Head Circumference scare

[MelanieMum]

Hi there,

I’m expecting my first baby at the end of October and am looking for some advise or reassurance. During my 20 week scan, the sonographer noted our baby’s head and abdomen were measuring small. She told us this is a common concern and nothing to worry about but scheduled a follow up ultrasound for 24 weeks.

At the 24 week scan, baby’s abdomen was fine but her head was still too small. I asked what this means and was told any measurement below the 5th percentile is a cause for concern so we’d need to be moved to consultant led care moving forward. A consultant led scan was scheduled for the following morning and my husband and I attended that today after a very anxious and sleepless night!

The consultant thoroughly measured all important areas and explained our baby was looking healthy apart from a small head and on the screen I could see the head circumference measurement was fluctuating between 1.9% and 3.3%. The clearest picture the consultant settled on seems to be sitting in the 2.7% range and when I asked what this means, he said we’d be looking at a diagnosis of microcephaly which can mean many things from a severe brain malformation with life limiting implications to nothing to note apart from a small head.

My husband and I are now beside ourselves with worry and need to wait two weeks until we can have a proper chat with the consultant after he’s reviewed the scans. We’ve tried to research as much as we can this evening and unfortunately everything seems really bleak. I’m trying to be positive but it’s incredibly hard to do that right now so if anyone has experienced a similar situation, I’d really appreciate if you could share your story or any words of wisdom

Didn't want to read and run so I'm sending you lots of hugs. No experience except to say that they never sugar coat it, so if he's saying there's a change it could be unremarkable, he isn't trying to make you feel better.

Avoid Google, Google is not your friend. Hopefully once he's reviewed your scans he'll have a better idea and they should be able to tell of the brain seems to be growing ok.

Genetic testing might be an option but if you intend to keep the pregnancy no matter what, I personally wouldn't do anything invasive like amnio.

Don't let anyone push you into anything.

They only know what might happen to children with similar conditions. They do not know your child and what they are capable of.

I do t have experience of microcephalic but both my boys were and are above 99th centile for HC. It has no impact whatsoever except my 3yr old wears hat for 7yr olds and can't wear a toddler's apron.

I hope for you that your baby equally has no health problems and has just minor inconvenience.

Hey OP, I’m sorry you’re going through this. I’m having similar worries. At the 20 wk scan baby’s head was just about 5th percentile. I had a private scan at 25 weeks, and head had fallen below 5th. However, the consultant looked carefully at the brain and said it looked to be developing normally so he wasn’t worried. He also said that some people just have small heads, no big deal. I measured my head: what do you know, bottom end of normal for population as a whole, and on or below 3rd percentile for my height. (In hindsight my hairdresser did once refuse to cut my hair short because he said I needed the hair to make my head look bigger...) At 28 week scan baby’s HC had gone up to 8th percentile. I’m still anxious, but much less so —had to stop myself from punching the air when the sonographer told me. So, these things can change from scan to scan, and also a small head is sometimes just a small head. Or at least, so I tell myself when I’m lying awake worrying... x

We have the same with the other direction Rose. DS does have some non troublesome extra fluid in his skull and he's a nightmare for hats etc as its large but it's more in proportion as he grows and actually turns out I have a big head!!

Same but opposite here too. Both children were off the chart with big heads. I measured my and husbands head and turns out we are both in the 90th centile too so it's just genetics. If there is a family pattern of having a smaller head then it could be normal for them. Worth considering.

Slightly different so sorry if it isn't much help! My daughter had a smallish head during my pregnancy (15th percentile) compared to her abdomen and legs. She has a couple of brain abnormalities which we diagnosed in utero and at 18 months she was diagnosed with microcephaly (2 deviations below 0.4th percentile). She's really happy, although delayed, and her small head size isn't hugely noticeable. Her delays aren't necessarily due to the microcephaly though and she's still making progress.

When we found out about our daughters abnormalities during pregnancy it was so hard and the worry takes over but I promise that once your little one is here it gets easier. You'll likely be offered blood tests and amniocentesis to look for causes, we did the blood tests but turned down the amnio due to risks. Google has some awful stiff about microcephaly and other things like that but it's not like that for everyone. There is an amazing UK microcephaly support group on Facebook that I've found really helpful and the support groups for my daughters other brain conditions helped to keep me sane during pregnancy.
Wishing you all the best for the rest of your pregnancy

@MelanieMum - can I ask how things are for you now?

I’m having twins and one is currently measuring in the 4th percentile for HC and I’ve been referred to FMU next week.

I have a smallish head but it is flat at the back ( no occipital process to speak of) and can't buy an adult hat or wear a headband without it sliding up my head and popping off. My son (22) wears age 7-9 hats, if he can find one that isn't too childish.
When he was born and his measurements were taken red flags popped up and he had to have scans and referrals and follow ups. Everything was and remains completely fine. His head is a nice shape and looks completely normal it just has a small circumference.
Please don't worry yet. Size alone isn't necessarily the most accurate marker of a problem.

My dd had a small head and repeated scans. It turned out she just inherited dh's small head and all was fine. I'd never really noticed his head was small up to then. I hope it's all ok, it's such a worry.

Hi all, and thank you for your responses. Our beautiful daughter was born last Tuesday and all so far seems well! We were scanned every week by my consultant from week 25 and the detailed growth tracking indicated that baby was hopefully just small all over. While her head remained in the lowest percentiles, her abdomen was only a tad bigger so we spent the rest of the pregnancy hoping for the best and that she would just be proportionally small as opposed to having any issues.

It was decided that under the circumstances it’d be best to deliver early via c section at 36 weeks so that’s what we did last week and to our surprise, DD came out screaming and seemingly healthy - so much so we were discharged the next day! We’re having daily midwife visits at home to track her weight as she was 4lb 10oz, but apart from being teeny tiny, everyone seems happy our lil angel is in proposition and is simply just small - someone has to be at the ends of the percentiles scale and it looks like we just make ‘em small!

I hope everything goes well for you @penny92 and your twins are born safely and healthy :) xo

That's wonderful news @MelanieMum - huge congratulations on your little arrival!

Congratulations that's such good news.

@MelanieMum similar situation for me :( hoes your baby now x