Babies are born with fine, downy, short, and slightly pigmented body hair called lanugo. The term comes from the Latin word ...

Lanugo is the hair that covers the body of some newborns. This downy, unpigmented hair is the first type of hair that grows from hair follicles.

Find out when your baby will start to grow hair, what happens to a baby's hair after birth, what lanugo is, and why preemies are often so hairy.

If your child is born with lanugo hair, they may appear to have a layer of soft fur covering their body, which will ultimately disappear.

Rapid growth of white, fine hair in places that are normally hairless may mean you have acquired hypertrichosis lanuginosa, Dr. Scott Walter warns in a new TikTok.

Most babies shed it in the womb at around 33-36 weeks of pregnancy, where it mixes with amniotic fluid and is swallowed by the baby. Babies born early, however, tend to have a lot more body hair.