Mongolian Spots
Something I missed yesterday: If you don’t know what Mongolian Spots are then you need to learn. Mongolian Spots are pretty normal in non-Caucasian babies. They are most often located on the bottom and lower back, but they can be anywhere. They usually look like bruises, often large bruises that, if they were bruises, would point to child abuse. If you see something that looks like a bruise but there is no swelling, touch it and see if there is any pain. Gently at first, but then harder. Work up so you are poking around hard enough not to hurt normal skin, but to hurt if is a bruise. If there is no reaction of pain then it’s probably not a bruise. If you are in doubt then ask your facilitator to take a look. Since you won’t know the child’s pain tolerance, the only way I know of to know for sure is to see if they fade or not. If they turn colors and go away then it was a bruise. If they stick around with no changes, Mongolian Spots.
GllitterGirl had several. One was almost the exact shape of my hand, fingers and all, on her bottom and lower back. Thankfully, they fade as the child gets older, GG’s was faded so you could barely see it by the time she entered Kindergarten. It was still there, but looked more like a discoloration than a bruise. Hers are all completely gone now.
If your child has them then when you get home get them documented. We documented them with our social worker and our pediatrician. You also want to point them out to your child’s daytime caregiver and make sure they have knowledge of what Mongolian Spots are. If it’s a diverse daycare they’ll already know, if not then you may need to educate them so they don’t call Children’s Services on you. Also, be aware of other’s reactions when changing diapers in public restrooms, as more than one mom out there has had a police officer come up to them in the mall after someone saw what they thought were bruises during a diaper change and called the police and then followed the mom around while talking to 911 until an officer got there. I’m aware of two mom’s this happened to. In one case the police officer was biracial and knew what Mongolian Spots were, he took a look at the ones on the child’s back and that was that. In the other case the officer was clueless but a call to the pediatrician took care of it.
Oh, I also remember one mom from a long time ago with a child who had Mongolian Spots pretty bad on one of her legs so that it was impossible to wear shorts without them being seen. The mom had so much trouble from people’s reactions to them that she finally just kept a paper with her at all times from her pediatrician documenting and explaining them. On the one hand it’s good that so many people want to take action when they think a child has been abused. On the other hand, it can be a huge pain to deal with when they aren’t bruises.
As for me, I explained the possibility of them to extended family ahead of time, and then told my mom on the phone where they were once we had GlitterGirl in our arms. My mom told most of the rest of the family, and that was pretty much all we had to do where family was concerned. I rarely used public restrooms to change GG (the germaphobe in me took her out to the car and changed her in the seat), so no problems there, either. We had them documented by pediatrician and social worker, and I made sure the daytime caregiver understood them, and later made sure the preschool knew about them. As horrible as the one that looked like my hand looked, they were still pretty much a non-issue for us.
TwinkleToes has them too, but hers look less like bruises and more like dirt. Not really like either, more like a dirty bruise, I guess. Which brings me back to the “in China” part of the discussion. Before we got her into the tub I’d been trying to gently clean them up with a wet washcloth when I had the chance. She has them on her arms and legs and it wasn’t until the bath that I realized that some of what I thought was dirt was skin discoloration and not dirt. I had realized the ones on her back and bottom were Mongolian Spots, but it didn’t occur to me that the ones on her arms and legs might be.
Here are a few more articles and some pictures:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolian_spot
http://www.baby-medical-questions-and-answers.com/infant-skin-rash.html#ans4
http://www.visualdxhealth.com/infant/blue-GraySpotMongolianSpot.htm
http://www.cyh.com/HealthTopics/HealthTopicDetails.aspx?p=114&np=304&id=1589#4
flickr.com/photos/42057854@N00/2219889682
http://pennhealth.com/encyclopedia/em_PrintArticle.aspx?gcid=000828&ptid=1
April 15th, 2009 at 11:51 am
Great points! Just yesterday my daughter’s preschool asked about the mongolian spots (they thought they were bruises). I told the teachers about them when she first started school but they forgot. I am so glad that I have documentation from the doctor even though they said they believed me – I want there to be no doubt. My daughters also look like she has a hand print across her back and her little bottom is very blue. She is almost 3 and we are looking forward to them fading… her swimsuits have to be high in the back and low on the legs to hide them.
