I was thinking about some of the threads we have on here and how wonderfully supportive the parenting group is. I love it.
I love that everyone gets to show off baby pictures and there are always dozens of cooing responses, which is what every proud parent wants to see.

We've discussed disabilities and disfigurements, attitudes and behaviour, poo and piddle and no end of the more gruesome or sickening aspects of parenting and pregnancy.

Every parent is biased towards their own child anyway and who wouldn't be, but does anyone ever think their own child is not beautiful?
One of our daughters was born looking like a doll, perfect pale skin, no milk spots or red marks or anything else, huge blue eyes and the epitome of idealistic baby features, the other looked like her beautiful sister had been stepping on her face the whole 9 months and she came out squashed and crinkled with milk spots and creases and red marks and scrunched up features galore.
Not that we loved her any less but we did wonder if this would map their futures and make their twin relationship difficult.
After a few days, creased daughter ironed out a little and bit by bit her nose became a normal shape and she looked less wrinkled and squished. Eventually she looked entirely different and, in my opinion, became enticingly cute.
Now the two of them each have very individual looks but each as gorgeous as the other, though of course we are biased. We get compliments about their looks very often, which would suggest that after 2.5 years perhaps we are not just blinded by the novelty of parenthood.

Do you look at every baby photo and think they are adorable or are some of them wrinkled and squished and not yet adorable? Do you always compliment them anyway?

I read about parents of children with disfigurements and disabilities who feel fury when people look or stare at their child and that's a terrible shame though I understand it a little. I worry about offending the parents when I'm looking at a child for a while but to me it doesn't matter what the parent is thinking I'm looking at, I'm just admiring the child.
I'm curious when I see a child with an obvious disability, I work with children and I like to know everything I can, but frankly a smile is enough for me to know everything I need to know about any child in that first instance and that makes them beautiful.

Lewis was cute but in an E.T. sort of way - I have a pic at 1 hour old where he has a sheet around him and over the back of his head and I call that the ET pic. He was wrinkly and had dried skin which kept flaking off!

I prefer him now he has filled out and got some baby chubb!

1 hour old!

http://i313.photobucket.com/albums/ll378/lemachin/DSC00085.jpg

Now

http://i313.photobucket.com/albums/ll378/lemachin/DSC00080.jpg

all babies are beautiful regardless or crinklyness and scrunched up features or even the dreaded red hair (paranoid about it here as chez Lolliew).

I think most people would compliment a child regardless of thier own thoughts, but like you Zebra i think every child is and i mention it and i love to stare at them and hold them - even other peoples - i think they are a wonderful creation.

i am off now before i think about having another :D

Well, I thought cosycub was the most exquisitely adorable creature ever to grace the face of the planet, and I still do :)
But hubby admitted when he was a few months old that he'd thought he'd never have a chin and his overbite (he could hardly feed) would be a permanent feature, LMAO. Now he has a perfectly good chin, and no overbite, so hubby's relieved. And my MIL only admitted a couple of weeks ago (he's 3 now) that she thought his legs would never unfold (he was breech, HUGE, and completely folded in half, which took a few weeks to lessen).
Clearly people have their own thoughts but choose not to speak them aloud before a fiercely loving mummy, lol.

Our lad was lovely and unwrinkly unlike most newborns, but he didn't really open his eyes wide for a full week! I was secretly worried about this, and disappointed, but whenever anyone said anything about it I'd bite their heads off!!! So I know where you're all coming from ;) Plus he was such a big boy, I never really had a chance at a tiny little baby and I felt kind of disappointed about that, and at the same time of course, dead guilty! That soon passed though! Especially when they told me he was the talk of the hospital (being a rare huge baby having to go to SCBU a couple of times each day for antibiotics) - and I was dead proud :D

I think all my children are beautiful but as their mummy im meant to. Do i think all babies are beautiful yes. I think some look like aliens too but still beautiful. Their imperferctions and perfections give them their character and make them all the more special. So all babies are imperfectly perfect :D

I agree waxy! But I think that my baby gets more beautiful each day - that is because I love him even more each day! :love:

Not all children have beautiful faces or beautiful bodies but when they look to you with that look of love and trust they are beautiful. When they need reassurance and they run to you they are beautiful.

I have 5 and they are all really beautiful including my 2 with bright red hair.I am always being told Littleboo is beautiful, he has long blond curls and he wears bandanas most of the time so he looks really sweet.

http://i32.tinypic.com/2urlg5h.jpg

Littleboo!

http://i32.tinypic.com/2urlg5h.jpg
Littleboo!

Wow he is beautiful!

Honestly? I have to admit seeing some children and thinking they are absolutely vile:hihi: But I'd never say anything, of course I wouldn't! I'm not actually a horrible person!

Can I adopt Littleboo????

