Baby mermaid: rare case of a baby “born with a haircut” in England
A British woman gave birth in mid-December to a "capped" baby. An extremely rare phenomenon since one in 80,000 births happens this way. What is a "capped" baby?
On December 16, 2021, at Orsmskirk Hospital in England, Jennifer Petrie gave birth to a baby boy “born capped”, meaning the baby came into the world still wrapped in the pouch of amniotic fluid still intact. The pouch has therefore never ruptured during childbirth.
The young mother explained to the British media Liverpool Echo that she quickly realized that something abnormal was happening when the work began (source 1). She ended up going to the hospital where she gave birth in a birthing pool at little Rio Petrie Martins. “Actually, my water never broke. The amniotic sac, where water spurts out when you're in labor, has never ruptured, which is quite rare. When the baby was born, he was still locked in the balloon,” Jennifer Petrie told the British newspaper.
The amniotic fluid sac only ruptured when the midwives picked up the baby. “The midwives were amazed. They said they never saw that in their careers (...)”, specifies the young mother.
A baby “born with a haircut”, an extremely rare phenomenon
Such a birth is an extremely rare phenomenon. It is estimated that on average one in 80,000 babies is born "capped", which corresponds to 0.00125% of births.
Several cases have however been identified around the world, particularly in Brazil where the Brazilian photographer, Jana Brasil, specializing in childbirth photos, had published in 2019 on his Instagram account several photos of the birth of this baby born by Caesarean section “under the cephalic cap”.
A “capped” baby, not to be confused with the mermaid syndrome
Even if the midwives and the mother of little Rio nicknamed him “baby mermaid”, this birth has nothing to do with sirenomelia. Also called the “mermaid syndrome,” sirenomelia is a rare condition where an infant is born with their legs stuck together. It affects around one in 100,000 babies and is often fatal to the baby.
In the video below, the midwife interviewed recounts the birth of a "capped" baby (from 3 min 10 sec)
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