April 15th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
I was expecting my dd to have Mongolian spots, and she had very light ones across her lower back and bottom. They have faded a lot and are almost gone.
I was not expecting the very dark one on her shoulder that looks just like a thumbprint. I thought it was a bruise, and I was ANGRY about it! I finally figured it toward the end of our stay in China. It has faded a bit, but is still very obvious.
I have had our family doctor and our SW document the spots, and have explained them to preschool. We haven’t had any issues, but my dad is a social worker, and he asked us to have them documented to “cover our butts”.
April 15th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Baby G has them too. Even though I knew to expect them, I was still surprised by how large and dark hers were. They pretty much cover her whole bottom and definitely give the impression of bruising from abuse if you didn’t know.
I remembered to tell my daycare provider from posts here on RQ. Our asian ped thought it was a little funny that I wanted them documented. She said tons of kids have them. A large part of her practice is latino and apparantly they’re common among that community as well.
I can definitely see how a person could be pretty freaked out in china if they rec’d a child who had the spots and had not been educated. I would have freaked out if I thought someone had been abusing my daughter like that.
Good info RQ!!!
susan
http://www.crowellgang.blogspot.com
April 15th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
i have two birth children and in the process to adopt #3 from China. both my husband and I are Chinese, and our two kids are riddled with mongolian spots. if you look at my son’s back, you’d think he was part dalmation… haha. and my daughter has a pretty dark spot on her shoulder (like her grandmother) which shows when she wears tank tops. they do look like bruises. now i’ll be mentally prepared if a childcare worker asks about it… I never thought it would be an issue.
April 15th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Great information RQ. Before we traveled to get our daughter in Vietnam I knew to be aware of Mongolian spots, but I didn’t realize how many different places they could show up or the various odd shapes there might be. I thought they were always concentrated on the back right above the buttocks. My daughter had a very dark spot there and I knew what it was. However she also had what looked light handprints on the top of her thighs in the back. They were very light, but I first thought they were bruises. She still has them, but they have faded. Knowing what to expect helps….I was a little freaked out when I first saw them and thought they were bruises.
April 15th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
DS has several large ones on his buttocks, back, and shoulders. I asked the pediatrician about documenting them, and he laughed. He said it was an adoption urban legend that Mongolian spots would cause any problem. That does not really match what RQ and other have described, though. Maybe he did not see it as a problem in our area due to the diversity (e.g., there is only one white child in DS’s class at daycare, and most of the teachers are Middle Eastern or Latino). We did warn family members and the teenage babysitter, though.
April 15th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Our DD has lots of them on her behind and on her back. The spots on her back do look like bruises. I really worried about others noticing them at the pool last summer. I tried to choose one piece suits that came up higher in the back. Luckily, they’re light enough that out in the bright sunlight you really didn’t notice them so much. I have chosen the same type swimsuits for this summer!
April 15th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
I’d like to add that another place that should be educated may be the church you attend, especially for the youngest family members. When we got home with our first daughter, I printed off a sheet explaining Mongolian Spots and had it stapled to my daughter’s registration card after talking with the nursery director. She made sure that the main nursery workers saw it and read over it. We did the same thing when DD#2 came home last summer.
Additionally (and this has nothing to do with Mongolian Spots), we made sure that all of our older kids (all teenage boys) and husband and myself keep pictures of the girls and pictures with them and the girls on their cell phones (which we all carry faithfully). It was the one way I could think of to protect my teenage sons and husband and myself if we were to be carrying one of the girls if she were having a fit (maybe it’s just my toddlers, but if they don’t want to leave someplace fun – like a play place at the mall – they have been known to pitch fits). Anyway, if someone were concerned about a screaming child being carried away by someone who didn’t look like them, I wanted my family to be able to prove that these little girls belonged with them.
We have never needed to “prove” our girls belonged with us, but if we had to, we could.
April 15th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
I wanted to add something about the children when they throw tantrums in public. We took a copy of the adoption certificate , made a small wallet sized copy and laminated it. My favorite meltdown occurred in a Chinatown in NY. The police and other onlookers stood around to watch for awhile to see what would happen. I wanted to tell them if I was going to kidnap a child wouldn’t I go for a quiet one :) Nobody said anything but I still carry that card in my wallet.