My firstborn was an ugly baby lol, she had a failed vontouse, where the cap came off and took half her scalp with it, then she was dragged out with forceps, she wasnt breathing, so basically was this floppy grey thing with a massive crescent shaped scar on her head and her face covered in purple bruises from the forceps. I didnt get to see her much before they whisked her off to SCBU so I just had a polaroid of /\ that lol. And when I went down to SCBU she was about 3 times the size of some of the teenies in there (she was 8lb 13) she kind of grew on me though :hihi:
And now? Shes a tall, skinny, blonde 7 year old. I'm jealous of her! I was fat and mouse brown at her age :hihi:

every child is beautiful to every parent

I think there are some kids who aren't the prettiest of the pack but you would never go out of your way to say this. And anyway - it's just your own opinion. I think that as mums we need to be totally besotted and think our children are by far the best looking out of all children just because it's our job.

Imagine if your mum thought you were ugly? lol Horrible thought.

Little Boo is a sweetie pie and him and Scarlett are betrothed I said to Boosmum they will make such beautiful babies lol.

Scarlett was a bit weird looking when she was first born with a strange smattering of hair, she's got a couple of red marks on her face (stork bites that will fade away) and she has this weird red bubbly bumpy thing on her bum which will get bigger before going away. Yet with these "imperfections" it only serves to make me think she is even more beautiful and I think she has got to be the most admired baby in Sheffield. People stop me in the street to ask about her and often look say ahh or whatever then go get someone else to look at her. I think it's cause she has the biggest brown eyes and longest eyelashes that anyone has every seen (not inherited from me unfortunately)

My eldest was a stunning baby, no wrinkles, no marks nothing. She still is beautiful and doesn't realise it. She's just turned 10 and is 5'3.5 and is starting to take shape (worrying I know!) She looked different to Scarlett but I think she's just as stunning. I'm her mum though.

So in answer to Zebra's question; I, don't think that all babies are beautiful. I think all mums think their own is and rightly so.

All babies are beautiful in there own special way.

Thanks to everyone I do think Littleboo is absolutely gorgeous but then Im his mummy. Thanks to Medusa my DD posted the picture as I wouldnt know where to start.Anniec you only have to look at Scarletts eyes to see how beautiful she is.

I think in particular that every baby is most beautiful to their own parents.
After all, (in most cases) the child is a 50:50 of both parents, so features are familiar, eyes are either the ones you see looking back at you in the mirror or the ones in your partner's face, the smile is familiar, the giggles etc. Its as if you've known them all your life, and in a way you have, because they are half of you!!!

And all babies are fabulous little miracles tooo :)

Lewis was cute but in an E.T. sort of way - I have a pic at 1 hour old where he has a sheet around him and over the back of his head and I call that the ET pic. He was wrinkly and had dried skin which kept flaking off!

We have a picture of Twingle 1 which looks like Gollum masquerading as one of the twins :D

yeah, all babies are miracles, with out a doubt, and i think all parents see there own kids as cute/pretty/beautiful, i know i do with mine!! but, to coin an old phrase, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I guess by that i mean, to me my kids, my wife they're all stunning, but i think i'd be naieve to think everyone looks on them in that way.
Either way, enjoy yer kids guyz!!! ; )

Our lad has a little scar next to one eye which is where they cut him when he was being born. But I was seriously more worried/disappointed that he didn't open his eyes properly after he was born, and glad they didn't actually cut his eye, so it's never been an issue! Besides, it has faded to flesh colour and we can never mistake another baby for him now ;) I might tell him when he's older that he got it from fighting wild tigers or dragons, something that will amaze him and give him something cool to say if other kids manage to notice it.

Our lad has a little scar next to one eye which is where they cut him when he was being born. But I was seriously more worried/disappointed that he didn't open his eyes properly after he was born, and glad they didn't actually cut his eye, so it's never been an issue! Besides, it has faded to flesh colour and we can never mistake another baby for him now ;) I might tell him when he's older that he got it from fighting wild tigers or dragons, something that will amaze him and give him something cool to say if other kids manage to notice it.
My son has a scar through his eyebrow, he got it when he was 18 months old after a rather bad fall (into a wall) .......... but now at 16 yrs old, he thinks it makes him look all macho and rugged ............. Ive even caught him cutting his eyebrow to make it look more visable :hihi:

My son has a scar through his eyebrow, he got it when he was 18 months old after a rather bad fall (into a wall) .......... but now at 16 yrs old, he thinks it makes him look all macho and rugged ............. Ive even caught him cutting his eyebrow to make it look more visable :hihi:

:hihi: He's going to love you for telling the forum about that! :hihi:

linkon was born with the right side of his face pushed out from lying sideways during the last month of my pregnancy so his cheeks were lopsided. at the time i couldn't believe he looked so amaizingly wonderfull to me and at the same time i thought i hope his face evens out, it was wierd to feel both these emotions at once. his face has now evened out beautifully and you would never know. although in general this is the case for most babies in the end , iv seen a familly in my local area and all 4 children are not blessed in the looks department and iv always thought it was a pitty unil recently when the smallest girl (about 4yrs) smiled at me and i changed my mind. i also reckon thier mom thinks thier lovely too lol as all moms do

