Stressing out really bad over scratch on newborns leg

[Jan289]

DH had our one week old DD last night and I’ve got up this morning to get her changed and noticed this mark on her leg. DH said he must of accidentally caught it when changing her but I’m stressed to the max now as health visitor is coming out in a couple days and I feel Like we’re going to get reported or something!😭 can someone please give me some advice?

Oh OP, please don't panic - you'll be fine when the HV visits, baby nails are like razor blades sometimes!

If it reassures you at all, I work for NHS111 and we're given a lot of training regarding injuries in non-mobile babies. Trust me, this ISN'T one of them x

Aw op that's the tiniest scratch ever, the health visitor won't even notice it and if she did it wouldn't even register in her mind as a thing.

It could have been her own nails, or one of your or dh's nails or rings while changing, or even her leg lightly catching on a bit of furniture (like the bath tap when in the bath) or anything. It's really, really fine.

Give it a rinse and dry and pop a onesie on, next time you change her clothes it'll look better already

Thank you everyone! ❤️I’ll take into consideration all of your advice, I really appreciate it! Feel abit silly now to be honest making a big deal out of it🤦🏻‍♀️(im not going to postpone the appointment either to someone who asked earlier) x

Dont be daft. We have all been there. Things get easier lovely. Its a stressful anxiety inducing time. Just keep an eye on your anxiety xxx

@Redlarge thank you so much🩷 I’ll definitely discuss with the HV about my mental health xx

Gosh op what phone have you got ? That camera is amazing 😆
It's nothing don't worry ! These things happen, now a bruise would be a different story, this is your anxiety talking ! Don't know what the hv can do for anxiety, you would be better speaking to your gp?
My dd had her 1 year appointment and her eczema was flaring up, that morning while I was getting ready (and abit preoccupied admittedly) she was sat in her cot, absolutely scratched her chest to bits until it bled !! I was panicking aswell about what the hv would think, she didn't bat an eyelid !!

I've just remembered something that happened when my dd was a baby.

When dd was born, she already had longish nails when she came out (full term) and they kept scratching me (and her) so we had to trim them before she was a week old.

Oh gosh I remember it like yesterday... she was writhing around like an octopus and I fumbled and cut a little chunk of skin off her thumb. It bled bright red. I cried and sobbed for like an hour. I was afraid she'd get blood poisoning and die. (I'd had sepsis after the birth which was only a matter of days before this happened). The guilt overwhelmed me. I wanted to call a midwife. I vowed never to trim her nails again. I was basically inconsolable.

She was completely fine and it healed in less than 48 hours and there's no scar. After a week or so we couldn't even remember which hand it was.

So, I get why you're upset, op. But, it's fine! Babies are chock full of stem cells and so on, they heal rapidly.

(However, trimming fingernails became one of My Jobs because dh was too freaked by the incident to ever even try lol)