Babies Hair
From this intense intrigue stemming from the immensely diverse amount of ways a baby’s hair can look, to the fascinating way a little one’s hair can change throughout his or hers first two years of life, hair and babies is an absorbing combination and parents should be prepared to be in for some surprises concerning their baby’s hair.
Guessing whether your baby will have a head full of hair or be as bald as a bowling ball is like guessing the numbers for Saturday’s lottery. Many experts insist that the color and quantity of hair a baby is born with is determined by genetics.
Dr. Bud Zukow, a pediatrician and author of the book "Baby: An Owner's Manual," says a newborn's hair is influenced by its parents' genes and ethnicity. “It’s a genetic thing, or even an ethnic thing. Just like any other characteristic, some babies have more hair than others,” says Dr Zukow.
Although many experts hold the same view as Zukow, believing that the amount of hair a baby is born with and its color are based on heredity, there are countless accounts of a baby's hair "throwing a wrench in the works" when it comes to how much hair they have and what color it is.
Couples who both have dark hair regularly produce babies with blonde or even red hair. While fairer couples whose own hair is sparse and thin are often surprised when their baby arrives with a thick abundance of jet black locks. This is because a newborn baby's hair has little resemblance to what their hair will look like when they are older. It is extremely common for a baby to be born with enviable blonde locks, but their hair gradually darkens as they grow up, and as adults they have unmistakable brown hair.
Although the ambiguous nature of a baby's hair bears little meaning on what it will look like as a child or adult, it often tends to follow the same pattern as one or both of its parents' hair. Although a dark-haired, dark-skinned father may be surprised by his baby's candy-floss-like, ash-blonde locks, he is even more surprised when his mother tells him that his hair was exactly like that when he was born.
It is completely natural for babies to experience some amount of hair loss. Even babies who emerge from the womb with a head of thick hair can have a head as bald as Michael Jordan’s in a matter of weeks. Parents may worry that something is wrong and wonder what has happened to their son or daughter's beautiful locks, but they can be assured that hair loss is a completely normal process that a baby often endures, and it is extremely rare that a baby's loss of hair signifies a more sinister and underlying health problem.
The reasons behind hair loss in babies are mostly hormonal. When a baby is in its mother's womb, the infant receives a high amount of hormones from their mother. When the baby is born, these hormone levels begin to drop at a fairly rapid rate, eventually stagnating and causing the hair to enter a resting phase, preventing it from growing any more.
As your baby's hair begins a new growth cycle, the old hair will start to fall out, and your baby may end up with patchy hair or even no hair until the new hair comes through. Typically, a baby's second round of hair is stronger and less "cotton-wool" like than the hair he or she was born with. Aside from it growing back a different texture, many infants' hair also grows back a different color, much to the amazement of the baby's parents.
In some babies, a single bald patch can occur on the back of their head. If the patch is confined to the back of the head and there is no hair loss anywhere else, it is likely not caused by hormones, but instead is the result of friction caused by your baby spending a lot of time asleep on their back in a cot, lying on a play mat, or spending time in a car seat. These bald patches usually disappear when babies start to sit up and spend less time on their back.
Continue reading ...