Head circumference at 9 month check

[blacktreaclecat]

Please help I'm worrying.
DS was born at 36+3. There isn't a record of his head circumference at birth in the red book.
At 4 weeks it was 34.5cm. At 8 weeks it was recorded as 36.5cm. I remember DS was v upset at this appt so it would have been difficult to get an accurate measurement.
Yesterday at 37w it was measured as 47.5cm. The HV has worried me as this is a leap in centiles and can indicate problems. I find centiles very confusing, especially as they insist on correcting him back 4 weeks. He is on the 91st for length and 50th for weight.
He is meeting all his milestones and is a happy smiley boy.
So worried

DS2 was born at 30 weeks and had some complications which meant lots of head measurements. Every doctor and nurse went to great pains to say that measuring a baby's head with a tape measure was difficult and unreliable.

It sounds like the measurement at 8 weeks was problematic. What did the HV suggest to do after the last measurement?

She has suggested to re measure it in a month or two. I'll be worrying until then

Don't worry!!

DS was born at 42+5. His head circumference was 34.5.
At 4 weeks it was 36. At 7 weeks it was 40. At 14 weeks 43.2.

So from 25th to 91st centile.

His weight was 75th centile and his length 91st throughout.

We were referred to a consultant to be on the safe side. When we saw him, he said there was clearly nothing wrong with DS who was bright, alert, responsive.

He also said that measuring babies' heads was notoriously tricky.

DS was a ventouse delivery which may have distorted the measurement. The 4 week measurement was done by a student HV who clearly didn't want to upset DS..... etc.

All of these things could have contributed to incorrect measurements / logging.

The consultant then said DS's measurements were now perfectly in proportion. He asked about family head size - I confirmed my dad often struggled to find a hat to fit so maybe my family had large heads (we're pretty tall!). I said I thought my head was average. He measured it. 91st centile!!

Sounds like your DS is also completely in proportion and if he's meeting all his milestones that's a great sign - I'd be tempted to say it sounds like badly taken measurements, just the same as we had.

Hope this reassures you a bit.

That is reassuring thank you
Took him to GP this morning. She feels that because as a newborn and first months he always laid with his head to the left, he has a flat bit on one side and a bulgy bit which is affecting the measurement.
However, because I am a bit concerned she is referring him for a check.