Suara.com – The couple Atta Halilintar and Aurel Hermansyah are rejoicing in welcoming the birth of their first child, called baby A. In his Instagram Story upload, Aurel shows off a photo of Baby A’s arms covered with fine hair.
“Brother has a lot of hair, mama’s child is sexy,” wrote @aurelie.hermansyah, quoted by Suara.com, Saturday (26/2/2022).
The fine hair on a newborn’s arms is called lanugo. Quoting Verywell Family, lanugo is a normal thing to find in newborns.
All babies have lanugo while in the womb. Usually, this lanugo goes away before the baby is born. However, some of them have not fallen out and remain until the baby is born.
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Generally, this lanugo is found in premature babies, but still in normal babies or of adequate gestational age, lanugo is sometimes also found.
Lanugo is part of the baby’s development in the womb, comes from the Latin ‘lana’ and ‘wool’. This hair also has many functions, as it is the first hair to grow in a baby’s skin follicle while it is still developing in the womb.
Usually the lanugo will go away while the baby is still in the womb, because it will fall off by itself into the amniotic fluid, then the baby drinks the fluid, and along with whatever is around it.
After a baby swallows lanugo, it passes through the digestive system and mixes with the baby’s first stool, which is called meconium.
While in the womb, lanugo functions to coat the baby’s skin and act as a barrier to the amniotic fluid around the uterus.
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On the baby’s skin, this lanugo serves to hold a thick and oily substance called vernix to protect the baby.