Head Size

After two weeks in NICU, I guess I am paranoid. The baby is now 6 1/2 months
old and doing really well... way ahead of herself in a lot of ways. Today at
her six months shots, the doctor said her head was a bit big and has now
sent us to a paediatrician. What the hell? Does this mean something is
wrong? I was so upset, I couldn't ask the doctor and she just said that they
may have to do an ultra sound or CT scan. She does have a large soft spot on
the top of her head but the doctor said a few months ago that it would just
take longer to close over. I am not sure what I am asking or saying but does
anyone have ideas or similar situations

--
..oO rach Oo.

..oO rach Oo. wrote:
After two weeks in NICU, I guess I am paranoid. The baby is now 6 1/2 months
old and doing really well... way ahead of herself in a lot of ways. Today at
her six months shots, the doctor said her head was a bit big and has now
sent us to a paediatrician. What the hell? Does this mean something is
wrong? I was so upset, I couldn't ask the doctor and she just said that they
may have to do an ultra sound or CT scan. She does have a large soft spot on
the top of her head but the doctor said a few months ago that it would just
take longer to close over. I am not sure what I am asking or saying but does
anyone have ideas or similar situations

Some babies just have large heads--two out of three of
mine did. With my first, there were similar worries because
his head was so big and moving up on the growth charts, but
he was perfectly normal. Obviously, there are some conditions
that can cause this, and perhaps her history makes them a bit
more cautious, but I wouldn't borrow trouble on this one.
It could easily be nothing and they're just covering all the
bases.

Best wishes,
Ericka

..oO rach Oo. wrote:
After two weeks in NICU, I guess I am paranoid. The baby is now 6 1/2
months old and doing really well... way ahead of herself in a lot of
ways. Today at her six months shots, the doctor said her head was a
bit big and has now sent us to a paediatrician. What the hell? Does
this mean something is wrong? I was so upset, I couldn't ask the
doctor and she just said that they may have to do an ultra sound or
CT scan. She does have a large soft spot on the top of her head but
the doctor said a few months ago that it would just take longer to
close over. I am not sure what I am asking or saying but does anyone
have ideas or similar situations

It's not something that I would be overly concerned about at this point. It
just sounds like your doctor is keeping her eyes open and wants to check it
out. Doctors often want to check something out only to find out that it's
all in the normal ranges.

We had a friend who had a baby who had a really big head. I mean really
big. From birth, this kid had a big head. At 10 months, he looked like an
orange on a toothpick, especially next to other kids his age. Their
pediatrician kept worrying about it, and talking to the mom, and asking to
have him sent for some additional tests. The mom kept refusing. Know why?
Her dh has an usually large head too!

On the flip side, another friend and neighbor of mine has kids who have
smaller than average heads. Her pediatrician mentioned it to her at the
youngest child's last appointment. Again, she's not concerned at all,
because her DH has a very small head!

I hear things like this all the time -- oh my, your baby is freakishly long,
or really large, or shorter or more petite than they should be, or than
average, and yet, if you look at the parents, they look just right. Short
petite people tend to have small petite babies. Large, tall, big people
tend to have big babies. Tall, lanky, skinny people tend to have tall
skinny babies/kids.

Finally, in general, any time a doctor recommends more testing, it's a good
idea to ask what they may be worried about, and how serious it could be.
That can give you an idea of how worried you should be. My thought is to
not worry or fret about "maybies" and save the real worrying and fretting
for actualities. Until you have the tests done, you don't have any
actualities yet.

Hugs. My guess, in the end, is that it's nothing.
--

Jamie
Earth Angels:
Taylor Marlys, 1/3/03
Addison Grace, 9/30/04

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your own User ID and Password

Getting an ultra sound or CT scan is a good thing. Just to make sure
there's nothing to worry about.

Hope things are going well and nothing bad happens to your baby.

Love,
- aurora -
http://aurora.insparenting.com

".oO rach Oo." wrote in message
...
After two weeks in NICU, I guess I am paranoid. The baby is now 6 1/2
months old and doing really well... way ahead of herself in a lot of ways.
Today at her six months shots, the doctor said her head was a bit big and
has now sent us to a paediatrician. What the hell? Does this mean
something is wrong? I was so upset, I couldn't ask the doctor and she just
said that they may have to do an ultra sound or CT scan. She does have a
large soft spot on the top of her head but the doctor said a few months
ago that it would just take longer to close over. I am not sure what I am
asking or saying but does anyone have ideas or similar situations

I think that the reason they are sending you for checks is that a larger
than expected head size could be a sign of problems, such as hydrocephalus,
you want to find them sooner rather than later. So it doesn't mean something
is wrong, it just means that it is prudent to check, chances are everything
is fine and she just has a slightly bigger head than her peers.

Good Luck

Anne

..oO rach Oo. wrote:
After two weeks in NICU, I guess I am paranoid. The baby is now 6 1/2 months
old and doing really well... way ahead of herself in a lot of ways. Today at
her six months shots, the doctor said her head was a bit big and has now
sent us to a paediatrician. What the hell? Does this mean something is
wrong? I was so upset, I couldn't ask the doctor and she just said that they
may have to do an ultra sound or CT scan. She does have a large soft spot on
the top of her head but the doctor said a few months ago that it would just
take longer to close over. I am not sure what I am asking or saying but does
anyone have ideas or similar situations

I'm a longtime lurker, but wanted to come out of the woodwork to
respond since I experienced this with my son. His head measurement had
started off in the 50th percentile a few days after birth but at each
subsequent appointment it was growing higher until it was way off the
charts. His height was off the charts as well, but around 9 months
when there was a big jump in the head measurement, our pediatrician
sent us for a sonogram to have it checked out. They wanted to rule out
hydrocephalus, and this was one of the last opportunities to do an
sonogram, before his skull had completely closed.

I was pretty nervous about it and after the sonogram was completed, it
seemed to take forever for the doctor to come back in the room, but
when she did, she said everything was fine, he just had a big ol' head.
At his 2 year appointment, the measurement had come down and was right
on the border of being back on the charts.

-Steph