In tears - Health visitor has reported me to social services as my DD has a mongolian blue spot!

[pinkmagic1]

My DS was born with his little bum covered in mongolian blue spots. The health visitor explained them to me and noted them in his red book to avoid future problems.
This morning a health visitor came to weigh my 4 week old DD. She asked me if DD had any birth marks so I mentioned the very small mongolian blue spot at the base of her spine. She then said she had to inform social services as it wasn't spotted at birth. I was discharged 6 hours after delivery so the baby doctor did not check DD, only the GP latter and in my opinion he didn't really do it that well.
The health visitor has just called to say social services have now been informed, I am in floods of tears and don't know where to turn.

Just to add my 2p worth.

1. After a holiday (when DS wore sunblock, a hat and we had one of those UV protector tent gizmo's...and this was northern France!), my HV wanted to have a serious talk about sun cream as my baby seemed to 'have caught the sun a bit too much'! She had his red book in her hands so could have checked ethnicity!!
2. When explaining to MV about DH's very mixed heritage, she proclaimed 'well you look more asian to me,so i'll just put that down!'

3.Also experienced jaundice mistake with both DS's.

I will definately be stripping both my boys down to take pics of MBS on their botties for future reference (and might snap DHs for fun!!).

But seriously, this type of 'misunderstanding/ ignorance/tactlessness' or lets just say 'sheer stupidity' is unacceptable and makes my blood boil!!

Funny how these things get turned around.

MBS is a normal feature. All babies have them - except pale babies of northern European origin. They're the exception, MBS is the rule!

about the HV but glad that it means she's been outed as an idiot.

That HV sounds like an ignorant b*ch who will no doubt be called in for some serious diversity training very soon. Sorry for the rude word, but take heart. Just complain as loudly as you can to her boss. Bloody hell, I know you shouldn't have to, but she needs a good kicking.

We've had the jaundice problem as well! Our HV is black, so I didn't even think about DS's MBS. I'm white and DP is a very mixed mixture, but quite dark skinned. DS did have jaundice in the first week and looked like a little tangerine, but was better before we ever met the HV. She kept insisting that DS was jaundiced, well past an age when it would be normal and that I should top him up with boiled water and/ or formula. I just smiled sweetly and ignored her until about the third time she was insisting that 'he's a little bit jaundiced' when I pointed out that he's actually 'a little bit chinese'. Did the trick.

my GP pointed out dd3 mongolian blue spot at a 6 weeks check. I am white pale, dh is of scottish origin (red head, pale freckly), so was a bit surprised. dd3 is darker than the other two, but my mums family are of romany origin (no idea how far back though). i asked the HV to note down the blue spot and where it was the next time i saw her, as i didnt want what has happened in this thread to occur to us.

thinking of you pinkmagic1.

I assume this has been sorted by now?

My DS has MB sopts all over his bum and half way up his back and I was told to mention it to my GP to make sure it was registered as it wasn;t uncommon for HV's to jump to the wrong conclusion. It will become obvious very quickly that they are not bruises as they will not change colour or shape quickly.

lol at crimpolene and her jaundice story

Misdee MB spots aren;t exclusively non-white children but just much less common. I form keloid scars (the fat purple shiny knobbly kind) which are very common in black skin and much less common in white. As you can see from my photo I'm (sadly) about as pale as its possible to be, diluted by freckles. Either there is more of an ethnic mix than I know about in my family or I'm one of the rare but not impossible white keloid scar formers.

crimplene and

Is that right Welliemum? db and I are both very mixed and my mum never saw them on us.

suejonez, yup am aware its not something that comman in white people. my brother is olive skinned, as are several of my cousins. My mum is also more olive than the rest of us (who take after our dads white irish skin type). dd3 is definatly my darkest child and takes after my mums side of the family rather than dh and my fathers lighter skinned sides. does that make sense? i always worry i will upset someone

OMG - you poor thing - what an old bag this HV is. I am a HV too and hearing things like this makes my blood boil.

Did she explain WHY she felt social services needed to be informed?

WTF does she think Social Services are going to do about normal birth marks?

