What Is The General Appearance Of Head In Newborns

I thought that most of my friends in India pulse would appreciate knowing various aspects of a newborn on birth, so I am sharing information about how the head of a newborn looks at birth. 

Here are a few points worth noting: 

• It is first important to understand that the newborn’s head is the first part that moves through the birth canal, so it is affected during normal delivery. A newborn’s skull is made up of several separate bones that eventually fuse together during delivery to facilitate its movement through the narrow birth canal without injury to the mother or the baby.  

• It is found that the top of the head of newborn generally look elongated, stretched out and even pointed at birth; this molding is found in those babies born though a normal delivery and not in those babies born through Cesarean section or breech delivery as the head does not come first.

• Considering the separation of your newborn's skull bones, you could feel 2 fontanels or soft points on the top of the head; one of them is diamond shaped, about 1 to 3 inches wide and found in the front of the head, while the other is smaller triangular shape is found farther back in the head.

• It is perfectly normal for the fontanels  to bulge out when the infant strains or cries, or it goes up and down with the baby’s heartbeat. These fontanels will eventually disappear as the skull bones close together; the front fontanels close in about 12 to 18 months, while the back one closes in about 6 months. 

• Do not panic if you see a lump or two on the newborn’s elongated head. A circular swelling and bruising of the scalp known as caput succedaneum is usually seen on the back of the head; it is the portion of the scalp that is most often used to lead the way through the birth canal. A caput succedaneum will usually subside in a few days.

• Sometimes there could be a lump on one side on top of the infant’s head; known as cephalohematoma, this collection of blood that has seeped under the outer covering membrane of one of the skull bones is caused during birth when the head is under pressure from the mother’s pelvic bones. This lump may take a week or two to subside and disappear; a newborn with cephalohematoma are more prone to be jaundiced than others in the first week of life.

• Last, but most important it is best to understand that there is no need to worry about both caput succedaneum as well as cephalohematoma;  they are caused due to trauma outside the skull and usually cause no injury to the newborn’s brain.