Bruise from Vacuum Delivery

In this picture, you can see the results of a vacuum delivery on a baby's head. Notice the bruising and swelling on the moulded part of the skull.

The bruise disappeared before the first week was over.

Comments

[Katie]

Thought I would throw this out there: babies can get these without interventions as well. My son was born at home in a birth pool with his hand by his face. He ended up with a fairly large cephalohematoma, which reabsorbed by day 23. No interventions whatsoever! You can see some pictures on my blog at http://theazkahles.blogspot.com/search/label/Cephalohematoma

I'm sure it's very rare (my midwife hadn't had a baby born with one before my son) but it can happen!

[M. L.]

This is just what my son's head looked like when he was born - without a vacuum :) The bruise took 3 weeks to go away. It looked like he had a headache! :(

[Shannon]

My daughter's head looked like this and I had an "emergency" c-section. :/