Rock Baby's Strawberry Birth Mark

Next Week Rock Baby is going back to hospital to see the paediatrician and the consultant about the strawberry birth mark on her head.

When she was first born I noticed a very slight stork mark and by the time she was 5 weeks old it had grown into a very pronounced strawberry birth mark right above her right eye.


I questioned it with the health visitor and got dismissed as soon as I mentioned it and was made to feel that I was being silly and irrational to even worry about it, as everyone was saying it would fade by the time she was 7 years old. But I was worried, Rock Baby obviously isn't she doesn't have a clue its there so was my worry really down to my own vanity and my own insecurities of people looking at my baby and sighing 'That's a shame that's there' (yes this has happened with strangers in the street!)




Adults and parents who know what it is sympathetically bring it up, young children point and whisper to their mummy's 'has she hurt herself?' or 'What's that?' and their mummy's do their best to explain what it is.



As Rock Baby gets older and starts pre school and then school she will herself have to start answering these questions and by then she will either be so blase about it as it won't be an issue or it could become an issue, something that could make her lose confidence.

It was a risk I didn't want to take. In her 6 week check the Doctor said that they would not do anything about it and to leave it and see how big it grows but insisted it would fade. So I went away again thinking there were no options.

Last month I booked another apt with a different doctor after doing lots of research I discovered there was a doctor who specialised in this type of birthmark at our local hospital and he had helped hundreds of babies and children over the years and it seemed that laser treatment was possible. So armed with this information I told the doctor I wished to be referred so I could at least discuss if there were any options available to us rather than be dismissed again I wanted to speak to a specialist who could tell me what could be done if anything. Luckily this doctor was more sympathetic and agreed to refer us.

So we saw the consultant a couple of weeks ago and discovered that we did indeed have options. Option one was to have laser but it could require general anaesthetic which I was not happy with given the risks in one so young or the second option was a new treatment only discovered in the last 2 years which is a syrup they give in the morning and evening and then we continue it at home. I don't know the complete ins and outs of this treatment but we are going on Thursday to learn more. Apparently this syrup has amazing results and within 3 weeks the birthmark would have shrivelled up and disappeared. She will be in no pain, there has been no side effects in all the babies and children they have treated and no nasty scars.

So this is the road we are now on, it looks like Rock Baby will be having this treatment and its obviously something that the GP's and Health Visitors are unaware of. I'm just so glad I pushed it and got referred and now RB will be birthmark free within the next few months. It just goes to show you have to fight for what you want for your children, if something is bothering you and you want more answers don't give up until you have explored all the options. I will let you know how RB gets on and it will be really interesting over the three week period to see how the birthmark goes down so I will keep you updated with pictures.

The Picture above is a recent one and shows the size of her birth mark now