April 15th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Our girl has them also, one big one on her lower back and downward, several small ones on her shoulder blades which at first I thought were bruises from us picking her up as they look like finger marks, although they are lighter than the one on her butt they never fade or change.
April 15th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
I highly recommend mentioning them if you put your child in the nursery at church. When we mentioned our son’s Mongolian spots to the nursery director, she thanked us for telling her and then went onto say they knew all about Mongolian spots. She went onto say that, unfortunately, the reason they know about them is because they called child protective services on a family whose child was of Asian decent. Thankfully the situation with that family was quickly resolved. After hearing that story, I also made sure to tell the specific caregivers in the infant room, just so everyone who could potentially change DS would know.
April 15th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
When my dd and her dh received their referral in late December, we all got a chuckle when the first picture they saw of their daughter was of the little one’s bottom to show them her rather large “spot”. We were all aware of them since our own two kiddos from Russia, but of Asian heritage, also had had them. Like RQ’s, our dd had one on her back that looked very much like a hand print. Those have now faded.
BTW, I am babysitting today! Our precious granddaughter is asleep in the next room right now. We have had a wonderful day, seeing all the farm animals and trying to say their names. She has shown a little separation anxiety, not wanting to let me out of her sight. This is her first real day away from her mama. But I have enjoyed every minute of it. She has been home just one month. She is 13 months old, and an absolute blessing and joy!
April 15th, 2009 at 4:52 pm
Taking preventative measures can sure save a lot of frustration and confusion in this area. I am thankful that our city has a large FCC group and that our Waiting Families facilitators prepared us with this information. It was amazing to me how many AP had no clue about mongolian spots when we were in China.
My daughter’s are on her lower back and bottom. Like most others, I had documentation from my pediatrician and asked it to be put in her day care file. The funny thing was… her daycare, at the time, had a pretty multicultural student body and the AA teacher and director thought it was strange that someone would NOT know about the spots.
I let the nursery workers at church know, as well as babysitters and family members that might have changed her when she was younger. She turned three in December and the spots are definitely lighter now than two years ago. I am thinking they will be pretty much faded by the time she hits kindergarten.
M2I
http://www.MyChineseShamrock.blogspot.com
http://www.babysites.com/sites/laureenmary
April 15th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
I did not know what Mongolian spots were when we got our little one, and she had them on her bottom and lower back. She aldo had a bruise on her forehead, and that actually was a bruise. So I fugured the other ones were bruises as well… When we got home and they had not vanished after two-three weeks I took the subject up with her pediatrician at the all over check she went through after getting home, and that was when I finally learned about them. I was very sure to tell the kindergarden staff, you bet!
April 15th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
Our youngest DD has them too.On her bottom and all over her back.Also one at her left hand.They are very dark.Our oldest had a litle one on her lower back it was very light.
She is now 6 years old and you can’t see it any more.
April 15th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
My brother had them as a child so I knew how they could look, but Katie’s took me aback…she had the “handprint” mongolican spot on her bottom and lower back. Perfect “fit” for an adult sized hand.
It is WELL documented…very well documented! I even took photos in China of it, had it verified by my travel mates as well. Luckily I knew what it could be so I did not freak out too much when I saw it.
April 15th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
Thank you, RQ, for posting on this topic. DH and I had no idea about mongolian spot when we received our DD last month. You know that one loud baby in every adoption group – the one that shrieks bloody murder on gotcha day? Well, that was our DD for the first four hours we had her. She was still shrieking when we took her clothes off to change her diaper. That’s when we discovered what we thought were many, many bruises on her hip and back. We freaked! I thought someone had been abusing our baby. Fortunately, we had a pediatrician with our adoption group and he explained mongolian spot.
April 15th, 2009 at 11:48 pm
There are a few places on our daughter that are barely discolored, but they’re not bad. If I hadn’t been scanning every inch of her for Mongolian spots, I probably wouldn’t have even noticed them. They are pretty much unnoticeable. They do happen in non-Asians, though. The little girl I used to watch a few years ago had one on her ankle, and it looked just like a bruise. She is Caucasian/Hispanic. Her mom (my good friend) hadn’t heard of them, but after the baby’s birth, both her mom (the grandma–a social worker) and I (who had been researching everything, as I was leaving for China in 3 days) insisted that she document them immediately. With that preparation, she hasn’t had a problem.
