Have "Mongolian spots" fooled anyone else?

I have kind of a funny story about what happened when I was looking after a child for the first time the other day.

I am in the process of getting my day care licensed and I have three full-time girls and one part-time boy. There is a new family in town that I just met, they are recent immigrants from China. I met the mom at playgroup, and she really needed me to watch her daughter for one day because she and her husband's work schedules overlapped.

I said sure, no problem, and they brought the little girl (2 years old) to my day care. Well, I was changing her diaper and noticed what I THOUGHT to be deep blue bruising all over her bum. Having never seen this before, I thought the best thing to do would be to call my child care coordinator who is helping me get licensed. I described the marks to her and she told me to call Child and Family Services just to be on the safe side.

Before I did, I thought that I had better check the rest of her body to see if there were bruises anywhere else. I found what looked to be another huge bruise in the middle of her shoulder blades. So I called CFS and they sent someone over to check it out.

Well, you can imagine my relief when I learned that it wasn't bruises at all but something called "Mongolian spots", a type of birthmark that is very common for children with Asian heritage. The CFS worker was very nice, and was happy that I had called because, as she said, it's better to be safe than sorry. I felt kind of foolish but she assured me that they got calls like this all the time.

So all in all no harm done, the parents will never know that the call was made, and I learned that the CFS workers are very nice and really care about what they are doing.

If you visit this link you will see what Mongolian spots look like: https://www.google.ca/search?q=blue+...w=1366&bih=643

Has anyone else had a similar experience? I am just so relieved that it was just a birth mark.

It's pretty scary, eh? I can't blame these parents though, being recent immigrants I think they don't know that all kids don't have the same spots. And their grasp on English is a little rough lol. Still, I LOVE having children from other cultures in my day care. I love talking with parents about their different backgrounds and totally celebrate all cultures :).

I've never seen them but when my daughter (Caucasian) was born she had a red mark on her head that they said is very common for Caucasians. My husband asked what other races would have and they mentioned the large blue marks for Asians....and I can't remember what other's there are.

Kind of interesting. The family likely is just so used to it as it's the norm for them and their culture they didn't realize to give a heads up!

I had never heard of this. Thanks for the info. Yes, my daughter also was born with a red mark on her head which slowly faded. You did the right thing calling CFS though, better safe than sorry.

You did the right thing. As a childcare provider you are also a mandated reporter. Thank goodness it was birthmarks, unfortunately, some children are not so lucky. Making a call 'just to be safe' is good practice to uphold.

Very common in Asian children. Usually fade by age 5. My child is part Chinese and since birth has had a large mongolian spot over most of her bottom, a small marking on one leg, and lighter splotches on her back. I used to wonder what people would think when I would change her at swimming classes. I would have given a provider the heads up about it before placing her in care. Then again it was new to me and I just figured it would be questioned. If both parents are Chinese then it likely never occurred to them to mention it. After awhile it just becomes normal, you no longer really notice they are there and forget about them.

You did what you needed to do. I would have understood the call being made, knowing they sure look like bruises.

Just checked out the link you shared.....Wow that is shocking. They really do look like bad bruises. Jeez I would have for sure suspected that this was physical abuse. My daughter had a red mark at birth on her back known as a strawberry mark, birth marks are something entirely different. She had it till she was about 6.

Thanks so much for educating those of us who have never encountered this.

I have never seen or heard about this. I definitely would have suspected child abuse as well!! Thanks for the link and the heads up!

Yes, it sure is shocking to see, isn't it? And the fact that it is usually on the bum, where kids are often spanked, is even more misleading lol!

I'm not a childcare provider, but my son has these spots. He is 1/4 asian, and I always make it a point to mention and show new childcare providers. I saw a judge judy episode about this very thing =/

My sons (half asian) both have what looks to be huge grey blue bruises on their bums and lower back. My older one's have faded considerably but my baby looks like he's been hit very hard on the bum!! I feel the need to always explain the birthmarks whenever someone sees them (changing him in front of friends, for his 1 yr photo shoot, etc) so they don't think horrible things!! I didn't know about these marks until I had babies with them either!

It is also common in mixed race (black/white) children. Two of my kids had small Mongolian spots on their bottoms as babies as well, but they have faded over time.

Wow, thank you for posting the link!

They really do look like bruises. Thanks so much for the link, I would have never believed it!

My kids aren't Asian and have them. They are very common in mixed babies, my husband is Latin. My boys have them on their lower back. My oldest is dark so the spot is darker like a bruise. My daughter is light like me, she was born with a Stork Bite on her forehead (red spot). Those fade away. It does appear when she gets mad and cries....lol

They have never fooled me because I know about them but I can completely understand how someone can be fooled by them. They can be quite large in some cases.