What happens if the baby’s anterior fontanelle is sunken?

The anterior fontanelle is unfamiliar to a person but also important. Do mothers know that it only exists in the body of a baby? It is not closed at the beginning but completes its growth and closure before the age of two. Its developmental state will affect a person's life. Experts explain that when the intracranial pressure decreases, the anterior fontanelle will become sunken. Mothers may ask, what are the specific influencing factors and what is going on? Let’s take a look.

The anterior fontanelle is the diamond-shaped cross suture junction in the center of the front half of the infant's head. It is the largest suture intersection on the skull. Because infants have not yet fully grown their heads, it is slowly covered as they grow up. Generally, it is about two to four centimeters long and wide for newborns. Because there is no bone here, it feels very soft.

There is also a bone suture intersection in the center of the back half of the head, called the posterior fontanelle. It is smaller and sometimes even difficult to feel. Because the structure of the entire infant's skull is weakest at the anterior fontanelle and there is no bone protection, and the brain tissue is right underneath, sometimes babies with a larger anterior fontanelle can feel something uneven underneath when they touch it. These are the lines on the surface of the brain, and if you press hard, it will of course cause damage to the brain.

When the anterior fontanelle bulges, you can feel the beating inside the skull with your hand, which reflects the vibration waves of the cerebral arteries. Usually around six months old, the anterior fontanelle starts to get smaller, and by one year old it can hardly be felt, but it will not truly disappear until around two years old, for example, as can be seen by X-ray. When intracranial pressure decreases, the anterior fontanelle will naturally become sunken, as in the following situations: when standing or sitting. When diarrhea causes systemic dehydration, the amount of water in the head will also decrease, so the intracranial pressure will naturally decrease.

In case of shock or massive hemorrhage in the brain, the total body blood volume and blood pressure decrease, and the intracranial pressure naturally decreases. The anterior fontanelle closes slowly when the brain is in a state of hypofunction; the anterior fontanelle becomes full when intracranial pressure is increased; the anterior fontanelle becomes sunken when the brain is dehydrated.

After understanding this knowledge, there is no need to panic when encountering a sunken anterior fontanelle. Mothers no longer need to worry about their baby being too active and causing a sunken anterior fontanelle. You just need to understand the relevant knowledge, pay attention to your baby's every move and interact more with your baby. This will also allow you and your baby to live a healthy and worry-free life, cultivate your child's lively personality from an early age, and your baby will have a healthy future without having to worry about a sunken anterior fontanelle.