A new born baby may have fine and soft hair in its body. This hair is called lanugo.
Many newborn babies have a lot of body hair. Body hair
on newborns is not a cause for concern, and it usually goes away a few months
after birth. Nature will take its course to let the hair shed by itself.
Lanugo is believed to help keep the baby warm. At an early gestation (The period of time that a baby develops inside its mother's body; the process of developing inside the mother's body) babies do not have a lot of fat stores and the lanugo may help maintain an appropriate body temperature.
You might hear that rubbing a ball of wheat dough
(atta loi) over your baby's body will help to remove body hair and prevent it
from being hairy later in life.
Rubbing atta will not permanently remove hair. They
will grow again. Rashes may form on the baby’s skin.
Also, there are many home remedies to remove body
hair of babies. These home remedies use milk, turmeric, flour, and other common
household ingredients that have no harmful chemicals. There is no scientific
evidence to suggest that they work effectively in removing body hair, but they
have been used for a long time by our elders, and are a part of traditional
remedies used by mothers.
These methods may not permanently remove the hair
from your baby, so you may notice the hair growing back after some time.
You don't have to do anything special to treat the
lanugo on your baby.
Time is the best treatment for newborn lanugo. Leave
your baby’s hair alone and it will eventually disappear. In a few days or
weeks, your newborn should lose lanugo. If it lasts longer, that can still be
normal.
Do not wax, shave, or use a body hair remover to get
rid of your baby's lanugo. These products are not safe for infants and could
harm their delicate skin.
Massaging the area of skin very gently with mild
baby oil might help expedite lanugo falling out, but use extreme care to
prevent damaging your baby’s skin. Only use products that will not irritate
your baby’s skin or eyes.
Gently massaging a baby’s skin after birth can
facilitate the removal of lanugo. But this is not necessary. Massaging can be effective. But it is risky. A baby’s skin is delicate. If you inadvertently rub your baby’s skin too hard or too much, this can
cause soreness, redness, or dryness. Therefore, it may be more beneficial to
leave the hair alone and allow it to shed on its own.
Many full-term babies lose all their lanugo before
they are born, but some do not. Whether your baby’s lanugo falls out before or
after they're born, it will eventually go away. When it does, another type of
hair will grow in its place. The new hair is called vellus hair.
Vellus hair is similar to lanugo but thinner and not as noticeable. This hair will cover your baby’s body throughout childhood. (Vellus hair is the light, short, fine hair that covers much of a person's body. Its length and thickness will vary from person to person. The primary role of vellus hair is to protect the skin and keep the body warm.)
This article is written by Arumugham Natarajan B.Sc. Chemistry of Ponnamaravathi Pudupatti after migrating to Madurai.
