Baby head circumference jumping centiles - what could it mean?

[thecatwiththesilveryfur]

Forgive me for the duplicate thread - I put this in children's health but no replies, so am hoping for more traffic here! Any and all thoughts gratefully received.

When he was born, DS's head was on the 50th centile. Subsequent measurements have moved from the 50th to the 75th, two 91sts and currently 98th (at three months). The GP has referred us to a paediatric clinic but won't tell me why - can any medics or parents who've experienced this tell me what head circumference jumping centiles can mean and how worried I should be? The GP keeps saying 'don't worry, I'm sure it will be fine', but I'm not finding that reassuring!

Many thanks for any advice!

Well it could just mean that he’s growing normally and going to be a big kid! Was he born prematurely or around his due date?

He was born at 39+5, so pretty much bang on, 8lb07. He's tall, definitely, but I thought the point was that it didn't matter what centile you're on as long as you stay on the curve? The GP implied it's not the size of his head that's the problem but the rate of growth.

Ds has a genetic condition that causes a relitivly large head in propertion to the rest of his body. His appeared to jump centiles very quickly. But in the end his consultant came to the conclusion that lots of different people measuring a very wiggly baby with lots of hair made for a lot of variation in accuracy. It stayed on the same centile going off a few months of measurements in the outpatient clinic. His head is much bigger that the rest of his body, but the only problem it causes him is with tops and jumpers being a pain to put on.

There are a number of things the gp could be worried about that would warrent a referral. I can't name them now, not the right time of day for complex names, but ds peadiatrion assured us they were all easily ruled out. Ds had an mri when he had suspected encephalitis, which was able to rule out issues, but when dissussuing testing dd we were told observation assessment could rule them out too.

I hope your referral comes through quickly. But try not to worry too much in the mean time we were given a list of quite obvious symptoms to look for with ds for the major worries that would have been hard to miss.

Does he have any of the other symptoms of hydrocephalus?

My son did this,

It was because we have big heads in the family, His was compressed during birth so he arrived on 50th centile. Then expanded up to off the top of the chart and stayed there.

Did he have those skull ridges babies sometimes have?

How old is he right now OP?

Do you know that heavyweight champ Tyson Fury was premature and 1lb at birth (that seems hard to believe did I get that right?) anyway, absolutely tiny.

I developed hydracephalus at 6 months. Symptom was big head but also sickness,

Though if the GP was worried it was hydracephalus they would have sent you straight to hospital so please don't worry

Did he have those skull ridges babies sometimes have?

He had a dent in his head from birth - he had to be born by C section because apparently his head was in the wrong position so wasn't putting pressure on the cervix to dilate. Could that be a reason for the differing measurements?

How old is he right now OP?

He's 15 weeks now.

Symptom was big head but also sickness

See,this is what worries me - he's such a sicky baby. He's sick all the time - not projectile, but a kind of constant stream of milk regurgitating down his front! Apparently both DH and I were as well, but now I'm wondering if it's a sign of something more?

Thank you all so much for your experiences- very much appreciated. I looked up hydrocephalus and have panicked myself! (I know, I know!) His hospital appointment is in 6 weeks - do you think it's worth seeing someone privately earlier than that? We don't have health insurance but could pay if it would be useful to get seen earlier.

@nedtherobbot, I don't suppose you still have a copy of that list of symptoms, do you? Thank you for your post 😊

Ds was the other way. Went from just over 50% down to 9% in a short space of time. Conclusion was that the measurements aren't that accurate and it was probably just dodgy measuring.
He's 12yo now, still has a small head and is fine.

In the midst of bedtime at the moment with the now 3 year old whirlwind but can fish the list out of his red book if I ever escape downstairs!

Off the top of my head.

Propper vomiting. Not just a constant stream of milky sick but forceful vomitting. Ds did a few times when he was really poorly and there's a big difference. Never knew a small person could contain so much, enough to soak us both through.

Excessive crying and being unable to settle him. He was a very happy baby most of the time. Normal signs of pain particularly if they didn't settle quickly with pain relief.

Head banging. He liked to scare us all with that one.

Abnormal movements or lack of coordination as much as a baby of that age can be. We were told to look for things like toe pointing in a single limb.

Eyes appearing to buldge or looking wrong.

