Baby born without nipples?!

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Specializes in NICU, Telephone Triage.

A friend of the family just recently said she had a nephew born without nipples. Has anyone ever heard of or seen this? In the 17 yrs. I've been a NICU nurse, i've never seen this. At first I thought it wasn't true, then my mom saw a picture of the baby and said there weren't any nipples. Don't know the gestational age the baby was born, but he weighed about 3 lbs.

What is done is a case like this? Does it matter since the baby is a boy?

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Here's a link describing athelia, the congenital absence of nipples:

http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=9420

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Specializes in NICU, Telephone Triage.
Here's a link describing athelia, the congenital absence of nipples:

http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=9420

Thanks. I didn't realize it was so rare, that's probably why I've never seen it.

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Specializes in NICU, Telephone Triage.

So, has anyone dealt with this?

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Specializes in NICU.

A 3lb baby probably does have nipples, but so small you can't see much. Especially a NICU baby with cardiac electrodes stuck on his chest.

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Specializes in NICU.
A 3lb baby probably does have nipples, but so small you can't see much. Especially a NICU baby with cardiac electrodes stuck on his chest.

A 3 lb baby DOES have nipples and you can see them. A 500 gm baby has nipples that you can see as well.

I've never seen a case of athelia before, either. But then again, I just saw my first case of Potter's Syndrome the other day. It was very sad:o

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Specializes in NICU, Telephone Triage.
A 3 lb baby DOES have nipples and you can see them. A 500 gm baby has nipples that you can see as well.

I've never seen a case of athelia before, either. But then again, I just saw my first case of Potter's Syndrome the other day. It was very sad:o

Well, I told my mom I thought he had them, they were just hard to see and he had electrodes, etc. BUT it was verified by relatives he didn't have any and they saw pictures to prove it. I haven't seen them...

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Specializes in NICU.

It would be interesting to see if he really doesn't have nipples.

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Specializes in NICU- now learning OR!.
Especially a NICU baby with cardiac electrodes stuck on his chest.

Not to thread hijack here but that brings up a valid point. The breat tissue is often covered by electrodes in boys and girls and there have been cases where the tissue was damaged or removed by tape, etc. being removed from babys skin. In girls, this could mean abnormal breast development in later years and/or difficulty with lactation when SHE wants to be a mommy later in life (this is according to our lactation consultant)

Jenny

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