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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

Strawberry marks

23 replies

Colabottle10 · 02/12/2016 12:12

Anyone any experience of strawberry marks? My DS (4 1/2 months) has 2, one on the side of his face, about the size of a 5p and one on his tummy about the size of a celebration choc. They are becoming quite raise and dark red in colour, but causing no bother. The tummy one can look dry after baths so I put some coconut oil on it. Every health professional from birth hasn't been bothered with them and said they'll grow till 6 months and then regress, completely going by the time he's 7.

He was at drs this morning (over protective mum - just a cough and a cold) and as dr was listening to his chest she saw the one on his tummy and said 'has this been looked at?' in a rather worried tone. I repeated the above and she agreed, but then said if they don't regress we'll have to do something about them. Am worried now. Any positive stories out there?

OP posts:

Iambubbles86 · 02/12/2016 12:14

Nothing to add except I'm concerned now too as D's has a similar size one on his tummy, its faded to pale pink but it's still large and raised and he's 6.5

user1477282676 · 02/12/2016 12:15

Go back in to see her and ask her directly what she meant. She shouldn't have worried you without suggesting a route.

My DD had one on her back...quite raised...completely gone by age 7 having shrunk over time.

Go back in and say "I've been worried about what you said about the marks needing to have "something done about them""

"What did you mean and what could they be other than strawberry marks?"

It was probably her being over cautious....and not having a good bedside manner.x

P1nkP0ppy · 02/12/2016 12:18

DD had quite a large one on her forehead; it was very noticeable (size of a 50p piece) because she had little hair.
It disappeared completely by the time she was 8, it started fading gradually by 4 years old then more slowly until it disappeared.
My GP wasn't at all bothered by it.

milkjetmum · 02/12/2016 12:19

Dd had one bright purple red about 10p sized and raised on her lower back. It faded and flattened when she was around 9 months old. Now she's 6 and if you look closely you can see the skin is a bit speckly there but you'd have to know where to look

Overtiredbackagain · 02/12/2016 12:20

My DD had one on her forehead, by 6-7 months it was very raised and looked very much like a strawberry. It was pretty much gone by the time she was 4, she is now 7, it is completely flat, although sometimes in the summer or if she gets very hot, she can look like she has a faint bruise, but nothing more than that.

When she was first born, I was so concerned about it, I was convinced they were wrong and it was something scary, I was continually taking her to GP (or sending exH when I felt GP thought I was being paranoid )!

Original poster

Colabottle10 · 02/12/2016 12:29

Thanks for your replies - I didn't expect any!

She did agree with me when I told her it ad been looked at a lot over the course of his little life and everyone had said the same thing.

Got HV coming on Monday for is 15-18week check, I'll show it to her.

Here's a pic of the one on his face, the tummy one is much bigger.

OP posts:

NerdsAndMonsters · 02/12/2016 12:50

My son had something similar from birth on his cheek. Either the health visitor or midwife (can't remember) @ around 6 wks old, referred him to the local children's hospital , who have a special dept for this.
It wasn't that big at birth but by the time he was 4mths it was about a 1cm raised diameter. Capillary haemangioma.
The most worrying thing was that if it got knocked accidentally, once @bathtime, it would bleed profusely. Which terrified me.
The children's hospital took photos, measured & monitored, and as the predicted it faded noticeably by the time he was 2 and half. He was discharged then. It's just a faint scar now.
If I were you, I'd ask the GP to do a referral, for monitoring / advice purposes etc.

NerdsAndMonsters · 02/12/2016 12:52

Your DS is very sweet btw!

Motheroffourdragons · 02/12/2016 12:58

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ on behalf of the poster.

ninecoronas · 02/12/2016 12:58

He is adorable! My daughter has three, one her face, ribs and bum. The one on her ribs is massive...like an actual large strawberry. The HV and two Drs have said much the same; nothing to worry about although prone to bleeding if scratched or knocked, should reduce over time.

Original poster

Colabottle10 · 02/12/2016 13:08

Here's the one on his side - it seems so big on his little body. And a picture of him without marks on show - I'm biased and think he's cute :)

Good to hear of those that have disappeared. He's my PFB and I try very hard to not be too over the top with him......I fail sometimes!

