Baby's small head circumference

[13lucky]

Hi there, just been to baby clinic this afternoon and hv measured ds head and wrote in book. She didn't say anything or comment but when I got home I looked and he's only on the 9th percentile for his head circumference, whereas he's on the 91st for his length and between the 50th and 75th for weight...so now I'm worrying and have done the awful thing of googling it and am now worrying sick that his brain isn't growing properly. He started off on 50th for head circumference, dropped to 25th and is now only on the 9th percentile at 9 months. Do you think I should be worried. Thanks in advance for reading.

I think if it was a cause for concern she would probably have said something. Also it can be hard to measure head circumference accurately.

If you are worried it might be worth going to GP, just to put your mind at rest. We had issues with ds2's head growth and had to take him to GP to be measured every two weeks - luckily everything was fine.

Firstly - the measurement is usually quite inaccurate. Try doing it twice and you'll get different measurements each time.
Secondly, the charts represent healthy babies, so being on the 9th percentile still means that 9% of healthy babies have smaller heads.
I see how you may be concerned cos he's dropped from 50th. But I wouldn't be overly concerned. My advice would be to stay away from google and try not to worry, especially if you have no concerns about his development.

DD was always 9th centile head, and 75th for weight, 60th for length. It has never been a concern. The only thing different is she never really looked like a babyish baby IYSWIM- always looked older. The measurements at birth can be misleading because the head gets squished in the womb (ds was head down for 5 months, he had a funny moon face when born) but the head normalises over time as the child grows and sleeps on their head each night.

If you're worried, speak to your dr- I'm sure they'll be able to reassure you.

My DD never had her head measured as a newborn, my HV gave me into trouble for it as it must have been my fault!

She wanted to refer her to someone because she thought her head was too small, i refused as she was a loon.

My DS2 had a fairly big head and was refered to someone too, the doctor told me it was amazing how obsessed some people (read HVs) get over head size.

My dd2 has microcephaly (developmental delay related to small head size). To have anything to worry about, your ds's head size needs to be well off the bottom of the chart and be accompanied by not meeting normal milestones.

The key is his development. If you have no concerns about it, then there really is no need to worry. There is a huge range of normal in terms of head size.

Please try not to worry and try not to measure your ds's head very often

Thanks guys, I feel much better now. To be fair, the hv didn't worry me as she passed no comment...it was when I looked in the book afterwards that I was concerned that it had dropped from 50th centile to 9th. But like you say, it is still within the 'normal' range so will try not to worry. Thank you again.

IMO head size has to slow down in relation to the body or it would be enormous, wouldn't it?

No, I don't think so...personally I would have thought body, head and weight should grow at about the same rate?

13Lucky, hope you're still on here. I'm in exactly the same position as you were 8 years ago! My DS had his HV check today, with 9% head circumference and 91% length. Please would you mind updating me, what was the outcome with your DS and his head size vs development?

Hi just to complete this post in case anyone else stumbles on it too and shares same concerns. I've been in touch with 13lucky and everything with her now 7 year old DS is absolutely fine. Very much so, head size still on the small side but never been a problem, height has evened out, and he's now the brightest boy in his class of 30! See similar stories here on my other post: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/childrens_health/2486376-Babys-small-head-circumference-9. What we worry about as first time mothers, eh?