, after about two months, he turned it around and became gorgeous, and so very pretty, that he ended up modelling :)

Hissy · 09/07/2015 00:43

Mine looked like Tutankhamen tbh, pointy headed

I thought Hmm funny looking kid.

4m later he got his face, and I fell head over heels with him...

All the girls love him... He's not funny looking any more! :)

loveareadingthanks · 09/07/2015 01:05

I think the other thread was about other people's ugly babies, so if we stick to our own we should be all right?

DS was a beautiful baby from the waist up. Lovely skin, lovely features, nice colour, lovely hair.

Waist down - no bum so that weird thing where their body just splits into legs in a odd way. And really long narrow flat feet like flippers. Froggy.

loveareadingthanks · 09/07/2015 01:06

And maybe ourselves?

Mum, you can protest all you like, but I've seen the photos. I looked like a bald grumpy Winston Churchill for months.

RonaldMcDonald · 09/07/2015 01:19

My first was frighteningly ugly. Not at all Pampers chubby peaches and cream as I'd imagined.

Kiwiinkits · 09/07/2015 02:16

I used to think my babies were so beautiful that if people from baby magazines etc saw them they would actively try to recruit them for baby modelling. Which I would then politely decline.

I cringe at that now. They were normal-looking.

nooka · 09/07/2015 02:39

My ds was lopsided and froggy looking. I loved him very much. dd was yellowish and cranky and I loved her too. They are teenagers now and as well as being gorgeous in their mother's eyes are apparently attractive too.

I think most babies look like aliens really. Although having said that a friend of mine who is a fantastic amateur photographer has posted some pictures of a newborn on facebook that are just lovely.

Atenco · 09/07/2015 03:11

Whao, I know that dd was not objectively beautiful when she was born because there are photos to prove it but I thought she was the most gorgeous baby ever. Sort of sad to think that there are people that doesn't happen to.

SilverNightFairy · 09/07/2015 03:17

My sweet son was 7 weeks premature and we thought he was fabulous! Looking back at photos though, he was somewhat less attractive than we believed. He was rather furry and must have laid on his left ear for a time inside me as it remained firmly folded over for a good bit. He insisted on scowling just like his late Great Uncle George in nearly picture.

He has since grown into a very handsome lad. ( I have proof!!)

broomchickabroomchick · 09/07/2015 03:21

My DD wasn't the prettiest of babies.. obviously I thought she was beautiful, but was laughing as everyone else said she was! She was 10lb 8oz of swollen, blotchy red patches with tiny squinty eyes, that didn't even fit into newborn clothes. Once the swelling in her face had settled down, she was much better looking. Now at 3 months old she is absolutely beautiful biased.

DS is now 3 years and very handsome. Me & my mum thought he was beautiful from birth pfb & pfgs but then looked back at his newborn pics a few months later and laughed.. he was a bit funny looking but we couldn't see at the time!

Thank god other people feel like this as everyone else made it sound like I was the worlds worst mum for laughing about this!

TerrorAustralis · 09/07/2015 03:30

My DS was red and a bit spotty, with a misshapen head and forceps marks on his face. Luckily it all calmed down (except the head shape) within about 12 hours.

We were warned in the antenatal class, though. They even passed around photos of puffy, cone-headed, red-faced vaginally birthed babies, compared to the perfect looking, unsquashed caesarean babies.

I have a friend whose 3 DC all have the same face shape, which they have all needed to, er, grow into. I was actually shocked the last time I saw the middle one, he's becoming quite good looking! They're all getting better looking as they get older, but she and her DH really don't make cute babies or toddlers. I've never said anything of course, but I do wonder how she sees them.

Butterflywings168 · 09/07/2015 04:52

DNiece2 was an unattractive baby and still isn't the most attractive child takes after Aussie ils who are brick shithouses. DNs 1 and 3 are gorgeous.
I love them all equally of course, and DN2 does have a cute laugh - but it is true. Envy