Baby with Strawberries

Baby had her U3* checkup with her doctor a couple of weeks ago. Everything was fine - she is one perfectly healthy baby.

When baby was a couple of weeks old, she got a couple of hemangiomas. Those are like big, red moles - in Finnish they are often called 'strawberry moles'. They usually appear soon after birth. During the first year of a baby's life they might grow, but after that they will get smaller and eventually disappear.

These strawberries appear most often in the face area, but Baby has one on her chest and another below her armpit.

Although hemangiomas are not dangerous, there is a small risk that they are formed inside the baby, too. And if those grew bigger, they could cause some problems.

Therefore Baby's doctor wanted to make an ultrasound scan for babies hearth and other inner organs. He could not find any other hemangiomas and at the same time we got to know that everything was perfectly normal with her hearts, kidneys and liver. Great!

One relaxed Baby

As I told you yesterday, Baby likes to sleep, so she didn't really mind being examined. Overall, I think it is nice to have all these non-invasive examinations done just to be on the safe side. There is no harm done to the baby, but in case something is wrong, it is good to be prepared.

Fräulein having a picnic while little sister is being examined.

*) Here in Germany, all children should have planned checkups (Untersuchung) with their doctors. These checkups are called U+number, so that U1 is done directly after birth and U10, when the child is 8 years old. 
You can read more about the healthcare of babies in Germany from my older post 'About Baby's Healthcare in Germany'

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Babyllä on pari mansikkaluomea ja U3-lääkärintarkastuksessa lääkäri halusi varmistaa, ettei niitä löydy sisäelimistä. Jos sisäiset hemangioomat kasvaisivat, ne voisivat aiheuttaa ongelmia. Ultraäänitutkimuksessa ei löytynyt mitään ja muutenkin varmistui, että sydän, munuaiset ja maksa ovat kunnossa. Hieno juttu!

Mielestäni on hyvä, että tällaiset asiat tutkitaan perusteellisesti. Itse tutkimus ei vahingoita lasta mitenkään (itse asiassa Baby nukkui koko tutkimuksen ajan...), mutta mikäli jotain on vialla, on hyvä, että siihen voidaan puuttua ajoissa.