At the baby’s 24 week scan his head is measuring ahead by almost 4 weeks

January 25, 2020 6:27 AM

The doctor is not too worried. Has not seen extra fluid, or tumors, or abnormal shape. But I can’t not worry... any had a similar situation? What was the outcome. They are sending us at MFM to ensure is all ok and they are not missing something.
posted by barexamfreak to Health & Fitness (13 answers total)

What sizes are his parent's heads? My ex's head is average sized. My noggin is quite large. My son's head is quite large. His son's head was quite large at birth, and they brought him in to be screened for hydrocephalus or other anomaly. They measured his Dad's head, laughed, admired my adorable grandson, and closed the question. Of course you're worried, but his head is growing while it can; skull bones fuse up. Keep us posted so we know things are okay.
posted by theora55 at 6:33 AM on January 25, 2020 [6 favorites]

Our son, who is now 7 months old, has a head size around 905th percentile and weight around 20th percentile. Doctor made similar observations during pregnancy, and it ended up being nothing. He is, and has always been, a happy, healthy baby who happens to look like a Tootsie Pop.
posted by AaRdVarK at 6:45 AM on January 25, 2020 [14 favorites]

One of my kids’ heads measured large, but I can’t remember which one it was (they are 12 and 8). My son does have a giant noggin but it’s only a problem from a hat-buying perspective. Complete anecdote, but it clearly hasn’t been a significant issue (both were vaginal deliveries as well, and normal weight.)
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 6:46 AM on January 25, 2020 [1 favorite]

Mine was off the scale too, and age 3 he has settled down to “just” 98th centile (he’s 9th centile for height, so not proportionate). He’s in age 6-8 hats. Perfectly average in every way re: milestones.

I had a big head too, so does his dad. Some people just do, I guess.
posted by tinkletown at 7:12 AM on January 25, 2020 [3 favorites]

My niece was in a panic thanks to this worry. Tommy was an enormous baby with a huge head and perfect in every way. Don't worry. People come in all sizes and shapes. Just be sure to have him in hospital in case of problems during delivery.
Obviously your doctor is paying attention and that's what you want. Enjoy your pregnancy.
posted by Enid Lareg at 7:16 AM on January 25, 2020 [1 favorite]

another family with big ol' heads. The doc who delivered my brother (vaginally, uncomplicatedly by the way) was very worried about him until my mom explained that back in the day when her own kindergarten class had decorated paper hats, the teacher needed to make a special big one for her.
posted by fingersandtoes at 8:24 AM on January 25, 2020 [2 favorites]

Another person with an uncomplicated vaginal delivery of a darling 5th-pecentile height/weight, 95th-percentile headed child. Bike helmets were hard to fit, but he is nevertheless thriving at age 9. Best of luck to you.
posted by Ausamor at 11:05 AM on January 25, 2020

My baby’s head was 110th percentile. I didn’t even know that was possible! I had to take him into the baby nurse for a month after birth to make sure he didn’t have bigheaditis. Turns out he’s just massive and has stayed that way. It’s probably nothing, someone has to be the biggest after all.
posted by Jubey at 2:15 PM on January 25, 2020 [5 favorites]

The doctors thought my kid's brain was too large at the 20 week sonogram; a week later they said it was fine after all. The kid is now a 6' 3" teenager and is sitting across the table from me eating his twentieth meal of the day.
posted by The corpse in the library at 2:50 PM on January 25, 2020 [4 favorites]

Opposite issue here -- smaller head. It wasn't a big deal except that it arguably contributed to shoulder dystocia (shoulders getting stuck on the way out), which can be a big deal (but wasn't). Just adding to the chorus saying that it's probably nothing to worry about, though it's great that you'll be talking to MFM.

Another place to read the archives and ask this question is /r/babybumps. Congrats and best wishes!
posted by slidell at 4:38 PM on January 25, 2020

My husband's head was huge. It's still huge. We call him Stewie.
posted by DarlingBri at 8:12 PM on January 25, 2020

It's probably normal. 24 weeks is still pretty early, a lot of these things even out by the end - my baby was measuring quite small allover at 24 weeks and they sent me to the MFM doctor as well who ordered repeated follow-up monitoring. The doctors were a little worried, I was VERY WORRIED. But by 34 weeks, the baby had caught up and was measuring average. I did myself no good in the worrying.

People vary - some people are bigger, some smaller, some big-headed, that's variation in the genetic community and on the whole good for our species. And as forza notes, even if you're out of the ordinary, it's *still* probably going to be fine!

There are so many things you can worry about in pregnancy, but only some of them are things you can actually affect. This is the first lesson in parenting, I think, some things are out of your control.

What helped me was to focus on the things that were more fun and that I could actually do something about: what are you going to name your child? Do you have enough baby clothes? (And, less fun, but just as important: do you have all your paperwork in order?). And, meditation and prayer.
posted by epanalepsis at 6:56 AM on January 26, 2020

I also don't think those measurements are super accurate with the sonogram and would not worry about this.
posted by Kalmya at 3:01 PM on January 26, 2020