i took my daughter to the doctor in town this morning for her shots. She will be 5 months old the day after christmas, but the town only does the shots once a month so she wasnt 4 months yet the last time they did the clinic so i had to wait until this month. anyway.. when the doctor measured her head this morning she was very concerned. At 2 months my daughters head size was in the 75 percentile, and now at almost 5 months its the 95th percentile. She asked me a whole bunch of questions. Obviously she was looking right at me so she knew i didnt have a big head. I told her that my fiance has a pretty big head and that as a baby he had the same funny forehead that my daughter does. (it kind of bumps out a little bit- we lovingly call it the caveman forehead- we were never concerned because as i said my fiance had the same exact forehead as a baby and grew out of it, he has a totally normal forehead now) So normally i would bring her back in 2 months for her 6month set of shots but the doctor had me make an appointment for in a month to see her again just to measure her head. She said she wants to watch it closely and that if she continues to jump in percentile like that that she would reccommend taking her to a neurologist. She felt her head and said nothing felt abnormal, her space was still open (her soft spot) and being that shes doing all of the things she should be doing at her age that shes not as concerned and that its most likely a genetic thing from my fiance, but that its definatley something that needs to be closely monitored. I was also a little annoyed because looking at my daughters growth curve from birth she noticed that there was also a decent sized jump in percentile from birth to her 2 month visit and that she was surprised my doctor didnt make more of a big deal out of it other than saying she had a big head (i believe i posted about this after her 2 month visit, saying that the doctor said her head was big) I understand all doctors are going to have slightly different opinions but what the town doctor told me today was "Its one thing for a big baby to always have a big head, but for it to keep jumping percentile so much is concerning and im not sure why your doctor wasnt even a little bit concerned about it"
Any other moms out there have issues like this??
My fiances aunts children all had head sizes that were off the charts, but they were always t hat way, its not like they went from normal to huge! I dont know any other people that have had this concern.. is this something i need to be really worried about??
*just texted my future MIL she said she doesnt remember if my fiances head was big or just his forehead and she will check his baby book when she gets home to see if there were any big jumps in % .. she also added "remember we are a big headed family" .. apparently everyone on her side of the family has a big head lol
A freind of mine had a little one with the biggest punkin' head you've ever seen!! She's 15 now and just fine. Is her soft spot still open, that is important for brain growth. Her body will catch up.
M.
What does your future MIL say? Ask her about your fiancee's growth and the growth of the other babies in the family.
If this is typical for them, then it's probably going to be just fine. I say that you just do a little investigative work.
The month that hubby and I got married and moved to po-dunk America...lol..there was a woman with a baby that was just a couple of months old. The baby was having surgery that week on it's head. There was a huge deal about the size of it's head. The baby did fine and from that point on was normal and grew normally.
If there is something wrong it's a good thing the doc is paying attention. Hopefully it's just one of those things where she got dads big forehead and is perfectly normal.
Keep us posted, I'd like to hear what happens next.
I don't think that it is the size of the head itself that is causing the doctor concern; it is WHY your baby's head has gotten so much bigger so fast. Your doctor probably asked you other questions and will want to monitor your baby to make sure that she doesn't have a medical problem like megalocephaly (which can be harmless or a sign of something harmful) or hydrocephalus. The important thing is for you to take your baby to all follow-up appointments and listen to your doctor. Try not to dwell on the issue, but be aware of any changes in your baby's behavior like non-stop crying or lots of vomiting. If her eyes seem sunken in or if she seems to always be looking downward then call your doctor.
My 3rd had a bobble head, we were always worried she'd have a bobble head. Her head was so big compared to the rest of her, but as an adult her body caught up with her head. No other big headed people either.
Kinda - my son's head was always a bit big for his body. I don't remember when it started to grow and the doc mentioned it, but I think it was around 4 months. I showed him a picture of my husband and the doc said "Oh, well, as long as your son keeps meeting his milestones, I think we're good." LOL - hubby has a VERY big head. Doc had a graph of the body size and head and see how they were both growing at a similar pace. My kid grew like a weed and is now a 4ft, 60lb 5.5 year old who wears an adult size bike helmet on the lowest setting. Seriously, his head is almost as big as mine.
The key here may be the body and head growth in sync. If both are growing at a similar rate, that would be less worrying than if her head is the only thing growing at such a speed.
My son's head was big. My sister snuck and asked her doctor to take a look at it when I went to her job one day (she worked in a hospital). He said it was fine and that he would grow into it--he did.
Head circumference measurements are HIGHLY subject to error. My child's head "jumped" 10 percentile points in one day (it was measured, but when I read what they had measured, I thought it might be wrong. I asked them to remeasure the next day, and got 10 percentile points higher just by someone else doing it and reading it more accurately). Your child's head might have actually grown like that, but it's also entirely possible it was undermeasured before (most of the time people err on the side of measuring the head too high and getting a smaller measurement than it really is). My child's head circumference has changed by about 25% percentile points since birth, too (although this happened over the course of a year or so) -- a certain amount of change can also be normal. I also know several with babies whose heads are off the charts, but in all cases, the dads also have huge heads and it's normal for their families.
I would go back to have her head measured to make sure it's growing on a normal curve, but I wouldn't stress too much, either.
My youngest has her daddy's big head, too. It was a normal size when she was born (thank god), but when I took her in for her 2 month checkup, the nurse measured, then another nurse came in and measured, and then the doctor came in and measured. I asked what was going on, and the doctor said, "Well, it's probably nothing to worry about, but she has a REALLY big head!" We have determined since then that she needs an extra-large head to hold all the brains she has. ;) She has never had any problems, and has always been right on schedule with her developmental milestones - as long as your baby is doing the things she's supposed to be doing, then she probably just has a bigger-than-average head to hold her very smart brain! :)
Well things are so different now that they put these kids on a chart. In some ways it can be annoying and make you over worry, but I supposed in other ways it could save lives.
I will say this, when in womb they were worried about my youngest daughter's head measurements. They sent me to a specialist, who concluded everything was ok but still advised to keep an eye on it. Apparently things can change rather quickly. Needless to say, she was born a healthy baby girl and even my pediatrician after seeing her for the first time was unconcerned. However, he ordered an ultrasound to be sure, the ultrasound came back with some concern so an MRI was ordered ASAP. The MRI came back normal. Its now 5 years later and my daughter still has a big head. Her dad has a big head, too. She stayed in a high percentile through babyhood....it didn't gradually jump.
I'm not saying that your line of thinking is wrong. There is no harm in getting a better look at things, but I'd also not try to worry too much. Some kids don't follow the charts either.
Did she have the same jumps in weight or length? I, too, have a large-headed child but changes in his head circumference were mirrored by changes to his body size so the doctor wasn't concerned.
