Normal baby skin and what to expect

Hi, I’m Dr. Natalia Fox, a dermatology doctor here to give you top tips on common skin conditions for you and your children.

Three things to expect when your new baby is born is that they will come out covered in vernix, which is a sort of white moisturizing substance that protects their skin to the new environment.

It’s important to leave this on for as long as possible, and it naturally absorbs and moisturizes into the skin over the first 48 to 72 hours of life.

Secondly, they tend to have a sort of fine furry hair covering called lanugo. This again is protective downy hair that tends to reduce over the first few days of life.

And thirdly, when all new babies are born, they tend to be more reddish, purplish in color, no matter what their ethnicity. Over the first weeks and months of their life, this will gradually normalize to what their ultimate true skin color will be. So it takes a while for their skin to adjust and normalize over the first few weeks of life.