Sezuires, but you'd be right on the phone for an ambulance anyway. Try not to panic about that but look up the first aid if it plays on your mind. Ds did have these, he had a diagnosis of epilepsy now, nothing to do with his head size, but linked to his genetic deletion. Abcencess.

There were probably a few more but I remeber the nurse who talked us through it all saying everything was basically common sense and symptoms you would be seaking medical advice for anyway.

If you're worried about the wait try see if you can be put on the cancellation list. We're close to our hospital and we quite often get offered cancellations for ds' none urgent appointments as we can get into clinic with half an hours notice if we're free. We got on the list by ringing the out patients clinic and we're asked if we minded staying on it due to our proximity to the hospital. If the gp/pradatrition feels you're fine to wait 6 weeks going off the referral it may well just be a box ticking exercise. I go with the rule if people are rushing around you have something to worry about, being lower down the list is usually a good sign. It sounds like your engaging with all the right professionals, keep taking any worries to them in the mean time.

I was shocked how different to weighing a measuring procedures were between the health clinics, gp and out patient clinic. They all followed different guidelines with the health clinics being the worse of variation between people doing the measuring and everyone being insistent their measurements were right.

My DS’s head was measured just after birth and then no one ever measured it again - I didn’t think head circumference was that significant. I wouldn’t worry too much.

At the hospital ds' weight or measurements is done by one of the same two nurses every time. His consultant always did the head measurement and went off her measurement. Other professional he saw, nuro and genetics went from the measurements she recorded.

What centiles is he on for height and weight?

All babies are born with smaller heads (give or take), their skulls are made up of plates that then fill out, it helps the passage through the birth canal. My ds was born 98th centile height and weight, 50th head. By 10ish weeks he'd evened out so all 3 measurements matched in the centiles. Could it just be that and an over zealous gp?

Also, all hcp's are just following good practice if they refer to check an anomaly in terms of your baby's growth. It's utterly terrifying but just try and be reassured that lots of babies get referrals for lots of things and it's usually no cause for concern. We had lots of growth concerns/appointments up to 6 months as ds rate of growth all over was so far off the charts (He was also horrendously pukey if that helps). He's fine, they just need to monitor it.

My friends baby also had a massive head. At the 18 month check the hv wanted to refer them but my friend showed her a picture of his dad (with a massive head) and she conceded that it was normal in their family.

Not all babies fit in the charts

I do not have any medical experience and just googled rapid growth of head in first year,and it came back with a whole host of worrying things it could be (don't do that as it may worry you for nothing).Just to let you know,this is exactly what happened with my friend,her GP was concerned over the rapid growth of their sons head they were sent to Alder Hey Hospital and had their initial appointment,some brain scans were taken and they had several more appointments. After about 5 months they saw the expert in this field at Alder Hey who measured both the parents heads and said " Stop this nonsense both you and your husband have larger heads than average a babies growth in the first year is more rapid than at any other time in their life,there is nothing wrong with him". He was right,10 years later their son is a healthy,happy boy with no issues what so ever.

I have a child with severe hydrocephalous. If there was any suspicion of that it would be an life threatening emergency and you would be sent to hosp for MRI scans asap.
Also the vomiting tends to be severe and projectile ime and is accompanied by headaches and a v unhappy grisly child.

Yep sorry to worry you. What I was meaning to say was if they had hydracephalus you wouldn't have found out by the HV measuring the head. The vomiting is extreme like norovirus but that lasts. Can't look at lights, noises effect them. Those were my symptoms and it was my mum who drove me to the children's hospital because she was being dismissed by the HV

Thank you all so much for such kind and helpful responses. I feel better now (can you tell he's PFB?!).

He's 75th centile for weight (though he's started dropping a little recently, which is another cause for concern) and 91st for height. Hopefully he just has a big head and the GP is being over cautious!

and for you all. Flapjackfairy, I hope your little one is doing well now

It does worry you but we have the same with DGD, she was last time 50 for weight and 98 for her head, but no-one is worried about it.

My dd had sudden head growth and ended up in the 98th percentile, there was talk of a referral but nothing happened.

Then my son did the same, and again there was talk of a referral until I pointed out to the hv that she had said the same with dd and plus my head measurement was large too.

Unless it's an emergency I try to look at referrals as good things as it means things get investigated

My ds has a tiny head and I was worried about about microcephaly. Consultant measured my and his father’s heads, both of which are small. However, it’s good you are being referred.