Head centiles in a 9 1/2 month old boy

[Midwinter]

Hi,

I'm new here but I have seen all the fabulous support offered to other mums. Last month I took my baby for his 8 month check up with the health visitor, she was concerned because his head measurement had dropped from the 25th centile to the 9th centile since his 8 week check up. His other measurements are all normal So she asked me to come back in a month, ie today. I took him along and she measured again and said his head hadn't grown at all so she has asked me to come back in another month. He is a very active little boy, walking and meeting all his milestones. I'm concerned I'm missing something and that he has a problem I haven't noticed. Does anybody else have any experience of this? Should I worry?

Thanks for any advice.

Dd1 was on the 98th centile for height, 75th for weight and 0.4 for head circumference at her 9 month check (previously 25th) and whilst the hv said that they should be roughly the same centile for all measurements, it didn't matter and there was no need to measure it again. Must admit, I worried for ages but she is now a healthy five year old with a perfectly proportioned normal sized head . It seemed silly to me that they took the measurement and then said the results were meaningless, but I worried about it for months. If you are concerned, which I expect you are, take him to the doctor and ask for their opinion to put your mind at rest.

Is it likely that a head is suddenly going to have a growth spurt by itself? I don't recall ever looking at a child and thinking, 'gosh there head's grown this last week' [hmmm].

Sorry, not much useful information but just wanted to let you know that dd had similar measurements and is fine. Hope everything turns out ok for you.

My DD also had a small head when she was a baby (can't remember the exact centile); in addition she had a bit of a flat head syndrome... after the 8-mont check we were referred to a paediatrician and he used the charts they use in the USA, which give totally different readings and in terms of which she was quite within the normal range. So as long as he is developing normally I wouldn't worry about it.

MY DD is 50-75 centile- at least the few times she's been weighed she was- and 9nth centile for her head!It looks right rather than slightly big like you expect from babies, and her hat size is smaller than her clothes, but she's a fit and healthy toddler with lots of skills so I'm not worried.

Some people just do have smallish heads, I think.

I don't think HV do a terribly accurate job of measuring the head anyway.

Unless you are worried because of other factors, I wouldn't worry about the charts.

Thanks everyone. It is reassuring to hear others experiences. He seems fine in all other respects so I'm trying very hard not to worry. Easier said than done of course

HV told me this about DS, saying his head measurement had gone from the 98th centile at birth to the 25th centile at 8 and half months , and could I go back in a few weeks to have it remeasured.

Ive since taken DS to see his consultant at the hospital where he was born for other reasons, and it turns out DS has always been on the 50th centile for his head size, never any bigger or smaller.

It turns out that the SCBU staff measured it wrong at birth, and HV measured it wrong a few weeks ago.

If you have a cloth/paper measure, you could try measuring it yourself just to see if there are any discrepancies?

In my experience HVs very often get it wrong and scare the living daylights out of mums.

Go to your GP and ask to be reassured - that's what the GP is there for.

Don't worry, I am sure your baby is fine - it's the HV who has a problem!!!

Please try not to worry. For one thing, if there was a problem w. the growth of your ds's brain this would have been picked before now. Having said that, I don't think it would hurt to go back in a months time because their are a few conditions where the skull doesn't grow properly which can be quite difficult to pick up. (These are very rare and quite treatable)

The reason I know all this cause we have just come out from 8 weeks of grueling worrying and a series of tests to determine whether ds2's skull/brain are developing properly (at 6 weeks it seemed as if his cranial sutures had fused). Luckily he is fine (with a head on the 50th percentile whilst rest of him is on the 98th). It took a CT scan and a consultant paediatric neurosurgeon to give us the final all clear though, and to be fair to your health visitor they are supposed to flag up any possible concerns even if most turn out to be nothing.

Oh - and I don't mean that your ds will need lots of tests, ds2 was unusual in that sense. Usually just periodic measuring is enough.

Thanks everyone. I've had a go at measuring and my measurements are more than HVs. However it seems to be a reasonably difficult thing to measure accurately anyway. I'm holding on the fact that he seems fine, is very lively and inquisitive and is doing all the things he should be. I'm trying not to worry but sometimes a month is a long time