Rapid Head Circumference Growth

Hi All,

Just wanted your thoughts on the size of my 7 month old DD's head.

She was smallish at birth (2.7 kgs, 47cm, HC 34cm) probably due to the fact that she had a single umbilical artery. Very Cute though!!

Anyway, she has grown very well since then and is now at about the 40th centile for height, 65th for weight but her head is now in between the 90th-97th centile. I am concerned her head is growing too rapidly. She has now skipped over centile lines.

The only thing that is keeping me from worrying too much is that my head measures on the 90th centile and my husbands head is just over the 97th centile. So maybe her head is just genetically large. It is the rapid head growth that concerns me.

Any ideas or experience in the matter?

Thank you!

Hi - here is a post I replied to previously about HC growth

HC growth

We skipped lines to, and as you can see from above post saw a paed who thought all was ok. I must say I do feel better that has now been checked out so if you are really concerned maybe ask opinion of maternal child health nurse or similar and see what they think.

Thanks,
I just googled rapid head growth in babies and all these studies on rapid head growth linked to Autism came up. Suddenly I'm worried! She is meeting all of her milestones, but she can only roll over from tummy to back, and doesn't really babble, but makes lots of sounds and is starting to make consonant sounds. She doesn't appear to have any signs of autism :pray:, she is very interactive and happy. Hopefully its just another one of those wierd studies that only apply to 0.0001% of the population!

Don't trust Google with things like this... ;)

See your GP, get her checked out, and get a referral to a paediatrician. Hopefully, all will be fine, but it will help set your mind at ease if you get it checked out.

hi hun, its hard not to worry isnt it, go to ur GP if u concerned.
a friend of mine had her MCHN panic and sent her and bub to their gp to get referals for scans and an mri because his head was growing so quickly.
The gp measure his brothers heads, mums head and dads head, had a giggle to himself and said they all had large heads and this bub is the same!

He still was sent for a scan just in case but it all came back fine, he's just got a boof head!

google is not a doctor.

If your DH has a big head, then you daughter probably will too. She'll most likely grow into it. Both DH & I have big-ish heads... not looking forward to birth! :p

oh darl google is not your friend ;)

Go to a GP if your worried :)

:hug:

By the sounds of it, his head it growing inline to be able to the same as yours and your DH's. Perhaps see you GP and get a referral for Paed if you would like to get a bit more clarification.

DD is a little quirky as well, her height is on the 10th%ile, weight on the 50th%ile and her head on the 90th%, but she looks fine to me, there was a little concern during one of her hospital stays and it was measure and checked by a few Paed's but nothing was ever taken further it was just decided that it was normal for her @ that stage she was on the 10th%ile for height, 25th%ile for weight and 95th%ile for HC. So I don't have any concerns about it.

I think it shows that we are all different in our own little ways :comfort:

Take care xxoo

:hug: I understand your worry hun but try not to stress too much.

The link that wysiwyg posted is to a thread that I posted a few weeks back; we have our follow up appt this Friday.
The more I look at our little girl the more I'm sure she's fine. With your & your DH's head circ being on the 97th centiles, I'm sure that's probably where your LO gets it too.

Probably a good idea to see your Gp for your own peace of mind ;)

Hi there,
my DS's HC was 50th at birth, 75th at 4 months, 90th at 6 months and 97th at 8 months. His height and weight has always hovered on the 10th. So naturally when I discovered how much his head was growing I freaked and thought of the worst! My MCHN told me it's only cause for concern when it's a rapid growth like from 25th to 97th so that the graph is very steep for example but if it's gradual it's nothing to be worried about. Also if you and your partner have big heads then it's quite likely to be genetic. I don't have a big head but my hubby does. But if you are worried wouldn't hurt to see your GP or get a ref to a paed.

I like to think that DS just has a big brain :D

Yes, we had a similar experience with DD2. At only 3 months old during a routine appt my GP tactlessly exclaimed - "wow - she has a REALLY BIG HEAD!"

Of course I was worried... but then it turns out my hubby's head circumference is apparently big and that's all it was.

In any case her body eventually caught up so it's not noticeable.

If there are biggish heads in the immediate family then I would say that's all it is... I wouldn't be worried... but of course get it checked out if you want to be completely assured!

Hi,

I thought the same with my baby early on....and read the links to autism and sent myself into paranoia land. My bubs HC was small at birth 31cm, 2.8kg, 48cm....but then within a few weeks it had jumped centiles and now it has gone to 43cm at 7mths....she is now over 8.5kg. I raised my concerns with my paed as she had gone from 3-5 percentile to just over 50. Basically paed said if a baby grows substantially in weight or height then you would expect that the head has to grow too....and not to be concerned. He said you cant expect it to stay on the same centile as birth when the weight or height has gone up centiles its only normal that the head will grow too. As bub put on weight quite a lot she went from 3 percentile or so to 75% the head had to grow too. Hence I stopped worrying and she is developing well.

My dad was born with a large head and it looked so big for his body that as a toddler my grandparents took him to the doctor, but nope, just a large head.

Naturally, I have a big head and so does DD. Every time I go to the MCHN, she comments on DD's head size and I just tell her that we're from a family of big brainers :ROFL:

DH has a big head too.

Get it checked if you're really worried, but if you and you DH have big heads, well I'd be more worried if it was small!

Corelly x