VERY SCARED about brain damage

[Ruth2808]

I have a 2mth old DD and two older DS's 5yrs and 3yrs. I have caught them on many occasion pushing on her fontanelle! I am so worried that they have caused some long lasting damage to her. I have sat them down and told them that it is dangerous to her. But what happens if they have already done something to her. You can't tell if she has something wrong until she's quite a lot older. Help I keep panicking about it.

I know ds1 used to scribble on ds2's head with a biro and did no harm! Don't think he avoided the fontanelle either! tbh I would think it would be unlikely that a 5 yr old's finger would be able to exert enough pressure to do damage.

Got this on Wikipedia
"Parents may worry that their infant may be more prone to injury at the fontanelles. In fact, although they may colloquially be called "soft-spots", the membrane covering the fontanelles is extremely tough and difficult to penetrate."

Ruth. You would know if any damage had occurred as it would be impossible to damage the brain without causing huge pain/distress to the baby and with no obvious bruising/swelling/fitting/loss of conciousness. I work on a neuro unit in a hospital and am sure about this. Don't worry any more.

My dd1 hit dd2 in her soft spot, with a heavy pen. It left a dent for a few hours, which made me feel faint with worry. DD2 is 19 months old and absolutely fine.

I'd imagine that all of us with older siblings had our fontanelles pushed in a bit when we were babies.

Not so sure about severe punishment! Thanks to you all I feel a lot more relaxed about it. I have been making myself sick with worry about the whole thing. Thanks you have all been a great help.