Mongolian Spots

Prior to embarking on this whole adoption adventure, I had never heard of Mongolian Spots. My African American friends are probably laughing at me right now, because most AA babies have Mongolian Spots (as do a large number of Native American, Latino and Asian babies). But being the dayglo white girl that I am, this was not on my radar.

What are Mongolian Spots, you ask? They are a harmless conglomeration of pigment cells that look like bad bruises, and are usually on the back or buttocks (sometimes wrists and ankles). They usually fade away by the time the child starts school.

I came across some posts on this topic on a couple adoption blogs, and found out that Mongolian Spots are very common in Guatemalan babies, especially those of Mayan heritage. Since we believe Daniel is part Mayan, one of the first things I did when we first visited him was check him over. Sure enough, his entire butt is one big Mongolian Spot. We were glad we'd seen pictures of these spots on the internet, because otherwise we would have freaked out thinking Danny had been spanked with a large frying pan! We will need to have Daniel's pediatrician document his spot so that caregivers (or any of you who may have diaper duty at some point!) don't think we're beating our kid. If you want to see what Mongolian Spots look like, click here. Daniel's is actually bigger than the one in this picture; it pretty much covers his whole behind. Personally, I find it kinda cute. Weird, I know, but he's my son, and I think everything about him is cute!