Help... panicking! Baby with very large head.

[MountainMummy95]

I know I shouldn't panic... but here we are.

I went for a routine scan today (my consultant scans me when I see her... midwives had been doing fundal height prior to this). I am 35 +3 with baby #2. Consultant asked me if I was hoping for a vaginally delivery again, and I said yes. She then asked if my last baby had "a... good sized head?" I told her no. And she said that this one is measuring very big but only the BPD (diameter of head). It is measuring in at 40wks 2 days. Everything else (including HC) is measuring under 34 weeks... so, small, but normal enough. Baby has dropped from 50th centile from my last scan to 25th in only 2 weeks... yet their head is massively wide, but not long??? I'm so confused. She said she wasn't worried but that it did have a big head... it just seems bizarre to me that babys head is so wide yet the HC is quite small? Is there something wrong? And then I have obvious worries for birth because I had a tear and stitches last time from my daughter who had a normal sized head and was also born 3 weeks early.
Help/insights/reassurance would be greatly appreciated right now!

Only anecdotal but at all my growth scans babys head was above 95th centile with body and legs measuring small... he arrived completely normally proportioned and definitely not a big head at all, so for me the measurements and what they made me imagine pre birth were all far out 🙈

Thanks Bizzyone... I hope this is the case for me too! Was there ever a mention of induction or anything with regards to head size?? My babes head is currently off the charts... it doesn't even fit on a centile graph 🙈

I have no experience to offer with the head size, but general size of baby did not equal a more difficult birth for me.

first baby was small - biiiig tear, needed to go to theatre to be stitched up etc
second baby was a whopper and needed persuading out at 42 weeks - small tear but a walk in the park

i would do the 2nd birth (huge baby) one hundred times over before I chose to do the little one again!!! So it doesn’t always mean a more difficult birth

Both my girls had 98th centile heads despite being smaller than average. I come from a family of big heads (and have one myself!) DD2 was 5lbs 13 with an out of proportion head and they did a brain scan even though I told her I'm just from a family of massive heads!

If you're worried about the vaginal delivery ask your midwife what they think. Mine told me baby's head well settled in pelvis and it would be fine xx

@desperadodogface Weird question but why do you think you have a large head now? Do average hat sizes fit you?

I don't wear hats! They don't fit and I look awful. Last time I tried was graduation when they told me to go to the boys end to be measured. I'm not massively out of proportion, won't get me wrong, but it's bigger than average x

@desperadodogface Im just asking as I have a weird complex that I have a big head! 😂. But I don't really know what would class as a big head, I do have a large forehead!

I have never been measured for a graduation cap, but I think mine stems from trying to get a horse riding hat fitted as a child.

My DD is the same! She's gorgeous and absolutely in proportion to me vut she went riding aged 8 and had to wear an adult sized hat 😂 I just tell her big head means big brain- obvs not scientific- but it helped her x

@desperadodogface I don't know if your DD still rides but I found that buying a hat that suited round head shapes I went down in size and it was so much more comfortable.

Thanks! She first tried just before covid and hasn't expressed an interest since but I will keep it in mind 😊

They said my baby was overall very large with a large abdomen they had to monitor. She was 6lb 5 and totally normal. Honestly I wouldn’t worry

Thanks guys... its hard not to worry when they seem to comment on it. I don't know why they even mention it if the measurements can be so far wrong. I just hope there isn't anything sinister going on.

@MountainMummy95 I'm sorry you're feeling worried after your consultant's comments about your baby's head size! Whilst I wouldn't want to offer false reassurance, it is perhaps helpful to remember that it is far more likely than not that all is well. After all, if something were terribly wrong, surely your consultant would have recommended a caesarean there and then?!

I don't know how comforting you find this, but you might feel reassured to remember that when babies are born, their heads 'mould' (you might remember that your first baby had an elongated-looking head at birth?) This means that even babies whose heads are large in the womb can usually fit through a pelvis and be born. This is helped if you're able to labour off the bed so your pelvic bones can also adjust and move to create additional space for your baby during birth, taking advantage of all the softening hormones that your body produces during labour. It doesn't mean you won't tear again or need stitches, but if you can work with your body and with gravity it might minimise how much you're affected.

Also, scan measurements aren't always very accurate! They can be waaaay off, so if all other scans have been ok but just this one isn't, then it's possible they couldn't get a good measurement of BPD, or a good weight estimate, hence the sudden drop in centile lines.

@MountainMummy95 I was elective section for other reasons but they didnt mention anything about it causing issues for potential vaginal delivery, and the sonographer was keen to point out that scans late on in pregnancy have margins of error so noone seemed worried (except me!)