Not all babies are cute. In fact, most newborns look a little strange. They have just been through an ordeal. Their mothers have probably had more glamorous days too. But the babies have squished up heads and maybe their eyes are a little bit big or small or whatever. If you have never seen a newborn, it can be a startling experience. If you have seen a newborn, it can be a startling experience to see another one.
All mothers love their children, especially when they are newborn. Some mothers can be blinded by love into thinking that their newborns are beautiful. Newborns are beautiful in a metaphysical sense. As discussed above, this is often not true in a physical sense. Given what she has just recently endured, it is probably not the time to tell a new mother that her baby freaks you out a little bit. Now is a good time to oohh and aahhh over impossibly small fingers.
Soon enough, the mother will have to help her child come to grips with being normally attractive. (They don’t stay startling forever.) A mother will know well before the child does that he or she is not beautiful. It will be her disappointment first. In the sweet tender moments right after that baby is born, neither mother or child is disappointed. So get it out of your system before you go in there. Don’t be a jerk and blow it for them in the first week.