While a few babies come out with perfectly styled locks, many start off with a spiky mohawk, tufted patches or the scraggly comb-over of a fiddling Homer Simpson. And fifty-fifty more have virtually nothing at all.

Whatever your baby's hairstyle du jour, don't worry also much — or get too attached. Newborn 'dos are hair today, gone tomorrow. Here's a look at how your babe'due south hair can grow and alter — plus how to intendance for whatever coif your cutie's got.

When practise babies grow hair?

Even if your baby is totally bald when she'southward born, the seeds of her future locks have long been planted. Hair follicles commencement to develop by calendar week 14 or fifteen of pregnancy, setting the phase for future strands to sprout.

That's not to say your newborn volition necessarily come into the world with a total caput of pilus — far from information technology. Almost babies have almost none when they're first built-in, and the tiny tresses that emerge in those early weeks and months could very well shed between 2 and iii months.

As for when she'll start sporting a permanent load of locks? Know that it'll happen somewhen. Exactly when that happens tin can be anyone's approximate — it's different for every child. Some get a great new caput of hair by 6 months, some not for two or three years. And fifty-fifty if those strands are thin early on, it doesn't mean your child'south hair will be thin when she's older.

Why practise babies lose their hair?

Whether your baby was born with a massive mane or started growing a few sprouts that so began to shed, infant hair loss is common and nothing to worry about.

In fact, it'due south a normal, physiological response to nativity. Some experts link it to plummeting pregnancy hormones — the ones that may have given y'all cracking pilus too! — which kick off what's called the exogen phase in some parts of the scalp, causing lots of hair to fall out altogether.

Continue Reading Below

Luckily, the exogen phase is usually followed rather quickly (or even simultaneously) by new hair growth. But the baby hair that grows in may exist nothing like your niggling ane'southward newborn locks.

Colour and texture oft change — so your baby's thick, nighttime hair could make its reappearance a lot sparser and lighter. Cherry tin give way to blond. Curly tin can become straight. Surprise, surprise!

How to make baby hair grow

Have dreams of styling a gorgeous, sweet-smelling head of babe pilus? While there's not much you can direct practice to get your sweetie's strands growing, you can give existing tresses the best possible handling and give her body what information technology needs to grow good for you and strong from head to toe.

  • Keep your baby off of her back when she'south awake. It's mutual for younger babies to develop bald patches on the back of their heads, cheers to so much time spent laying on their backs during slumber. While you lot should e'er place your baby on her back to slumber (information technology's the safest position and can forbid SIDS), effort to offer opportunities for her to take that head up while she's awake. Practise plenty of breadbasket time and hold her upright while you're playing or reading books if she can't yet sit down up on her own.
  • Avert over-brushing. Contrary to the erstwhile wives' tale, brushing 100 times a day doesn't encourage pilus growth — and it can actually promote damage and breakage. Brush whatsoever fuzz your baby has every bit needed to mode information technology, then terminate.
  • Comb — don't brush — moisture hair. Even a little fleck of brushing can damage wet hair. If your little one'south locks are long enough that they need some help postal service-bathroom, use a rummage instead.
  • Steer clear of tight hairstyles. Tempted to exercise upward the petty mane your babe does have? But avoid pulling information technology back tightly and stick with soft pilus bands or clips that won't pull strands out or suspension them.
  • Focus on salubrious food. It'due south a must for your baby'south growth and development overall, so in that sense, wholesome meals and snacks will strengthen and support those lengthening locks. Chest milk or formula is all that your baby needs before six months. Once she starts solids, introduce a wide diverseness of healthy foods and focus on the nutrients that are particularly important for babies. Call up poly peptide, calcium, whole grains and complex carbohydrates, salubrious fats, iron, omega-3s, and vitamins A, B, C and E.
  • Consider coconut oil. Effort massaging a dab onto your baby'due south noggin after bath fourth dimension. Very limited research suggests that certain compounds in coconut oil could aid gainsay pilus damage and promote a healthy scalp. As with all natural remedies, just run it past your baby'south pediatrician offset.
  • Soothe cradle cap. If flaky, red patches have appeared on baby's scalp, alleviate this common skin status — also called seborrheic dermatitis — with mineral oil and regular shampooing. This can help clear up the scales and may speed hair growth.

How to intendance for your newborn's hair

Got a infant with a full head of hair? Caring for those fine locks calls for some finesse, but it'due south nothing you tin can't handle. Here's how to keep those newborn strands silky and polish.

  • Don't wash your infant's hair every day. Especially with newborns, there's just no demand. Aim for a quick shampoo when you breast-stroke your babe, which doesn't need to happen more than often than a couple times a week.
  • Gently shampoo your infant's scalp at bathtime. A besides-brisk scalp massage tin stress hair follicles and speed up hair loss or breakage.
  • Use a soft-bristle brush or a broad-toothed rummage that won't snag on tangles or pull your baby's hair.
  • Avert headbands or ponytails that pull also tightly, which can damage her locks.
  • If your babe needs a quick trim to look presentable, go for information technology. Just practise it when she'south well-rested and fed and then she'll be less cranky, and ready her upwards with some toys to distract her.

Whether your baby is built-in bald and stays that style for a while or comes out with a long, luxurious mane, her hair situation will likely alter. In the meantime, give that sweet little head plenty of kisses and take lots of pictures. A few years from now, you lot'll both accept fun marveling at the hair she was — or wasn't! — built-in with.