A mum felt like a "bad" parent when strangers mistook her daughter's "strawberry birthmark" for a bumped head."

Courtney Henry, 24, noticed a few days after her birth that baby Sadie had developed a "red dot" above her left eyebrow."



After the mark became bigger and started to swell, Courtney contacted her GP and sent photographs of the mark.



Sadie was referred to Royal Children's Hospital Belfast in March where Sadie was prescribed oral Propranolol to help ease the swelling of her birthmark after being diagnosed with a hemangioma birthmark.



Since then, Sadie's birthmark is considerably less swollen but Courtney has faced judgement from strangers "in person" about it. "

Courtney, a stay-at-home mum, from Magherafelt, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, said: "When she was born she had a wee birthmark up above her right eyebrow."



"Above her left was a slight white pigmentation mark. "

"A few days later we noticed a red dot there and thought she had scratched herself."



"It started to become raised so we reached out to the GP in January time when she was a month old."



"Roughly around February March time it was really really bad – it was swollen out and she was trying to touch it and pull at it."



"She was prescribed Propranolol."



"I think it was used years ago for the heart and all that."



"A wee child was put on it for that reason but he also had a hemangioma and doctors noticed it started to shrink and have been doing it ever since and really recommend it."



"At that point you would get comments everyday about her birthmark."



"They would say ‘what is that' and ‘what's happened to her'. "

"Even on holiday when we were away we were in the middle of the shop and"

one of the workers stopped me and asked ‘what is that in the middle of her head'.

"For the sake of Sadie when she grows up we thought why not try."



"It's scary the difference in photos and how big it was to now."



"It went down a lot"."



Courtney has found it "hard" after receiving comments from strangers "all the time" about Sadie's birthmark."



She said: "It's constant – it's the first thing they notice about Sadie. "

"Children will ask ‘what is that?' or ‘what's that on that babies head?'"



"We had a child who reached across her sister Ivy and grabbed it."



"It's older people as well not just children."



"I've had people ask has she bumped her head and I say ‘no, she hasn't' and I almost feel like a bad mum."



"Sadie's none the wiser and doesn't understand but it's hard for us, people point it out not in a nice way"."



To help reduce the swelling of her birthmark – which "should gradually go down by itself" as she gets older – Sadie has 8ml of Propranolol twice a day with her meals."



"You know your child," Courtney says."



"People ask me why I started her on medication."



"We had tried Timolol – which are eye drops but are used to treatment infantile hemangiomas sometimes – but it had no effect. "

"We thought it would be worth trying something else that would help with the swelling. "

"Everyone parents differently, but if I hadn't have done it in years to come I would've thought why had I not tried it."



"At the start her big sister Ivy, three, was curious by it and didn't understand - even myself I had not seen one before."



"We just explained to Ivy, Sadie has a wee birthmark and that everyone is different, but you can't touch it and have to be kind."



"It just makes her beautiful." "

Courtney has shared Sadie's story on social media "to help other mummies" in her situation."



She said: "By posting a photo of Sadie and how she's getting on I thought it might help other mums."



"Even when Sadie was born I scared of putting a hat on her in case it hurt her."



"If I could help other mummies that's the main reason and to help Sadie in the future."





"I had a company send me a little doll but on this one they added a wee heart where her birthmark is."



"That's the only company I've ever seen do it. "

"It's definitely something I think more companies should be doing to help raise awareness"."