Microcephaly

[sioba]

Hi,

My 4 month old son is being assessed for possible microcephaly. His head circumference is not growing at the required/normal rate.

Other than this he has fallen down the growth centiles somewhat but not alarmingly. He breastfeed a well but has occasional crying fits which we think might be reflux related. His head control isn't great but not worryingly bad. He babbles and coos and smiles and laughs. He bats at toys, has found his hands (sucks on them a lot). He is trying to roll over (can get onto his side but not his tummy from his back). He seems to be developing on the slightly slow side of normal (smiled at 9 weeks). He responds to me, his older brother and dad in the way I would expect.

My question is did anyone have a similar assessment at around this age for microcephaly - how did it turn out? Were there developmental signs this early that something was wrong (if indeed there was something wrong)?

[pushmepullyou]

Hi Sioba

Where on/off the ccharts has his head dropped from/to? My DS was referred because he appeared to have dropped a couple of centiles and his soft spot closed early.

The conultant asked me if it wasn't for his head growth would I have any concerns about his development? Then remeasured him and found he was on the same centile he started on. Apparently measuring head size is notoriously inaccurate when done by GPs and HVs.

[sioba]

Hi pushmepullyou,

At his 6 week check he was on the 50th - then on the 25th when we first saw the paed and today ( 2nd paed appt) no growth at all since the previous appt.

S

[pushmepullyou]

How stressful for you

I don't have any actual medical knowledge but I did look into causes for head growth slowing when DS was investigated, My understanding of microcephaly is that it is quite common for affected individuals to have normal development particularly if they are growing normally in other ways. I think the types associated with the more severe delays often present in utero, so even if he does have it it his prognosis isn't necessarily bad - particularly as it sounds like he is hitting all his milestones at the moment

There are other causes of slowed head growth, for example if the soft spot closes too early (this was the main concern with DS as his closed very early on), which are very treatable.

I won't tell you not to worry because I know how impossible that is, but he does sound like he's developing completely normally so far, which has got to be a good sign.

[sioba]

Hi again,
Yes I am hoping that the fact that his development so far has been normal is encouraging. I was hoping there would be someone on here who had a similar experience and it all turned out ok. I think most likely we will need just wait and see how he does over the coming months/year - which is hard.
S

[DeWe]

Ds went down from the initial measurement of 50% to 9% where it stayed. He was measured every couple of months or more, and watched for development issues until about 18 months. End of conclusion was the first result was probably wrong and he just has a small head (as I do). His older sisters have heads above 91% (as dh does) which did mean that they were extra alert over him.

He's 5yo now and other than a liking for shouting "poo!" at inopportune moments, perfectly normal.

[willowthecat]

Head measuring can be very innaccurate and at such a young age, it's going to be impossible to know if there is going to be an issue or not - but then looking at it logically, there are all sorts of things that are impossible to know at 4 months. I think all you can do is wait and see - and as you said, the slowing in head growth is not alarming

[sioba]

Thanks for the responses - good to hear that for some this didn't result in a longer term developmental issue. unfortunately the slowing in head growth is alarming his paed - it's his slow weight gain overall which isn't so alarming.

[willowthecat]

Sorry I misunderstood what you meant about 'alarming'. Your paed would not be doing his job properly if he was not monitoring this issue but at 4 months there's still a lot of time ahead before any conclusion can be reached.