Cephal haematoma ??

[Lolski]

My DD had been born with a soft lump on the top of her head. The MW said that it is a cephal haematoma and it is soft tissue and will eventually go. She said that it is just fron when they come out of the birth canal and is quite common with ventouse births (although she wasn't). Does anyone know anything about them. Can they cause any problems ? How long do they take to go ? Many thanks

DS1 had an enormous one when he was born (by CS, so no idea why). It was huge and looked like a second brain sticking out of his head! I still thought he was gorgeous but looking back people must have been quite shocked.

When he was about 4 months old we had to get it checked out because although it had shrunk loads it had gone a bit hard, and there was lots of medical drama because they thought he had had a fractured skull from birth! It turned out to have harmlessly calcified with no ill effects.

He is now 10 and underneath his hair you can still feel that his skull is a tiny bit lumpy on one side. But you would never know by looking at him. And, I'm sure you are not worried but just in case, he has turned out to be extremely clever ...

have just asked my friend as i remember her dd had one, she says they are completely harmless and nothing to worry about.

its caused by a blood vessel breaking during birth, they last from between 1 and 6 months (her dd's lasted 5 1/2!)

as they go they can leave a kind of rim of bone where the lump was, that can look a bit like a crater in your baby's head, but this will go away too, and again is nothing to worry about.

hope this helps, and congratulations!

My DS had exactly the same as procrastinatingparent. He was not ventouse but veerrry long labour. He had the same calcified rim, or crater once the immediate swelling had gone down. After about a year you could only notice if you knew it was there, and after maybe 3 years it went completely. He is 12 now and no probs at all.

Most disappear completely after a few months and your DD's is almost certainly going to. Ask your doctor for clarification if you are concerned, but there is nothing to worry about, I'm sure.

Congrats on DD.

Forgot to say, he was xrayed to make sure and the skull itself was perfect - purely superficial.

a bit like procrastinatingparent ds had a huge haematoma after he was born (no ventouse just very quick viginal delivery). he eventually saw a paedetrician as it had shrunk somewhat but hard and we were told that it had calcified. He's 2 now and you can still see the lump if you look from certain angles but i don't really notice it. have been told that as he grows it'll become even less noticable as his head will obviously get bigger.

try not too worry about it and it's not medically serious and in a little while you probably won't even notice that it's there.

Hope this is reassuring lolski, and congratulations!

Thanks everyone. That is great. She is gorgeous and I am not worried what it looks like I was just worried that it might cause her other problems but apart from having to wear a hat for the next year that is all very reassuring.
Thanks again.