Causes of sunken baby's head

After a baby is born, there is a concave part on the top of the head, called the fontanelle, which is also commonly called the valve. If you observe carefully, you can see that it jumps with the baby's breathing. This place cannot be pressed and must be well protected. The purpose of wearing a hat during infancy is to protect it and prevent it from catching a cold. As the baby grows, this place will gradually close. Here we will talk about the reasons why the top of the baby’s head is sunken.

The fontanelle is caused by the fact that the bones have not yet developed well and the bone sutures have not yet completely closed when the baby is born. So, what are the reasons for sunken fontanelle? Sunken fontanelle is mainly caused by the following reasons such as lack of water in the body and improper feeding.

1. Loss of water in the body: The cerebrospinal fluid in the skull is constantly exchanged with the blood and tissue fluid in the body to maintain balance. When the body loses more water, the cerebrospinal fluid in the ventricles will also decrease, the pressure will decrease, and the fontanelle will become noticeably sunken. If an infant develops this symptom after vomiting or diarrhea, it means that the body is already moderately dehydrated and must be replenished with water in time. Otherwise, due to the infant's poor natural regulation ability and insufficient tolerance, circulatory failure may occur, which is life-threatening.

2. Improper feeding: Extremely thin babies who are severely malnourished due to improper feeding may also have a sunken fontanelle. At this time, they need to strengthen their nutrition and feed them properly.

3. A very small number of babies have small heads due to poor brain development due to maternal infection or other diseases during embryogenesis. The head circumference is small at birth, and the fontanelle closes prematurely 5-6 months after birth, resulting in microcephaly; the head is small and pointed, the forehead is narrow, the nose bridge is sunken, the lower jaw is small and retracted, and there is also intellectual disability. Children with cretinism caused by hypothyroidism will have a fontanelle that takes a long time to close; they will also have few and light eyebrows, a sunken nose, a wide distance between the eyes, and mental retardation. They can be treated with thyroxine.

The sunken top of a baby's head refers to the fontanelle. If a child only has this condition but everything else is normal, you can give the baby more water and then observe the condition. But if there are other reasons besides this, you need to go to the hospital to seek help from a doctor, because the baby is still in the newborn period. Once the problem is discovered and treated in time, it will recover quickly.