In general, the circumference of a newborn’s head is 35 cm and is oval in shape. Differences in the delivery process will differentiate the shape of your baby’s head at birth, in babies who are born normally they often have a more oval shape than babies born by cesarean section.
In this article, my team will remind you the importance of knowing the shape of the head to detect your baby’s health. Some parents often ignore the activity of examining the growth of the head circumference and the condition of the crown. We recommend that when your child gets a weight and height check at the posyandu or is getting immunizations, measure the baby’s head circumference regularly so that he knows brain development your child.
In observing your child’s growth and development, do it from your child’s age as early as possible. One of them is by avoiding growth disorders that can be detected from the size of the head in children under 3 years of age. So that the examination is not only focused on body weight, height, food nutrition information, breastfeeding or children’s disease conditions.
By examining the circumference of the head, it can help to detect disorders of brain development or other health problems. So that by detecting it early, it can be easier to get treatment. Therefore, measuring head circumference is an important health examination activity. Head size checks should be done regularly as well as to evaluate your child’s brain volume.
Some people link baby intelligence to head circumference, even though head size has no effect on intelligence. In general, the normal volume of a newborn’s brain is 350 grams. The volume of the baby’s brain is influenced by the diameter of the baby’s head, however, you should remember that differences in the shape of the head in babies are not related to your child’s intelligence.
Each baby has a different size of the baby’s head circumference, while the medical usually determines the normal limit of baby size by measuring head circumference using the Nellhaus scale. In the normal size, the baby’s head circumference is 30-37 cm. The growth of the baby’s head circumference will experience growth at the age of 0-3 months, which is 2 cm. Meanwhile, at the age of 4-6 months it will experience an increase of 1 cm per month. Furthermore, at the age of 6-12 months it will experience an increase of 0.5 cm per month. Finally, at the age of your child, your toddler will only increase by 50 cm, while at the age of 12, it will remain and will not grow again.
In detecting head size disorders, you can use the Nelhaus scale. The size of the head circumference can be divided into two, namely microcephaly and macrocephaly. In the case of microcephaly the head circumference will be smaller than the standard deviation of the normal size. Meanwhile, when babies experience a condition where the size of the baby’s head is larger than normal, it is called macrocephaly.
In cases of microcephaly, it generally occurs due to interference during pregnancy, one example of pregnancy infection is caused by microorganisms, namely rubella, viruses, herpes. It can even be caused by chromosomal disorders or genetic factors. Therefore it is very important to carry out checks before and during pregnancy, also pay attention to genetic factors or the nutritional intake of pregnant women.
Although the case of macrocephaly is very small in the growth of the baby’s head circle, it is good to do an examination. Perform a careful examination, ask medical experts to find out more accurately. You can ask a medical professional to do an ultrasound and CT scan.
Thus you can take early prevention by avoiding abnormalities and disorders of the head circumference and also the brain. In addition, it is recommended that those of you who are planning a wedding do counseling so that they can take an examination to detect pregnancy abnormalities from an early age, especially against the dangers of TORCH. Also pay attention to dietary nutrition which can increase the development of the central nervous system in the brain and also oxygen circulation and DNA replication.
