Normal Newborn Fontanelle

A baby is born with several fontanels.

Normal newborn fontanelle. Fontanelles allow the bones of the skull to move so the baby s head can change shape during delivery the birth canal is narrow and the movement of the bones helps the baby s head to get through. This is the one. Usually only the anterior fontanel which is on the top of the head toward the front can be seen and felt.

This is the junction where the 2 frontal and 2 parietal bones meet. This flexibility also allows. Doctors can assess if there is increased intracranial pressure by feeling the anterior fontanelle.

The spaces between the skull bones leave room for the rapid expansion of the brain and head. A fontanelle or fontanel colloquially soft spot is an anatomical feature of the infant human skull comprising any of the soft membranous gaps between the cranial bones that make up the calvaria of a fetus or an infant. A tense or bulging fontanelle occurs when fluid builds up in the brain or the brain swells causing increased pressure inside the skull.

An infant with a normal head shape size and growth should reassure the primary care provider that an anterior fontanel that is small or not palpable at an early age has no pathology and can be followed at regular well child visits. Anterior fontanelle also called soft spot. They provide the skull with the flexibility needed to pass through the birth canal.

On the first day of an infant s life the normal fontanel ranges from 0 6 cm to 3 6 cm with a mean of 2 1 cm 17 black infants have larger fontanels 1 4 cm to 4 7 cm 16 the fontanels of full. These are more commonly known as soft spots. Fontanelles allow for rapid stretching and deformation of the neurocranium as the brain expands faster than the surrounding bone can grow.

The anterior fontanelle remains soft until about 18 months to 2 years of age. A newborn has fontanels on the top back and sides of their head.