L is for Lanugo

L is for Lanugo

The very soft, almost invisible, hair that sometimes covers newborn babies is called lanugo. Sometimes this hair may be dark or even white.  Lanugo starts to develop in the womb around five months gestation and starts to fall out around eight months.  This hair may completely fall out before the baby is born, or your baby may still be covered in, or have patches of, the thin fuzz.  Lanugo is more common in premature babies who are born before the hair falls out.  This covering of lanugo also helps the protective coating of vernix to stick to and coat your baby in the womb.  As the lanugo sheds in the womb it combines with the amniotic fluid which is swallowed by your baby and creates the substance of their first poop, or meconium…

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