DS 101: Physical Features

Though the extra chromosome presents itself in similar ways in people with Down syndrome, each individual is unique in their exact appearance. As mentioned before, there is no connection between the number of characteristics seen and the person's mental abilities. A person with Down syndrome can have all, or just some, of the following features:

-Nose: a flatter nasal bridge between the eyes

-Eyes: small skin fold on the inside corner of the eyes called epicanthal folds. Eyes may appear to slant upward ( and why people used to call those with DS 'mongoloids' - highly outdated term. If someone uses this term around you, run the other way because they have obviously been in a frozen time capsule for 3o years, are still mentally defrosting, and may be a hazard to those around them - don't say I didn't warn you). May also have light spots on the iris called Brushfield spots.

-Mouth: mouth may be smaller, which for this reason and lower muscle tone, can make the tongue protrude (so lady in Target that one day: stop saying my baby has a large tongue).

-Head: tend to have a shorter neck and head may be a little smaller than the typical child, though it's fairly unnoticeable since the head is still in good proportion to the rest of the body

-Stature: babies with DS are usually an average weight and height at birth, but don't grow as fast as other children. The average height for an adult male with DS is 5'2" and for the gals around 4 1/2'. Lower muscle tone is very common and mostly the reason why children with Down syndrome take longer to reach milestones.

-Hands: usually smaller and the fingers shorter (though in Grant's case it doesn't help that I have incredibly short fingers too). There may also be a singular palm crease known as the Simian crease (people without DS can also have this crease too)

Here's Grant's sweet little hand to demonstrate:

Look at your hand. Notice the two lines that don't meet? One goes up and one kind of goes down? Sorry to break it to you, but you don't have a Simian crease.

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It's important to note that while the extra chromosome does influence how a child will look, they still are an unique combination of their parents' features and those features aren't completely overridden by the extra chromosome. The child still has 22 other sets of completely normal chromosomes inherited from the parents. Case in point: Grant's hair. Typically, children with DS have thinner, straighter hair. But both Landon and I had curly hair as toddlers (and my hair is quite thick), so that trait came through on Grant regardless. Also, Landon's eyes have a slight downward slant on outside which seems to have overridden the typical upward slant in children like Grant. I think for this reason, some people have said to us when they find out about him having Down syndrome "oh, he doesn't really look it." I don't take offense to that nor does it make me happy to hear it. I know features have nothing to do with ability, brain power, or inherent value so whether he "looks it" or not, I know I would think he's the most adorable thing around regardless (predictable I know...a mom that thinks her child is the cutest thing ever...).

While most children with DS have common characteristics, they aren't identical clones of each other. I can see how DS has affected Grant's features, but when I look at him, I also see him looking more and more like his Daddy in the face and eyes, a sweet little nose, and hair that resembles mine in color and texture when I was his age. Isn't genetics interesting?

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