Fontanelles Of The Skull
There are two fontanelles the space between the bones of an infant s skull where the sutures intersect that are covered by tough membranes.
Fontanelles of the skull. Like the sutures fontanelles harden over time and become closed solid bony areas. They allow for molding of the fetal head during passage through the birth canal. Anterior fontanelle also called soft spot the junction where the two frontal and two parietal bones meet.
Fontanelles are soft spots on a baby s head that during birth enable the bony plates of the skull to flex and allow the child s head to pass through the birth canal. The ossification of the bones of the skull causes the fontanelles to close over a period of 18 to 24 months. Fontanel also spelled fontanelle soft spot in the skull of an infant covered with tough fibrous membrane there are six such spots at the junctions of the cranial bones.
Fontanelles are the soft spots on an infant s head where the bony plates that make up the skull have not yet come together. It is normal for infants to have these soft spots which can be seen and felt on the top and back of the head. Actually there are two soft spots close together representing gaps in the bone structure which will be filled in by bone during the normal process of growth.
Fontanelles that are abnormally large may indicate a medical condition. There are 2 fontanelles the space between the bones of an infant s skull where the sutures intersect that are covered by tough membranes that protect the underlying soft tissues and brain. During birth fontanelles enable the bony plates of the skull to flex allowing the child s head to pass through the birth canal.
The anterior fontanelle is. The anterior fontanelle remains soft until. They eventually form the sutures of the neurocranium.
Those at the sides of the head are irregularly shaped and located at the unions of the sphenoid and mastoid bones with the parietal bone. Fontanelle fon tah nel one of the membrane covered spaces remaining at the junction of the sutures in the incompletely ossified skull of the fetus or infant. The fontanelles allow for growth of the brain and skull during an infant s first year.