Strawberry Mark - to treat or not to treat

[sherwes]

My daughter was born with a strawberry mark about the size of a $10 coin above her right nipple. At 6 weeks the mark swelled up and, now, at 10 weeks, it is very swollen and raised and a bit larger than half a golf ball. It is harmless from a medical point of view. My paed has advised that it will continue to grow as she grows and should resolve by age 5. He has recommended treating it to stop it growing further as, when it resolves, it will most probably leave a scar and loose skin. Given the position of the mark the scarring would be visible when she is older and wears swimmers or a singlet top. Therefore, the smaller we can keep it the better.
The problem I have is that the treatment involves giving my baby beta blocker medication. My paed assures me that the does is low and that it is well tolerated by babies. I am seeking a second opinion before medicating my baby however, are there any other mums out there who had to make this decision?

 

[starbucks2]

Hi

I have not had to go through this - must be a hard decision. By "resolve by age 5" do you mean it will disappear on its own by age 5?

 

[sherwes]

Yes, the lump should disappear on its own by then but the doctor is concerned that it will be so large by then that my daughter will be left with loose skin and stretch mark like scars on her breast. I am getting the second opinion tomorrow.....I so don't want my little baby on medication...

 

[MommyTo3]

My oldest daughter has one in her face between her left eye and left ear, just about where the hair starts. It appeared about 2 weeks after birth and got very swollen. I would say it was pretty much done growing by 3 months (it very quickly went to the final size, I was worried because I didn't know how big it was going to be and since it was in her face I wasn't too happy, but again, the final size was pretty clear after a few weeks). It was about the size of a cent, so not too big but bright red and swollen ... and she didn't have much hair to begin with. At about 18 months - 2 years of age, it started to shrink ... or maybe it remained the same size but her head was getting bigger so it appeared smaller. It was getting flatter and of course she had more hair so it was less noticeable.

She's now 5 (and 1/4) years old and it's still there (but I was also told that 90% of children won't have it anymore by age 5), it's definitely not gone but it has faded quite a bit and a lot of people don't notice see, especially with her hair, although it's definitely not where her hair is.

I would really wait, you're probably pretty much at the size where it's going to stay and then it's just a matter of waiting it out, see how it goes when she grows. At this age, I wouldn't worry about doing something. You can always decide later, now it doesn't really matter. I was worried, but it wasn't necessary. It's common, about 2% of children have it, especially girls.

 

[tstmum]

I haven't had to make this decision, but my parents did about me. I had a strawberry birthmark on my neck, about 2-3 cm across and from what I hear it was raised quite a bit when I was a baby. As it was on my neck, my mum dressed me in high-necked clothing so there are very few photos! Anyway, my parents were told that the mark would resolve when I was about 5 years old. And it did. Now I have a really slightly pigmented area (even if I point it out, most people cannot notice it). I wouldn't even call it a scar, and there is definitely no loose skin or stretch mark type marks there. Hope this helps, and good luck with your decision.

 

[bart]

My daughter was born with a big strawberry mark on her right arm about 3cm in diameter, bright red and rather swollen. It got more swollen/bumpy and perhaps bigger in size weeks later (I am not 100% sure, it was already very big to start with on her tiny arm). We were assured by our paed (and a couple of my friends who are doctors) that it should go away naturally by age 1 and if not he can prescribe some cream to make it go away faster. He didn't seem bothered by it at all so i wasnt too worried. My baby is now 4 months old and the mark has significantly reduced in size. Not sure how swollen your baby's mark is but perhaps you can wait a couple of weeks more to see how it develops.