1st appointment with new paed today, very interested in ds' large head.

[redhappy]

Any ideas what she was suggesting?

She just came out with 'has he always had such a large head?'.

This completely threw me if I'm honest. I have always said he has a very large head, and been dismissed by the professionals. To have someone ask so directly as if it was obvious was quite a surprise!

He got stuck durung labour, and I put it down to the size of his head when he was born (Emergency C-section). He's been wearing adult size hats since he was 2.

She was also asking about sleep, clumsiness/motor ability and headaches.

Have done a quick search on google and came across Hydrocephalus. I looked at the images and of course scared myself silly. His head does not look as large as the images I was seeing.

Is there something else it could be? Particularly in relation to his ASD?

Anyone?

There seems to be quite a bit of research out there on links between autism and a large head. Not managed to make sense of it all and apply to ds though.

My ds has a large head - GP picked up on it at 10 week check and we were referred to the hospital to see paed. He arranged for ds to have an ultrasound of his soft spot. Nothing abnormal showed up and it was decided it was just how he was. He is now 4 with DX of ASD / SLD - I too have read some stuff about links with ASD large head. Something to do with the brain developing too fast and pathways not forming correctly???

Anyone have any more info?

Everything I've read suggests that the child is born with a normal size head. It gets bigger when the brain grows too quickly.

He was measured today, I think it was 53cm circumference, he is 5.

That is very interesting cwtch, my ds also has a large head. Just done a big of a google and yes it is related to asd, a report in 2003 says that 60% of children with autism had an extremely large head at 6 months. There is even reports saying that a large head as a baby can be the first indicator of asd.

link

oh, wrong link there I think sorry!

Can't find what I was reading earlier now!

www.newscientist.com/article/dn3948-head-size-gives-autism-early-warning.html

The paed was worried a out the size of my DSs head - until he measured DHs head :)

Then he realised it ran in the family, and was therefore absolutely fine.

My DH also has a big head but I also think he is on the spectrum himself. He is an only child and has two first cousins on his fathers side - both have children with dyslexia / ADHD and dyspraxia, I'm convinced there is a strong link.

Yes good point Indigo. Me and ds' dad both have small heads though.

I'm worrying about it less now. Was a little freaked out earlier.

DS has a huge head - no ASD though. DH also has a huge head and it was commented on when ds was born that he took after his father in that department! In combination with other factors, and without a genetic link it may mean something. DS does have trouble with sleep and processing difficulties so am going to google (prob not a good thing )

DS was wearing adult hats at 2-3. His head went from 25th centile at birth (37 weeks gestation), 75th centile at 8 weeks and at 3 yo his head was 54cm ie which is the same size as my adult head and he had an adult cycle helmet would have thought this was off the scale

Probably not much help - but ds1 (7) has an hc that is 51 cm and we have always been told that he is borderline microcephalic and that it may be the underlying cause of ASD/LD - so if 51 hc is too small and 53 hc too big, you can't win ! - I don't think all NT children are 52 cm hc

also paed told me hc does not change much after a child is 12 months which i found hard to believe at the time but i think now she probably meant that the general outcome is predictable from that age.

At our first pead appointment the tape measure was flung out and the look on my partners face was priceless when she wrapped it round his head and not DS [GRIN].Then she announced that she knows where DS gets the big head from .
DS does have autism and she did mention the large head connection.

DS has severe hydrocephalus and has an abnormally large head.

The questions your paed asked about sleep, headaches, clumsiness etc can be symptoms of hydrocephalus - but could be due to many other things too.

I would guess that if your paed supsected hydrocephalus, then she would be ordering scans as a matter of urgency as it would need treating. SO if she hasn't then she has probably ruled it out.

DS2 has a large head, on the top centile of all his charts. Our Paed always comments on it. Its not helped by the fact he still has a lump from his ventouse delivery and the fact he has loads and loads of hair.

My experience was exactly the same as ineedstrongcoffee.

DS2 had a huge head - think ET!

He was immediately referred to a Paed. Paed took one look at DS1 (then 13 months) who came us to the appointment and thought he was the child who had been referred as his head was even bigger!!

Paed then measured my head and said it too was huge and came to the scientific conclusion that we were just a big headed family

When ds's head was measured the day after he was born, the pead said - largest one in the hospital so far!

However, he resembles my father who also has a large head and I remember being told my was large too.

Only ds has ASD. I am shy.

ds2 has a huge head, he has kind of grown in to it now, he was born very prematurely and looked like a lollypop as he was just this tiny skinny body with a huge head.
He had lots of head measurements, xrays etc taken.. the conclusion - he just has a big head!
He also has ASD, LD'S & CP.
I have a small head, dh's probably larger than average, ds1 average.
He also has loads of thick dark hair! Not sure where he gets that from either.

Thankyou so much everyone who replied, it makes interesting reading!

Thankyou starfishmummy it does sound like that's what she suspected, and yes she must have ruled it out.

I think it threw me that I thought I ahd a handle on it all, then something else might be thrown into the mix.