Baby scratched & scarred face

[rach1stbaby]

My baby scratched herself at 4 weeks old and it's scarred, I'm beyond devastated, never did I think this would be possible. It's right under her eye so quite visible to me, others say it's not.
You hear about babies scratching themselves all the time and none scar, none that I've heard of anyway. I blame myself as I left a sharp bit on her nail and she did it when she was put down.
Please tell me someone has experienced similar and the scar has eventually faded?
We are 6 weeks later now and it looks like this, not sure how I'm supposed to accept I've done this to her face 😭😭😭 it kills me every time I see it. I know there's worst things to happen but this is how I feel.

Are you quite anxious generally op? If not this is a bit of an overreaction, and I gently suggest you get used to your child hurting themselves. It's going to happen a lot. My baby fell off the bed recently - my fault obviously # felt guilty for a bit but quite a lot of babies fall off the bed so I just learned from it and moved on.
What will you do when your kid is walking and trips and falls? Climbs a tree? Unfortunately injuries are part of life.
I really wouldn't worry about the scar, it's tiny, even if it doesn't fade (and it probably will).

DS1 scratched his temple at a similar age, approx 2cm long. I vividly remember watching it fill with blood. He's 19 now and you can still see it, but only if you look very closely.
I shut the car boot on DS2 forehead when he was two and scarred that too. Luckily his fringe covers it. I still feel guilty 17 years on.
A little Vitamin E cream might help.

Yes, I think this is a bit of an overreaction (and I speak as a mum who burst into tears and panicked for about an hour when I accidentally clipped off a tiny bit of skin off newborn DDs thumb when cutting her nails). Maybe she'll have a tiny mark on her face (although probably not even that) but it's hardly disfiguring or notable. Remember, no one's looking at your baby's face as closely as you are!

NB, I gouged a small flap of skin under my eye in my teens and there was a notable dip there for over a year, but a few years later I realised it had totally gone.

It's probably still healing. DD is 6 weeks and scratched herself a ton of times and they've all eventually disappeared.

I'm sure you will find it will fade.

That will disappear to nothing as she gets older. My DS fell on a bbq as a toddler and had a scar on his calf about the size of a playing card. I realised the other day when I took him swimming you can't see it at all now he is 12.

Do not let this ruin your enjoyment of DDs babyhood.

You have NOT done this to her face. Your reaction is very extreme.
She is small, her body heals, I’d be very surprised if this is still visible in 6 months time.
Even if it is, it is just a part of the story of her life! Please try and move past this.

That will go COMPLETELY. ! Don’t worry xx

Ah my ds did this when he was a baby, I could still see it for ages, but no one else seemed to.
He is all grown up now and nothing to see. Even the one on his forehead from playground hijinks (aged 7) isn't easy to spot and that was much worse.
But, I remember being mortified that I had allowed this flaw on my beautiful perfect child.

You've had several threads about this, where everyone has reassured you. What do you want from this one that you haven't had before?

My baby did this at a similar age and it left a scar on their cheek. I was surprised at the time that it actually scarred as I assumed it would fade and I was sad when it didn't but overtime I've completely forgotten. I very rarely notice it now even though I'm sure it's still there when you really look. But honestly don't worry it will become so faint you won't really notice at all. There's much worse things to happen to their gorgeous little face. I completely understand when things like this eat you up, I can totally relate but I promise one day this one really won't feel so bad. Forgive yourself (you did nothing wrong!) and try and relax. We all end up with scars and marks over the years and that's just part of our story

I should add I'm only about 12months down the line here so it could go completely still and it's ages since I looked, it could be gone already but they're in bed so I can't check

Thanks for all the replies.
Yes I'm a very anxious person and I appreciate everyone saying this is an overreaction, but it isn't to me in my head.
I guess I put lots of pressure on myself to be the 'perfect' mum and I'm devastated I've done this when she was only 4 weeks. Ive never had any experience with babies so did lots of research prior to having her. I've never heard of baby's scarring themselves like this so feeling like a terrible mum.
Basically baby has been to the doctors multiple times for various things already (everything is fine) due to me worrying unnecessarily. I have a meeting with a mental health person on Friday about my anxiety. I really hope they can help me get past this cos I hate myself at the moment.

