Discoloration

Updated on January 24, 2010
T.H. asks from Philomath, OR
12 answers

Help! My daughters nose is darker then the rest of her! A friend of mine said something about it the other day but I didn't realize just how bad it was until I developed some pictures. Does anyone have any idea what it could be? Or what caused it? I was thinking that maybe the baby food might have stained it? Will it go away?

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So What Happened?

Thanks for all the responses! My daughter decided she's had enough of mom feeding her and is now eating small bits of whatever we eat. Since she's done with the baby food (they grow up too fast!!) her nose is returning to normal color. I'm sure we'll have a few laughs looking at the pictures down the road :-)

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G.T.

answers from Portland on

Carrots and other orange veggies can cause this. I've seen babies with it around their mouths, chin, etc. Skin is always wearing off, so it's probably no biggy. If it bothers you, try washing right away, or even a dab of olive oil on her nose just before eating to prevents direct contact. The nose also gets more sun that the rest of the face, so could be a combo of the two, especially if she is fair.

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M.P.

answers from Portland on

T.,
Is it more of an "orange" color? If it is, this is very common. It comes from feeding her orange foods, sweet potatoes, yams, carrots ,etc....
It is not an outside stain. It is the pigment from the food that you see under her skin. This will clear up. With my neice, it was very pronunced and it stopped happening after she turned about 13 months old and started eating solid foods, not jarred baby food.
Good luck.
MP

2 moms found this helpful
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T.S.

answers from Eugene on

Hi T.!
I am sure everything is fine. When may daughter went to her 1 year check up the nurse brought us back and was asking the normal questions and then started looking at my little one. She got a freaked out look on her face and excused her self from the room. In a flash the Dr. and the nurse came in and the Dr. looked at my little one and asked me if she likes carrots? I said, yeah. Then she asked about sweet potatoes. I said that is her favorite. She eats them almost every day!
The Dr. looked at the nurse and asked her what color was the whites of my daughters eyes and she said “white”. Then the Dr. proceeded to inform me that the nurse was worried that the baby was jaundice. The Dr. explained that it was the carotene in the vegetables that was causing the coloring and as long as the whites of the eyes were fine then the baby is fine. No jaundice. Just orange skin!
In all of her baby pictures she has a little orange nose.
At first I thought that it was the food staining her nose, too. But it was actually just the carotene. It will go away.
My little guy also had that same effect. He is fine too.
Hope this helps!
T.

1 mom found this helpful
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H.O.

answers from Portland on

Don't worry my daughter's nose turned an orange tint when she was eating a lot of carrots, sweet potatoes and squash. It does go away once they start eating different things and less of the very colorful orange veggies. It is so cute to look at those pictures now!!

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C.H.

answers from Chattanooga on

My son is 10 months old, and he also has an orange nose. I didn't think much of it until he went for his well baby check up, and the Doctor walked in and said, "He must like his carrots!" lol I told her that he only ate carrots once or twice a week. But when I got home I looked at his stage 3 foods: mixed vegetables with chicken, turkey and vegetable... the main ingredient in all of them was carrots. So he was basically eating a jar of them a day... We've decreased the amount of "mixed vegetables" he's been eating and his little nose is looking much better.

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K.R.

answers from Portland on

Wow, that's a tough one. Sometimes this can happen because the tip of the nose is cartalidge or has more capilaries than the bony part of the nose. Definatley ask you pediatrician the next time you go in! Good luck.

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A.M.

answers from Portland on

If not from food, Possibly a birth mark?

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J.W.

answers from Seattle on

Skin pigmentation can be effected by large doses of carotine, but I don't think you're feeding her carrots 24x7. Depending upon your heritage, there could be variations in skin color. Talk to your doctor. Are we talking a birth mark type of discoloration or a large freckle? Suntan on the tip of her nose? Call your nurse's info line at the pediatrician's office and if that doesn't work and you can wait, bring it up at the next well baby check up and don't forget to bring pictures of her before the color change and those you just took so they can see why you're concerned. They see lots of babies and could dismiss it if they couldn't remember what she once looked like.

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M.P.

answers from Portland on

Her nose could have had more sun exposure causing it to tan more. I see all the people at the beach with white stuff only on their nose which indicates to me tht the nose gets more sun.

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T.M.

answers from Norfolk on

The same thing happened with my first daughter. She was more fond of the orange fruits and veggies and hardly ate the green ones. She had an orange nose for like the first 9 months! As soon as she started trying the other foods, it went away. My second daughter loved peas and green beans, spinach, etc. and ate a balance of greens and oranges and never had the problem. Don't worry about it too much!

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B.Y.

answers from Seattle on

On my elbows I use lemon juice to soften the color. I don't know if this would work, or how you would go about getting lemon juice on the nose.
I would say go talk to the DR and then maybe to a natural pathic DR.
If it is a birth mark, I am not sure that you can do anything about it.
A couple of my kids had birthmarks, and they have since softened, and are no longer there.
Good luck
B.
www.SouthSoundDoula.com

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P.S.

answers from Portland on

As many other moms have said, it's probably from the food she's eating. My daughters nose was rather orange for a couple of months. When we asked the Peditrician about it, he confirmed it was a build up of coloring from new solid foods and would go away as she became more interested in multicolor food. He said it wasn't something to worry about. Be sure to ask your Dr. just to be sure though.

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