Understanding Lanugo and its Characteristics

During pregnancy, over the course of nine months, the foetus inside the mother’s womb undergoes drastic changes, developing from a tiny cell-sized fertilized egg into a fully grown human baby in just 36 weeks. It is nothing short of a miracle that a complete human being forms inside another human being within such time. Though a baby is born with all the features a healthy human being should have, it also develops a lot of temporary features inside the uterus which helps it combat the conditions inside the mother’s womb for the entirety of the pregnancy, and of such features which generally is not seen at childbirth is called Lanugo.

Understanding Lanugo?

A lot of young mothers have the same question like “Whatis Lanugo and what happens to it?”

To put it simply, lanugo is a fine layer of tiny, fuzzy hairs covering almost the entirety of the baby. It starts developing in 14th-16th week of pregnancy and by the 21st-23rd week, the entire body of the baby except may be the soles of the feet, the palms of the hand and the lips are not covered by lanugo. It is sometimes also called ‘monkey hair’ affectionately.

What does Lanugo do?

When we take a shower for a long time, our skin, especially in the fingers, becomes very wrinkly because of the excess water flow. Inside the womb, the baby is suspended inside amniotic fluid for 9 whole months. To prevent the same sort of wrinkling in the skin of the foetus, there exists a waxy coating on the entire skin called vernix. The hairy coating of lanugo gives the waxy layer of vernix something to stick on.

Lanugo can also behave as a form of insulation, since the baby develops very little fat while developing inside the womb. Although the body warmth of the mother herself keeps the baby warm, lanugo further helps to regulate the body temperature of the baby.

What if the new-born baby still has hair all over the body?

Lanugo is generally never seen in a new-born baby, since the hair is shed in the last month of the pregnancy and expelled by the foetus after birth. But in cases of premature birth or even if the baby is born a few weeks earlier, there is a high chance that the baby will be born with lanugo. Sometimes even full-term baby who are born healthy may show some signs of hair over the body.

It should be fully understood that there is nothing abnormal with lanugo and it is completely healthy and natural process. Parents should stop worrying if the baby is unhealthy or its health and safety is compromised in any way. Lanugo, if present at birth, is generally shed within 3 or 4 months and is replaced by vellus hair, that is the fine hair which covers the bodies of all human beings.

Parents should rest assured about their many questions regarding what is lanugo hair and just enjoy the miracle of childbirth because lanugo is completely natural and harmless part of it.