- Your baby’s head may be misshapen after delivery due to overlapping skull bones which ease baby’s transition through the birth canal after birth. This is called molding.
- Caput succedaneum is the swelling of the back of the scalp that may occur due to passage through the birth canal and tends to resolve in a couple of days.
- Cephalhematoma is a hemorrhage of blood between the skull and the membrane that surrounds the skull (periosteum) and is a result of birth trauma. This “head bruise” may take up to 2 months to resolve completely. Babies with cephalhematomas may be at higher risk for newborn jaundice.
- The “soft spots” on a baby’s head, called fontanel, are areas in the skull where bones are not fused together but held together by membranes. The posterior fontanel closes by 3 months of age. The anterior fontanel does not fully close until around 18 months of age.
- Babies tend to loose their hair in the first couple weeks of life. This is a normal occurrence and is typically due to sleeping on their backs.
