# Asian babies **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 4, 2003, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-babies/159105 "2003-03-04T22:41:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rubensdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@rubensdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rubensdad)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-babies/159105/1 "2003-03-04T22:41:38Z")
Why do all Asian babies have a blue mark at the base of their spine? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-babies/159105/2 "2003-03-04T23:08:05Z")
Uh, what? ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-babies/159105/3 "2003-03-04T23:10:32Z")
huh? ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-babies/159105/4 "2003-03-04T23:15:21Z")
He means the “Mongolian spot”, a small blue-black discoloration at the base of the spine frequently found in Asian infants, around 90%. It also occurs in Hispanic children sometimes, and much more rarely in Caucasian children. It’s caused by the “entrapment of melanocytes in the dermis during their migration into the dermis.” It usually disappears by age four. ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-babies/159105/5 "2003-03-04T23:19:04Z")
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh… Thanx ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-babies/159105/6 "2003-03-04T23:19:33Z")
Also important to know: they look very much like bruises and have led to many false accusations of child abuse. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-babies/159105/7 "2003-03-04T23:20:45Z")
Y’welcome. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-babies/159105/8 "2003-03-04T23:27:05Z")
Eeeenteresting. Learn something new and bizarre everyday. That’s what I always say. ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-babies/159105/9 "2003-03-04T23:31:31Z")
Okay then, pravvy, what’s the word on stork bites? They’re really common in white babies. My son has one. Why? ---
**Author:** ![rubensdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@rubensdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rubensdad)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-babies/159105/10 "2003-03-04T23:38:05Z")
Thank you **Pravnik**. Do you know why this happens to such a large percentage of Asian infants. What causes this to happen particularly in the base of the spine. Who originally named it the “Mongolian Spot” and why? ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-babies/159105/11 "2003-03-04T23:43:26Z")
That’s interesting! I’ll have to remember that if our next child is Asian (as I read that about 25% of all children born are). ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-babies/159105/12 "2003-03-04T23:47:07Z")
My son (14 mos) had stork bites/angel kisses. Little red marks on his eyelid, in his scalp (in the form of three sixes - j/k!), and one right between his eyes. You can’t see them anymore. The Dr. explained them as being tiny blood vessels bunched up. It works itself out in a year or two, except in more extreme cases. ---
**Author:** ![kimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f0a364/32.png) [@kimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kimera)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-babies/159105/13 "2003-03-05T01:26:15Z")
My Korean/Japanese boyfriend is 20 and still has his. It’s about the size of a nickle. ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-babies/159105/14 "2003-03-05T02:35:05Z")
[Stork bites](http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/imagepages/17208.htm)… hmm. I had never heard of them before now. ---
**Author:** ![Adoptamom\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Adoptamom\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Adoptamom_II)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-babies/159105/15 "2003-03-05T02:48:33Z")
Our 11 year old son was an infant when we adopted him. He came home from the hospital with these blue/purplish marks all over his buttocks, back and privates. I tried washing the marks off as gently as I could - they didn’t budge. I brought them to the attention of our pediatrician at his 10 day old recheck. The Doc, who we’d used for years and years with our other children, laughed hysterically when I shared my concern, explained my washing efforts and showed them to him (we had that kind of relationship - it was a belly laugh, he was not making fun of me). That’s when this white mama learned all about Mongolian spots on my black son. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![mipiace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb9ed0/32.png) [@mipiace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mipiace)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-babies/159105/16 "2003-03-05T03:41:49Z")
My ex-husband has a stork bite at the base of his neck that never went away. Both of our daughters have them in the exact same spot - I always thought that was a bit uncanny ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-babies/159105/17 "2003-03-05T08:51:00Z")
Heh, reading this thread, I had three reactions. _Asian babes_? Followed by _eh_?! Finally, _oooooooohhhh_. ---
**Author:** ![Iteki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/eada6e/32.png) [@Iteki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iteki)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-babies/159105/18 "2003-03-05T10:28:22Z")
MrsIteki tells me that the asian (or at least korean) version of being “wet behind the ears” is having a blue ass 🙂 as in “Kim? Bah, don’t listen to him, his ass is still blue”