What is a stork bite birth mark?

A stork bit my baby – not really! But it looks like one did.

Heard of a birth mark called a ‘stork bite’? What is a stork bite birth mark? It’s one that appears on the forehead, eyelids, nose, upper lip, and on the back of the neck or head – just like a stork picked your baby up by the head and dropped him/her on your doorstep… as the story goes.

Soon after my baby girl was born, I noticed a faint pink patch on her left eyelid and just above her nose on her forehead… and also on the back of her head. Strangely, she wasn’t born with the birth mark; it appeared maybe a week after she popped out (well… not quite ‘popped’). Her stork bite is a flat, irregularly-shaped pink patch on her face – it’s unobtrusive and quite sweet really.

Apparently, a stork bite affects a third of newborns, and is usually temporary (a friend’s baby had just about the same birth mark as my babs, which eventually faded).

The scientific name for a ‘stork bite’ is “nevus simplex”, and it is also called a ‘salmon patch’ or ‘angel’s kiss’. It’s caused by the stretching (dilation) of certain blood vessels.

I love the whole ‘stork bite’ analogy – it’s really sweet. I think that irrespective of what you choose to call the birth mark – ‘salmon patch’, ‘stork bite’ or ‘angel’s kiss’ – you can make a really cool story out of it that will make your child feel special, whether the mark goes or stays.

Source: PubMed Health –“Stork Bite”