Worried my baby is odd looking

I had one who looked like an alien. He was premature, skinny and really weird looking. He‘s now almost 5 and is now, if I’m being honest, the best looking of my three children. He has beautiful dark eyes and long eyelashes and is really handsome. I’m pretty sure most newborns look like old men anyway, both my boys did.

My baby boy looked like Uncle Fester, he was tiny (just over 5lb) and it looked as though most of that was his head. Fast forward four months and people used to stop me to exclaim how cute he was.
don’t worry i bet he will be gorgeous in a week or two and is probably a darling now .

I don’t want to be flippant but you really have to give yourself a talking to. Your hormones will have lots to answer for but when your baby is born with a massive port wine stain, cleft lip or some other significant facial difference then you have something to worry about.

My first looked like a chick that had been pushed out of the nest too soon. All bony and sharp. To add to it she was also canary yellow for weeks. She's a lovely little girl now.

Day 5-10 is ridiculously awful hormone wise- you just crash and think all sorts of weird things. Be kind to yourself. If the feelings continue for longer please speak to your MW /HV/ GP. X

Always seems to be one to come along and sour a thread. One of the loveliest looking babies I've ever met had a severe cleft lip and I'm sure I'm not the only one to find your comment offensive.

@Sandcastlesinthesky bit harsh, no? Remember it's a new mum looking for a bit of reassurance .... me and DS had a really rocky start but thank god I could post about how scared and worried I was which I couldn't admit anywhere else -

When the midwives showed me the baby I had just birthed the first words out of my mouth were 'He is so ugly!' They just came out! He really was, poor little thing had been in a funny position and his nose was completely squished over to one side, he had a strange shaped head and forehead and was bright red!

He did even out after a few hours/days!

Enjoy your baby and having them laying on your chest asleep is wonderful (and you can sniff their heads!)

My second son was just like a skinny old man. I loved him more fiercely out of protection I think. My husband actually found it really hard to bind with him he was quite ugly 🥴 especially as our first son was amazingly beautiful! I used to hold him close and sing James Blunt You're Beautiful to him (I don't really know why- maybe so he wouldn't get a complex or because he was beautiful to me or because his dad was being a knob) anyway he's two now and he really is the most handsome little boy, people always say how handsome he is but he was a funny looking baby. I'm not sure if this is helpful but I do sympathise and suggest maybe belting out a bit of James Blunt

I know a woman with a huge birthmark across her chest and up her neck, she’s absolutely beautiful and has no shortage of male attention (I’m not just saying that). So, 🤷🏼‍♀️ not something her mum needs to worry about in my opinion.

Very normal for 5 days old! He will grow into his face and everything else. Please don’t worry. So many emotions happen at this time.

My first was a lovely looking baby (even the midwife said so, she said she usually commented on weight or something else if they were old man babies). He had his oof stage at about 2 months when his hair fell out and had awful cradle cap. My second looked like an old man and she had feet bigger than mine. The midwife said "oh a good size!" When she came out 😉. She was literally all feet, even her head seemed smaller than them. She's now 10 weeks old and absolutely stunning (to me anyway 😍). Its all the hormones

@trafficcone34 Absolutely do not worry!

My DS, on first seeing him, my husband said 'He has a pointed head!'... He did, too!
But he soon ''Plumped up'' and according to a health visitor ''looked like the baby off a brand of disposable nappies''.

Truly don't worry! He is healthy and happy? That is a winner!

Very newborn babies aren't normally especially lovely looking {Apart from to their mothers} they do look like old people..til they 'Plump up'. {For want of a better term.

When my first daughter was born she was very brown. Even the Asian ladies on the ward were asking why she was darker than their babies.she was also ginormous and looked odd compared to everyone else's babies. It took a few weeks for her to look like a normal English pale skin baby lol and lose the puffer fish face.
I'm pleased to say she grew up to be a beautiful little girl and I shouldn't have worried about her looks at the beginning. I'm sure your baby will soon change too x

You poor thing, don't be so hard on yourself! You're only human and lots of us go through stuff like that. My ds looked like a fairly big scrunched up munchkin when he was born but after a few months he was the most gorgeous boy and at 13, he still is. Though far hairier to be fair! Oh, hormones are the devil! Mind yourself and trust us, it will pass.x

My youngest was a funny looking baby, furry all over with no weight on her at all so you could see the bones in her face quite prominently and very pink for a while (full term but IUGR) - she soon started looking cute when she started putting some weight on. She gets loads of compliments now (as do all small children) and I personally think she's absolutely beautiful now bur I must admit, for the first month or so I definitely felt a little worried about how she looked (privately though, I was very defensive if anyone commented on her looks).

Glad your feeling more light hearted about it op. My baby was pretty ugly and I talked openly about it lol. So hairy, hair line started at her eyebrows, hairy shoulders and bum!
I didn't have this instant bond that people talk about but just focused on looking after her. Babies change so fast, take photos, they will be cute to look back on!

Love the update OP. Mumsnetters at their finest.
Enjoy the snuggles xx

You are in classic baby blues territory at 5 days. Forgive yourself, it will pass.

I've seen quite a few tiny babies that look like their parents must have been a classic 1950's alien and gollum. All turned out to be normal looking children after a few years. New borns are odd looking.

My daughter was a slightly jaundiced cone head, with terrifying long fingers. She also looked like she didn't fit into her wrinkly skin suit.

She is a beautiful person in every way now.

All newborn babies are odd little brutes 😍

@trafficcone34
Yoda! That was who our newborn looked like, too initially
..Large eyes and soft ears ..but with a pointed head.

Love a Yoda!

If babies are born vaginally, they get really scrunched up and squeeeeezed out..no wonder the poor things look a bit squished.

But they 'Settle'.

As do hormones.

Baby blues are such an up and down thing. Love your little Tomato Being ..he won't be like this for long, bless him.

My middle child was the oddest liking thing I’d ever seen. I remember laying in recovery after my section, just looking at her and thinking “oh dear”.

She was all nose and eyes. She was a tiny little thing at 6lb on the dot.

By eight weeks, she had ballooned and blossomed into a beautiful baby. She’s 8 now and absolutely beautiful.

But man, she was an ugly newborn.

Oh OP we’ve all thought it 😂 my son looked like a hairy Michelin man and my daughter had a scaly head and red birth marks on her face… but everyone still said they were beautiful! And as everyone else has said, they grew into their looks and they really are beautiful.
I remember a colleague saying how ugly her baby was when born and wondering how anyone could think that, until it was my turn!
I promise you will laugh about this for a long time. I howl with laughter at some of the things I said and did when I had a newborn. Having a baby is an emotional time, go easy on yourself. And don’t worry if you find the newborn stage isn’t all it’s cracked up to be either. I thought it was shit 😅

Get bent. This is not helpful. Stop silencing a postpartum woman who is worried about how she feels.

I actually just had a rummage looking for my own newborn photo because I honestly was the most shockingly ugly baby - I’ll post it if I can’t find it. I was 9.5lb, was back to back and had shoulder dystocia so got very stuck in labour and had to be manually freed. I was hugely swollen, lopsided eyes, receding hairline, a squashed nose… worse than Chucky.

As an adult I’ve been told I look like Rosie Huntingdon Whiteley 😉 I’m happy with how I look, and have not been short of male attention.

I hope I can find it now…