Am so angry on your behalf - you need to make a major complaint about this woman. If she suspects abuse then she is right to seek further advice but in your case it's so obvious that these are birth marks.

Complain -you have every right to.

Mercy, yes, that's what I was told - its normal and pale people who don't have them are the abnormal ones!

I've also heard that while they're uncommon they certainly do crop up in pale families.

Babies with jaundice need breastmilk and natural light not formula and boiled water! Gah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I so shouldn't click on this thread because it makes my blood boil every time I read that another idiot doesn't understand/know about MBS! Grrrrrrrrrrrrr

Just to update you. I hadn't recieved a reply to my complaint so a couple of weeks ago I chased it up. I was told the clinical lead of health visitors for my area had assumed my letter was a comment and not a complaint! (It was very obviously a complaint) I said I was now even angrier as I felt my opinion had just been swept under the carpet to avoid someone getting into trouble and that I wanted my letter to be passed to someone higher up. At the weekend I recieved a letter from the health care chief executive in my area apologising for the distress the incident has caused and saying as a result the processes for indentification of MBS are currently being reviewed. I will be writing back to see what these new processes are and to make sure they are implemented.

That's great pinkmagic! I mean, it's great you're following it up and not letting them get away with it. You're probably saving loads of families from being upset by that numpty.

Well done you!

I had never heard of Mongolian blue spot until I read this thread and had been really worried about the 'bruises' on dd's back. I am so glad you have enlightened me -thank you! I also had the jaundice issue - had to go back for tests when dd was three weeks old, despite it being very clear that dh is Asian and I have olive skin. I look back at pics now and she looks perfectly fine - god knows what kind of jaundice they could see!

Cannot - just cannot - get over what a wealth of ignorance and frankly, stupidity there seems to be out there. Multi-cultural society? Clearly training doesn't cover dealing with mixed race babies where the 'mix' may be one or two generations back. Unbelievable

Pinkmagic - I noticed you said you were in Nottingham. What clinic are you under - the HV at mine is rubbish.
Very on your behalf

Blimey.

My DS is now 10 months old and still has spot on his lower back. This was never recorded at birth and I never thought to get them to record it. He's of mixed origin but very northern-european looking. I hope we don't get stupid questions if it's spotted (if you excuse the pun!). I'm shocked to hear people have these problems - it would appear that most babies have them.

I'd take that complaint as high as you can.

Amazing to think that, in this day and age of 'multiculturalism', people like your HV can still be so ignorant. It is now June - I hope by now your situation has been resolved and at least SOMEONE in SS has bothered to look up MBS in a medical textbook to see that it is, in fact, not a sign of abuse, but rather a sign that your baby is of one of God's favourites (). Any time you encounter ignorance like this, don't stay upset. Just face it head on, calmly explain the facts to the ignoramus (what kind of HV doesn't know about MBS - a cr*p one!), and don't forget your sense of humour can be a lifesaver, if not a face-saver. Hope this helps.

in my ignorance, i thought all babies had these marks. i was very shocked when the hv went out of mher way to reassure me that it was normal and not to worry.

not the same type of mark but both ds' have stork mark birthmarks.
ds1's extendsdown onto the top of his back between his shoulder blades.
no one batted an eyelid until i changed surgeries and the new hv wrote in the back of his red book 'dark red bruise on upper back??'

the mw at his birth told me it was caused by pressure as his head was born and my contractions stopped for a minute or two before i could push his body out.

I am a lowly pre-school assistant and even I know that these spots exist. It was part of my child protection training, I can't believe the health visitor didn't know!!

Just wanted to say that I had not heard of MBS before so will read up on it a bit so that me and dh are aware just in case.

Hi Pinkmagic1
My two daughter had mongolian blue spots in the base of there spine just above there bums. My older girl also had a nother one on the front of her left foot. It is normal for children of mixed race heritage to have them. My 2nd daughter still has it. It frustrates me that HV can be so stupid. You should ask them under what grounds they have to report you to scocial service. Ask them to take a look a google try this link
www.intermix.org.uk/health/health_bluespots.asp

Dont worry about it too much. Gosh how stupid and ignorant can a health visitor be