I know that babies and children are prone to accidents, but this one is my fault and I don't know how I'm supposed to overcome this. Every time I look at her gorgeous face my eyes just go straight to the scar, how awful. It's a reminder of my mistake all the time.
My fault I left a sharp bit on her nail, my fault I left her in the room on her own while I went to have a little break, when we weren't having a great night (she was asleep when I put her down), she scratched herself straight away.
My fault I didn't do the right things to potentially prevent scarring, I looked into Vaseline etc at the time but saw other comments re breastmilk and it healing things and it being magical so just cleaned with cooled boiled water and put breastmilk on religiously. I naively thought the scratch didn't seem bad at the time, but it was the first one she did so again had little experience of seeing any previously.
Anyway, I'm driving myself crazy 😢

It will disappear OP, honestly no need to worry. I had a very bad scar on my face in my 20s (I was attacked) and even that went after a few years. That tiny thing on a baby will be gone for sure! It will be fine.

Don’t panic. My son did this and I thought he was scarred for life but it disappeared completely. It took a while (months and months) as their skin is so delicate but he’s four now and you’d never know anything had happened. Do get help for the anxiety, I had it with my son and I wish I’d got help for it.

It will go, DS did this when he was a tiny baby a couple of times, it did take a while to go but it did go.

@Valhalla17 thank you, so sorry to hear you got attacked. May I ask were they indented scars? Think they are called atrophic. Also, did you do anything to help them like massage? I've been massaging with coconut oil when she's sleeping, unsure if it's beneficial or not. X

@Rowanberri thank you, it's reassuring to know your son did the same and it's gone now. Was the scar indented like my pic can I ask? Did you do anything to help them heal? Yes the anxiety is awful, I've not stopped since she was born, I only realise now I have a problem. X

@scrivette thanks for replying. Did they end up looking like indented scars or did they just heal and go? My DD has been like this for 6 weeks now x

It looked like an indented scar for quite a while, it was 11 years ago so not sure quite how long it was there for but it was probably a couple of months.

My DS1 used to scratch his face really badly. If I put mits on him he used to sob as he was a thumb sucker. Sometimes people used to 'tell me off' when they peeked in the pram..you know ooh poor thing you should put gloves on him etc. No scars that I've noticed but DD has the odd scar from chicken pox and one on her cheekbone where she fell on some stepping stones.

I'd try a tiny bit of bio oil - maybe on a cotton bud but babies and little ones do heal amazingly. try not to give yourself such a hard time. It really is just one of those things

@rach1stbaby it was about 1cm long, 1mm wide in the centre and indented. I still have no idea how he did it, we were careful but sometimes these things just happen. The health visitor saw it several times and never commented, so clearly she wasn’t worried. Re the anxiety, I discovered I had a long term histamine intolerance which was knocked completely out of whack by the pregnancy/birth hormones. Managing that made a huge difference to my anxiety and still does. Obviously I have no idea about your situation but it may be worth looking into with your GP?

My son scratched his cheek quite deeply the day before his second birthday, great as so obvious in the birthday pics and videos. He is now 3.5 and I only really see it when he has got himself really worked up and has bright red cheeks! No one else would ever notice, I was so worried it was going to scar him for life. I did put some coco butter on it from time and time, I don't know if it helped.

@MrsDeaconClaybourne thank you. I really have been giving myself a hard time about it. I'm still struggling. I've looked into scar ointments and things but can't find one that's suitable for babies. All I've been trying is lansinoh and coconut oil 😔

@Rowanberri thank you. I have an appointment with a mental health person on Friday re the anxiety, hopefully they will be able to help with some sort of acceptance for this aswell.

@mrsed1987 thank you, that's reassuring x

don't you use bsbygros with build in mittens? They are much better.

One of my twins scratched the other in the face when they were about 3 weeks old, she was fine, didn't even cry at the time.
I panicked when the scar didn't fade too and it was about 2cm long, a dark pink colour and was indented but it was completely gone about 5 months later.
They are older now and there is nothing there at all, baby skin heals well it just takes a while, I promise you did nothing wrong.

Your baby is 10 weeks old? That isnt a scar ffs