Should I sound an alarm when a child has a fontanel overgrown earlier or later than the due date?

It turns out that the normal for a newborn is not one fontanel, but as many as six! In the beginning, during the first week of life, four of them are closed, then the fifth one grows - at the age of about two months. And only the sixth - the largest - remains open for quite a long period of time. When does a fontanelle grow? Let's try to find the answer to this question.

Why do we need a fontanel?

First, let's figure out why nature has provided for this mechanism. It turns out that the fontanel performs several important functions:

• Helps the child to pass through the birth canal;
• Allows the brain to actively grow and develop in the first time after childbirth;
• Prevents an increase in the temperature of the meninges, since its increase above 38 ° C can lead to seizures and edema of the brain.

The growth of the fontanel is a gradual process - the skull bones begin to fuse on four sides, which leads to the closure of the connective tissue at this site. Many mothers care how quickly this should happen. It turns out that it is impossible to answer the question "what time does the fontanel grow in children"? Normally this can happen at the age of 3 months and up to 2 years, so if your baby closes during this period, then you can not worry. Sometimes the fontanel can not decrease, but increase - this is also associated with the active growth of the brain.

Early closure of the fontanel: is it worth worrying?

According to observations of pediatricians, recently the closure of the "soft crown" in the child occurs early enough. It is assumed that the fontanelle quickly overgrows in children whose mothers during pregnancy took complexes of vitamins and minerals containing calcium. The overabundance of this trace element in the child's body and may contribute to the early closure of the "soft crown".

The age of up to three months is the period when the child is overgrown with fontanel prematurely, but in this case pediatricians say that it is not necessary to sound an alarm. The baby should be supervised by a doctor who will monitor its development, and, in particular, such an indicator as the size of the head circumference to exclude hydrocephalus.

But in most cases, even when the child is overgrown with fontanel at the age of 3 months, this does not indicate the presence of any abnormalities in development. According to statistics, by the third month of life it is already closed in 1-2% of children, up to a year this figure is 45%, and after two years, 5% of babies remain an open "soft spot". And this, too, may not affect the health of the child.

Form and size fontanel

Another question that parents usually worry about is the shape and size of the fontanelle. In order to ensure that everything is normal, there is a certain indicator. It is calculated according to the following formula: the sum of the longitudinal and transverse dimensions of the fontanelle is divided by 2. This value should be in the range of 0.6-3.6 cm. The shape of the pulsating "soft crown" resembles a convex or concave rhombus.

So, we can conclude that there are no clear deadlines for a child to grow a fontanel. Therefore, worry and worry about this is not worth it, just visit the pediatrician regularly and enjoy the joyful moments of communication with your baby.