Is late closure of fontanelle in infants and young children due to calcium deficiency?

Some parents find that their children's fontanelle closes late, so they worry that it will affect their children's facial image. Therefore, many parents want to fully understand whether the late closure of the fontanelle in infants and young children is due to calcium deficiency? In order to have a comprehensive understanding of this aspect and then treat it as soon as possible through calcium supplementation, the following content provides the answer so that parents can have a comprehensive understanding.

When infants and young children are born, a diamond-shaped unclosed area is formed on the upper part of the skull, which is called the bregma. You can also feel a posterior blotch by touching the back of the skull. Some children with normal growth and development have closed posterior fontanelles at birth. Even if they are not closed at birth, they will close naturally shortly after birth. The anterior fontanelle usually closes at around 18 months.

If infants and young children suffer from rickets, the anterior fontanelle often becomes larger and the edges are slightly raised. This is because the infants and young children lack calcium, resulting in incomplete bone calcification. To be precise, it is the developmental delay in children caused by calcium malnutrition due to severe calcium deficiency in pregnant women and failure of babies to get enough calcium nutrition after birth. Some infants may also have widened cranial sutures and softened edges.

If the condition is within 3 months, it is physiological calcium deficiency; after 3 months, it is rickets, and in severe cases, ping-pong head may occur. That is, when you press the central part of the skull and parietal bone with your fingers, it will become slightly concave, but it will return to its original shape when you release your hand. After 7 to 8 months, a square head may appear, bulging outward with the frontal and parietal bones as the center, and the hair is sparse and yellow. The fontanelle often does not close until after 18 months, and tooth eruption is significantly delayed. At the same time, chest deformities such as pigeon chest may also occur.

The swelling of the rib epiphysis that appears in infancy is called beading. The beads protrude inwards and outwards, and some are more inward than outward, which puts pressure on the lungs, causing atelectasis and making it easy to get infected. After the rib ends soften, they are pulled and contracted by the diaphragm for a long time, causing the upper part of the costal arch to sink inward, forming a groove, called the costal cartilage groove or Howe's groove.

Is late closure of fontanelle due to calcium deficiency? The above content provides the answer. For parents, if their children have late closure of fontanelle, after knowing that it is not caused by calcium deficiency, it is best to take the children to the hospital for a comprehensive examination to see if it is caused by rickets. After confirmation, correct methods should be used to improve it so as not to affect the child's image.