Yes I think all children are beautiful. I like the way waxy puts it 'imperfectly perfect'. I love children :)

However, not all mummy's find their babies beautiful, particularly at first, for a while and thats OK too. Sometimes it takes time for a bond to grow and for the beauty to be seen. It often worries me that mums to be are led to believe that angels will sing when we see our new baby, and many women dont experience this, so they panic and this feeds into a cycle which in itself disrupts bonding. They also feel they cant admit to this, which makes it worse and is why you hear more of the idealistic stories. However, surprisingly one research study showed 75% of women didnt feel an instant bond, but that this did not predict future attachment :) Sorry, perhaps a bit off topic, and its not that its personal to me in any way (I was fairly lucky despite my LO arriving very squashed and worrying the grandparents that she would be ugly forever :hihi:) but I always raise this, not to be awkward, but so anyone out there doesnt feel disappointed/ashamed/afraid if they dont feel this surge and can just get on with letting it grow naturally when its ready :)

Oh, and yes I think my daughter gets more beautiful every day. Even though she has a fat little nose (which I adore) and has had a scabby scalp for 10 months :gag: and sometimes her eyes dont line up :hihi: but I think she is perfect

I don't think every baby is beautiful though they are all generally cute. I thought my son was the most beautiful and perfect baby when he was born and still do. But I look back at his new born photos and how I remember him and how he was don't match. Hormones have a lot to answer for.

every child is beautiful to every parent

I would agree with the posters on here who have said that "all" babies are beautiful. (and as for that "new baby smell" oh it makes me broody! :D )

Sweet, snuffly, yawny, and with all that fantastic potential inside them, as they grow and learn, I could just eat ;) babies, they are so full of Gorgeousness!

I have a friend whose baby, like my nephew, was born with a craniofacial disfigurement, (she was a "clover-leaf baby", nephew had Craniosynostosis) but it didn't make any odds... Cuddling her, or cooing over her, and talking to her in her pram, as her mummy was taking her out for a walk, she was still just an adorable little baby, with the most pleasant nature.

I know about craniosynostosis but I'm stumped for what a clover leaf baby is, I've googled it and come back with nothing. Tell me more PT please.

My little man was delivered by forceps and had a bashed up nose, huge bruise on his face, his ears were battered, and generally he looked like he had gone 10 rounds with Mike Tyson, and as soon as I saw him, whilst I instantly loved him, I did know that he wasnt the cutest thing, and his size shocked me him being 9lb 30z, but now I think he is the most beautiful baby ever, at 8 weeks. He is perfect in every way to me.

The minute I saw Tayla I thought she was absolutely beautiful, so perfect, lovely features, perfect skin etc etc I took loadz of photo's of her. When I got home and uploaded them I was amazed at how purple, bloated and funny she looked! It was like looking at another baby, she didn't look owt like I thought she did (because of being born really quickly) If you saw the pics I'm sure you would gasp!
So yes all kids look beautiful when born even if it's only to the people that love them :)

Infact I am going to post the pics below, one ten mins after birth, the second is the day after birth and the last is now at 8 weeks :) She is an absolute stunner!!! :)

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u228/muckynees/camera408.jpg

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u228/muckynees/camera402.jpg

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u228/muckynees/DSC00363.jpg

Awwwww muckynees, she really is absolutely gorgeous!

Baby Alien had a bit of a squished nose when he was born, but apart from that he was perfect - tiny (even though he was 7lbs 4.5oz he was 'all muscle' and wore preemie clothes for >6lbs), smooth skin, hardly any redness (his hands and feet were blue with cyanosis) and a perfect little mohawk hairdo! Here he is 25 minutes after he was born (http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1314/1473698383_2bd1087aab.jpg?v=0).

He went through his old man/gnome stage at about 3 weeks (http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2008/2459215259_34f595acdc.jpg?v=0). I loved how funny he looked! :D

This is him a couple of weeks ago, at his 1st birthday party (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3037/2631873481_cf38d1a161.jpg?v=0).

We do get stopped a lot, and he gets so much attention, right from when we first started taking him out. He has always liked to engage with other people and what started off as gazing at people has turned into trying to talk to them, playing games like peekaboo with them, showing off his toys and general flirting. His hair has always got the most attention because it's so curly (he gets it from his Dad, but sadly his hair isn't red like Daddy's :( ).

Even so, I'm hard pushed to find another baby/small child out there that I don't think is lovely in some way or other. Whether it's because they have some lovely rolls of chub on them, or because they've not grown into their 'unique' looks yet, they all have lovely little quirks about them that make them individuals.