OP posts:

User24689 · 02/12/2016 13:22

Oh my, he is gorgeous OP :)

My own DD has a red birthmark on the back of her neck. I'm not sure its quite the same as it was never raised above the surface of her skin, but was very red when she was born. When we had our 8 week check the GP made me a referral to a specialist paediatrician regarding it and when I got to the appt the paed seemed really quite miffed that she had wasted his time for a birthmark. He said there was nothing to worry about at all and it would either fade, or it wouldn't, but it wouldn't do her any harm. I think sometimes GPs are just really concerned about missing things and want to cover themselves.

She's 17 months now and it is a very pale pink, barely noticeable. It was really quite red until she was about 6 months old though.

SilverLinings2014 · 02/12/2016 22:43

My DD had one that grew rapidly on her face...from just a tiny pale patch of skin when she was born to similar to your DS by 4/5 months. Raised and dark red and I did worry, although Hv etc all said it would disappear.

By about 6 months it stopped growing then around 9 months it started receeding. She's going to be 2 on Sunday and it's hardly noticeable at all now, just a slightly different skin tone which most people wouldn't even notice.

The quicker they grow, the earlier they rest and recede so although I totally understand your concern over its size, it's actually a good thing it's grown rapidly. The main concern is that they have a good blood supply so can bleed a lot of knocked/scratched.

your DS is gorgeous btw

idontlikealdi · 02/12/2016 22:49

Oh he's lovely op. Dt2 had five, they were about half the size of your sons. She's now 5 and a half and you'd struggle to see them at all. She had one on her wrist and the rest on her torso.

idontlikealdi · 02/12/2016 22:51

Upthewolves - was it a stork mark? I think all of us have them, they fade and as hair grows they're less noticeable.

changeymcchangeface · 02/12/2016 23:46

Aw little cutie! My DD had one on the top of her head, so as she grew up I only got to see it periodically when I looked for it. It faded to nothing by about age 4/5 and I was actually quite sad to see it go as it was a little part of her, but I guess easier to be sentimental about it as it was hidden. Her friend also had one in a more prominent place and that faded away at about the same age.

Is your GP very young/inexperienced? I found that HVs were a lot more knowledgable about general baby stuff than GPs I saw when mine were little.

NoSuchThingAsThePerfectParent · 02/12/2016 23:51

My DS had 2 (not from birth, but from about 6-8 weeks old). One has ¾ disappeared, and is quite patchy now, with completely normal skin in the majority of patches, and the other has probably shrunk a tad but otherwise not changed a lot. Both are on chest/trunk. He's 6 years old, so we're still waiting to see what happens. My HV told me it'd be gone by the time he starts school but obviously not.

Lizmay12 · 02/12/2016 23:56

He is lovely OP. My youngest DD was born with one on her neck. It slowly faded as she got older. She is 5 now. When she gets really worked up or cold you can see a purple patch where it was.

tessiegirl · 03/12/2016 00:00

Following this thread with interest. My dd is 11 months old and has a strawberry mark behind her left ear. It doesn't seem to have grown much in the last couple of months although it is still very much a squishy lump about 2cm long and lcm width. I have mentioned it to the gp and hv and they didn't seem bothered by it at all and said it would fade and disappear by the time she was around 7. We forget it is even there now her hair has grown but I do worry the same as you and find it hard to believe it will ever fade!

tessiegirl · 03/12/2016 00:00

Oh and by the way your ds is absolutely gorgeous!

HairyScaryMonster · 03/12/2016 16:59

Dd had one on her left eyelid. Got to about the same size as her pupil. Was worst until about 6/7 months then shrank slowly then more dramatically. Just looks like a bit of eczema or something now.

Lostmyemailaddress · 03/12/2016 17:04

I had 2 when I was born 1 was on my soft spot and 1 on my spine. They have both faded, the 1 on my head faded completely the one on my back just looks like a group of red speckles on my back.
A few of my nieces and nephews have had similar on various body parts and they all faded too.

insan1tyscartching · 03/12/2016 17:12

Dd had one on her back, GP assured me it would be gone by the time she was seven. At five it didn't seem to have altered but it had indeed gone by her being seven. It started breaking down and you could see more of her normal skin tone breaking through.

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