Meet the baby girl who has been dubbed 'little superhero' due to Batman-like birthmark on her face

A beautiful baby girl from Sioux Falls, North Dakota, is her parents’ “little superhero,” a nickname they have her because of the black mask-like birthmark that covers part of her face.

Natalie Jackson is a happy 1-year-old girl that was born with a Batman-like birthmark covering a third of her face. Her parents, Lacey and Andrew Jackson, were scared at first after watching their daughter for the first time, as the mother thought the mark on Natalie’s face was a bruise.

“The nurse lifted our girl up, after my c-section, and I saw the big black mark on the left-hand side of her face,” Lacey recalled. “She was so beautiful, but it looked like a bruise, and I was worried in case it was something I had done to her during my pregnancy.”

“Medics said it was just a birthmark, though, and she was breathing and healthy.”

TEACHING NATALIE TO LOVE HERSELF

Lacey and Andrew are aware of the struggles their daughter is going to face as she grows up, with people staring longer than usual at her face, and kids probably poking fun because of her mark. Still, they decided not to remove the birthmark, and instead, they will teach baby Natalie to love it and embrace her uniqueness.

“We'll always tell her it's a part of who she is and who she is supposed to be. People will always know how special she is with her birthmark and how amazing she is inside and out.”

The nickname first came to Lacey’s mind after her two older sons, Elliot, 8, and Devin, 5, met their baby sister for the first time.

Lacey recalled how one of the boys asked, "What's that on her face, Mummy? What's the black mark?"

“I told him it was her superhero mask. I told them that, because of it, she could achieve anything.”

AN INCREASED RISK OF DEVELOPING CANCER

Natalie’s birthmark is thought to be vascular, meaning it is made up of blood vessels, due to its dark color. Birthmarks often present at birth or develop in the first few weeks of life, and they’re commonly caused by a change in a gene during early pregnancy when skin and blood vessels are forming.

In Natalie’s first week of life, her parents took her to an ophthalmologist to make sure the mark was not damaging for her left bright blue eye. They also visited a dermatologist, who revealed the birthmark would grow alongside Natalie, always covering a third of her face.

A risk that Natalie is facing is an increased chance of developing melanoma, a type of skin cancer since abnormal cells could grow in the birthmark. However, Lacey and Andrew were relieved to found out their baby girl was completely healthy.

The beautiful girl, who recently celebrated her first birthday with a unicorn cake, is being raised in a loving environment, and her parents have vowed to make sure she grows up loving herself and her superhero mask.

“I decided we would love her so much and give her all the confidence in the world, to make sure she could see how beautiful she is and how she can achieve anything she wants,” Lacey concluded.

A MOTHER REPLICATES HER SON BIRTHMARK TO MAKE HIM FEEL NORMAL

Carolina Giraldelli wanted to make her son feel accepted to help him embrace his facial birthmark, so, with the help of a makeup artist friend, she replicated little Enzo's birthmark on her face to surprise the boy, who was more than delighted at the sight.

Enzo was born with a dark birthmark that starts on his forehead and goes down to one side of his nose. While Giraldelli couldn't be more in love with her baby, she realized her son would face some difficulties growing up with the mark on his face.

Still, she wanted to make everything in his power to let the boy know he is perfect just the way he is.