What causes a newborn baby to have a big head?

A newborn's big head is a very troublesome problem for parents, because if the baby's head is particularly large, it will have a great impact on the mother who chooses natural childbirth. It will be more difficult for the mother to give birth to the baby, and it will be more likely to cause vaginal tearing. So many parents will wonder why the baby's head is so big. There are many reasons for the big head of a newborn. Today I will introduce them to you in detail.

1. If the fetal head is too large, it may be considered whether the fetus is developing too fast in the uterus. Pregnant women are advised to check whether they have diabetes or overnutrition. Therefore, mothers should insist on prenatal checkups to detect problems early and solve them in time. If the doctor says that the fetus's head is too large after examination, you can consider going to a more authoritative hospital for examination. In addition, the large head of the fetus may also be affected by genetic factors.

2. If the enlarged fetal head is not caused by any disease of the pregnant woman herself, and everything appears normal, then it will only make delivery more difficult for the pregnant woman. It may lead to early dystocia or require a caesarean section. Nowadays, one of the reasons for many caesarean sections is the enlarged fetal head. In addition, pregnant women should strengthen their exercise. I go out for a walk every day and do prenatal exercises under the guidance of a doctor. This can exercise the pelvis and birth canal, which is helpful for natural childbirth.

The size of the head circumference is an important indicator of the brain development, brain capacity and physical development of infants and young children. Parents should understand this. Generally speaking, the first two years after a child is born are the critical period for brain development, and the head circumference grows fastest at this time. The average head circumference of a newborn is about 34 cm, about 33-35 cm for boys and about 32.5-34.5 cm for girls. In the first year after birth, the child's head circumference should increase by about 12 cm in total. It will grow faster in the first 6 months, about 8-10 cm, and about 3 cm in the last 6 months. During the two-year-old year, a child's head circumference should increase by approximately 2-3 cm to 48 cm. After that, the growth rate of head circumference gradually slows down, reaching about 50 cm at the age of 5, and approaching the adult head circumference at the age of 15, which is about 54-58 cm.

Parents can use the above data to monitor their children’s brain development. Head circumference is usually measured with a soft tape measure, and the child can be lying, standing or sitting. Parents should take the most prominent part of the upper edge of the child's eyebrow arch as the "0" point of the tape measure, place the tape measure close to the scalp, around the most prominent point of the occipital tubercle and the upper edge of the other eyebrow arch back to the "0" point, and record the reading to one decimal place. The normal range of head circumference is within the mean for that age plus or minus two standard deviations (2SD). The standard deviation for each age group is not exactly the same, but is approximately between 1.1 and 1.3 cm.

Note: Pregnant women should have regular prenatal checkups and closely observe the development of the fetus.