As the baby’s brain grows, the skull can become more misshapen. The spaces between a typical baby’s skull bones are filled with flexible material and called sutures. These sutures allow the skull to grow as the baby’s brain grows.

They found that not only is the infant skull less strong than the adult skull, but the areas where they skull bones come together (“bone sutures”) are also less strong. This study suggests that head injuries suffered by children may cause different types of damage to the brain compared to head injuries in adults.

The infant skull’s bones are separated by fontanelles, or soft spots. At birth, the skull is incompletely developed, and fibrous membranes separate the cranial bones. They permit some movement between the bones, so that the developing skull is partially compressible and can slightly change shape.

When babies are born their skulls are soft, which helps them pass through the birth canal. It can take 9-18 months before a baby’s skull is fully formed.

It is shown that the skull thickness increases from newborn to 3 YO, but it is non-uniformly distributed across the skull. In particular, the skull thickness values in the occipital region are much higher than those in the frontal and parietal regions.

Finding a bump on the head is very common. Some lumps or bumps occur on the skin, under the skin, or on the bone. There are a wide variety of causes of these bumps. In addition, each human skull has a natural bump on the back of the head.

According to research in the journal BMJ Case Reports , most congenital skull depressions from a birth injury spontaneously resolve in about 4 months. In other cases, a dent in the head requires treatment. For example, a person with a depressed skull fracture will need surgery.

When a child has metopic synostosis: The metopic suture — the joint that runs from the baby’s fontanel (the “soft spot” at the top of the head) down the forehead to the top of her nose — closes too early. The baby develops a noticeable ridge extending along the center of her forehead.

When the metopic suture fuses, the bone next to the suture will often thicken, creating a metopic ridge. The ridge may be subtle or obvious, but it is normal and usually goes away after a few years.

If a baby’s head shape remains abnormally shaped, craniosynostosis is a possibility. If not corrected, craniosynostosis can create pressure inside the skull (intracranial pressure). That pressure can lead to development problems, or to permanent brain damage.

To diagnose craniosynostosis, a pediatrician will normally look at and measure the baby’s head and feel for ridges in the sutures around the skull. Additional tests can confirm the diagnosis in more detail. Imaging tests, such as CT scans and X-rays, can show which sutures have fused.

Craniosynostosis Surgery: Traditional Versus Endoscopic The surgery is immensely safer than it was in previous decades, but it is a longer overall procedure — it can take six hours. Babies are often in the intensive care unit for the first 24 hours after surgery so the team can monitor them carefully.

In 2015, Dr. Matthew Speltz’s team published results indicating that school-age children with the most common form of craniosynostosis are more likely to suffer developmental delays and learning problems than children who don’t have the disorder.