You may have noticed a theme above that several of the features are from hypotonia and not actually a distinct physical marker of Down syndrome. Spread Eagle!! (also notice the footprints with the wide space between the big and second toe) He frequently has his mouth hanging open as well with his tongue sticking out, which brings us to the next feature. You can see below that there is not much definition to Noah’s face and his cheeks are just kind of hanging there. This is due to the poor tone in the muscles of the face and is actually a characteristic of hypotonia rather than a true Down syndrome marker. There is also not much shape to the cheeks when looking at the baby from the front the cheeks seem to hang on the face. Looking at your baby from the side there will not be much curve from the nose, cheeks or mouth. (Noah’s are pretty obvious as you can see in his pictures.) Up slanted palpebral fissures are one of the most obvious down syndrome markers at birth. Another beautiful addition to the eyes are Brushfield spots which are the white flecks that can be seen close to the periphery of the iris (the colored part) of the eye, and are often described as stars. Look at your own eyes in the mirror to see how the fissure typically points down. We love these eyes as you can tell by the top of our blog, and it’s actually the best picture to see how the outer corners are pointing up rather than down. This will likely be the most predominant physical feature of Down syndrome as your child grows up. The shape is also very similar to that of someone of Asian descent. This is sometimes referred to as almond shaped eyes. The outer corner of the eye will be turned up rather than down. Isn’t it cute that he sticks his tongue out like that…. In Rick’s version of Noah’s birth story he is unaware of my concern as I kept this to myself until my pediatrician came to confirm my fears. There were two pictures specifically that I saw in the delivery room and recovery that I am fairly certain convinced me that Noah was born with Down syndrome prior to holding him in my arms. I am including the pictures that I used to diagnose Noah. There are several other Down syndrome markers at birth, but the ones I’ve listed are some of the easier ones for new parents to pick up on their own.
The features listed below when present alone do not indicate Down syndrome, but when found together suggest this diagnosis. Down syndrome was “discovered” by finding consistent features and physical characteristics that were consistently together along with a mental disability. Frequently this is associated with a change in genetics. They have been trained to pick up on these sometimes subtle differences.Ī syndrome is characteristics that are consistently found together. Your pediatrician however likely knew instantly when they saw your baby that something was different. Looking at your precious new addition you may or may not notice anything out of the ordinary about their appearance. Fairly certain that I knew Noah had Down syndrome based on this picture from the delivery room 5 Physical Characteristics Of Children Born With Down Syndrome