April 15th, 2009 at 11:55 pm
My daughter has a mongolian spot on her butt and fortunately we documented it with our pediatrician. Someone called the police on me after my daughter had a fit in public one day. The officer seemed to be understanding but on the advice of my agency we went to the ped that same day to have her document that the spot was exactly the same as when she documented it when she came home. The police never did anything with it but I am so glad I had that documented in case it did.
It seems we get a lot more “interference” when out in public with our adopted daughter than we got with our bio son when he was her age. She’s a lot smaller than he was so maybe people think she’s younger than she is but I think they notice that she’s a different race and they judge the exact same behavior differently because of that. If she looked like us (even if she was still adopted), I don’t think anyone would notice or care. For those waiting, it’s an aspect to being a “conspicuous” family to try to prepare for.
April 16th, 2009 at 12:01 am
Mia has them on her butt and small of her back. They use to be darker but have faded quite a bit. My guess would be that by the time she is in kinder that they will almost be completely gone. She use to have one on her knee cap and when we first got her I thought it was a bruise (even knowing about the mongloian spots and seeing them on her butt) becuase it was so perfectly shaped like she hit her knee. It was there for about a year after we got home but tonight I looked just to see if it was still there but it is gone (we have been home almost 2 years now). Like Ladyesquiree I asked my ped to document them (we have the same ped) and told our day care (we use the same daycare as well) and all is well.
Christy :)
April 16th, 2009 at 1:18 am
DD#1 had the spots on her shoulders, ankles, and bottom. On her bottom she had a big spot covering her whole bottom and a smaller darker one. All have faded except for the deep purple smaller one.
DD#2 has a faint spot on her bottom.
I have not read the other’s comments as I am short for time, but I am glad that people don’t let “possible” child abuse go unchecked. I had a family friend’s husband pull me aside after a pool party quick change and ask me about them. You should see the relief on his face after I explained and I am sure he went home to google it:-)
I documented the spots with daycare, school, Doctor’s office and with the fingerprints id.
April 16th, 2009 at 6:47 am
50+years ago it must have been a smaller issue. I remember my mama telling us both my sister and I had them. My mama’s Italian, my father Japanese. I wonder if they’ve faded by now… I can’t see back there! haha. I will remind my husband and friends!
April 16th, 2009 at 7:19 am
Here, most parents are well aware of the mongolian spot. In fact, some AP think that their child’s bio parents were not both Chinese if they DON’T have any mongolian spot. That is not the case. And, the mongolian spot is not exclusive to Chinese people as well.
April 16th, 2009 at 8:58 am
I made sure during our medical exam in China to have them document that in her medical report. I also made sure to have it documented on our first exam in the states. DD has one on her arm where you would get a shot. Everyone said “aw, she has a bruise from a shot” when we sent pics home when in China. We explained what it was. No one has made any other comments about it. The majority of DD’s is up and down her back. It looks like we beat the dikens out of her.
April 16th, 2009 at 9:28 am
Our daughter has an ashy colored bottom and then one dark spot a little smaller than a dime on her left “cheek”. We call it her “polka dot” and she thinks that is so funny.
We told her preschool about it day one and they said “oh yes, we have seen that many times before”. She is in a very diverse preschool.
April 16th, 2009 at 11:51 am
Our son will be 9 in August. All of his Mongolian spots have faded, except one. Do they ever stick around until adulthood?
UUMom
April 17th, 2009 at 11:44 am
pkchina2005, you’re right about the “conspicuous family” aspect of international adoption. We feel very fortunate that our agency prepared us well for becoming a conspicuous family. We’ve never had a problem with interference from the general public, however. We live in a diverse area of the Northeast and I think people here are just used to seeing adopted kids and non-homogenous family groups.
My daughter has several Mongolian spots on her shoulder, tush, and foot, and some faintly discolored skin on her back. We documented them with her pediatrician during our first visit after returning home from China. The only person who’s ever said anything about them is my sister, who saw her getting a bath and said in a shocked tone “Are those bruises?” She still didn’t sound convinced after I explained what Mongolian spots were, even after I pointed out that both she and I have them too in the same spot on our lower backs! (And we are Caucasian, so anyone can have them regardless of race.) Of course, with the passage of time, she now realizes that they’re just birthmarks.