February 10, 2009 @ 1:31 pm | Filed under: Baby
Until today, our baby has been (if I do say so) remarkably good-looking. He lost his newborn red-and-wrinkly look very early on, and has in fact looked altogether too mature—more infant than newborn—for my comfort. Slow down, I want to tell him. He doesn’t listen any better than time does.
Today he’s doing his best teenager impersonation. The baby acne is out in full force: Beanie was afraid he had measles. My babies always break out impressively around four weeks of age. (And, sob, Sean is in fact four weeks old today.) I remember when Jane was his age; even though all the baby books had warned me, I was shocked by the profusion of red bumps on her sweet little face. Still, the books said baby acne was normal; she was right on schedule for the temporary outbreak, according to all those authoritative tomes.
So I was not alarmed—until my landlady got a look at her.
“WHAT is WRONG with the BABY?” cried Mrs. Pappas, an earnest and dramatic Greek woman in her mid-sixties. She had raised four babies of her own, and the magnitude of her horror at the sight of Jane’s spotty face shattered my complacency.
“It’s baby acne?” I said, asking rather than asserting, though all the books had been so firm on this point. “It’s normal, right? For babies this age. It’s not supposed to last long.”
“Ah,” said Mrs. Pappas, nodding sagely. “It must be an Irish thing.”
Never fear, Sean Patrick. Sure and you’ll be a handsome lad again soon enough.
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Well, I guess maybe it IS an Irish thing, ’cause both my babies had it at around 4 weeks, and pretty severely, I might add.
I’m of Mexican descent, but my husband’s of Irish heritage, so I guess now I can start blaming him when our babies become O’Pizza faces!
Posted on February 10th, 2009 at 2:02 pmWell, I don’t think we have much Irish heritage, but my first baby had an impressive case of baby acne. I remember a stranger looked at her and said, “A face only a mother could love!” I thought that was a surprising thing to say about someone else’s newborn baby!
Posted on February 10th, 2009 at 3:02 pmOh, yes. Each of mine had the (non-Irish) baby acne. Fortunately, it doesn’t last very long!
Posted on February 10th, 2009 at 4:10 pmI’m sure he’s perfect, whatever phases he’s going through…
Penny, also Irish, and remembering her babies the same way…
Posted on February 11th, 2009 at 9:24 amHee hee! It must be a Scottish/Welsh thing, too, ’cause all the babies here have had it…
Posted on February 11th, 2009 at 9:31 ammy babies had it too, and my latin skin is pretty dark, but my husband’s german, english side had something to do with it.
Posted on February 12th, 2009 at 9:59 amMy eldest had both the ‘stork bites’ and ‘angel kisses’ AND mongolian spots.
Both my boys had baby acne too – my Mum says that I had it so bad she was ashamed to take me out in public as she had no idea what was wrong with me! One of the midwives told me it is usually worse in babies who will grow up to have very fine, fair, clear complexions
Posted on February 14th, 2009 at 11:08 amI think it’s a baby thing. Both my babies had it too. Lasted for about a month for both. In case you are curious, I’m Asian.
Posted on February 14th, 2009 at 9:53 pmR.
O.
F.
L.
A classic.
Posted on February 15th, 2009 at 1:41 pm