Question About My Son's Head

I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. Although I know from personal experience, these sort of things can be frightening. It seems like when it comes to their heads, you wonder what's supposed to be there and what's not.

At my son's 4 month checkup, his pediatrician asked if he slept with his head to the left side more than the right side because he had sort of a flat spot above his ear. From the time he was born, I always switched how I laid him in his crib each time so that he would rotate his head to both sides equally. She then sent us to get a CT scan. She was worried that he had craniosynosis, which is a condition in which one or more of the sutures in the skull fuses prematurely. If that happens, the brain has no room to grow and expand. Surgery is needed to take the skull apart and piece it together to that of a 3 year olds. I was a nervous wreck until we had the CT scan done. We got the results back from his pediatrician and a pediatric neurosurgeon a few days later. Come to find out, he actually had an EXTRA suture on that side. They both told us how incredibly rare that is. We were so relieved!

My son does have something like what you describe, but it appears to have a vein underneath it. It indents in too. I was concerned about that too, but noticed other babies that have the same thing. His hair covers it up, so I don't even notice it now.

For your peace of mind, be sure to mention it to his doctor at his check-up. Please let us know what you find out.

Best wishes,
R.

Hi L. -

Well, what you describe sounds like it follows the path of the coronal suture - are you kind of familiar with the pattern of the cranial sutures? Anyway, the bones in your skull aren't even really touching at birth, and they don't permanently fuse for many years (after growth has stopped); while I can't remember seeing what you're describing exactly, I'm sure it's probably nothing to worry about. It's probably the the same kind of thing as a "soft spot" (which are also due to the space between the cranial bones).
Be sure to mention it to your doctor if it concerns you - I know when my son was born he seemed so fragile that stuff like that really freaked me out! But if there was a serious problem, any kind of pressure on the brain or something like that, you would DEFINITELY know. It wouldn't be subtle.

Good luck, try not to worry too much. Do a Google search for "cranial sutures" and see if that coronal line follows the indentation on your son's head - I'll bet it does!

my son had the same thing! it was like a seam of the skull i think. i would point it out, but my doc said it was normal. is it the side he sleeps on most? my sons was, and i just kept trying to get him to sleep on his other side more. but if its the same thing as my son, there isn't really anything to worry about. just part of their head lol.

I wouldn't worry until you have to. It could just be his bone structure but make sure to talk to his doctor...at least that way you can ease your mind somewhat. I remember when my son was an infant I was always feeling weird things on him, usually were nothing. I’m also a first time mom so I sympathize with not really knowing. Good luck.

L.
I hope my story will bring a little relief..My daughter also had the same line that you are talking about. She was also 6 mos. old. The pediatrician sent us to the hospital for an x-ray. The x-ray came back bad, so we were sent to Dorenbechers and were consulted by a pediatric nuerosurgeon and after she was under anastesia(bad spelling)right before surgery they decided to take another x-ray and turns out the first x-ray was bad. They had thought her skull plates had grown together and were talking about cutting her from ear to ear and reconstructing her head....If you or you husband have a big head or come from family with big heads it could be absolutely nothing. After we got my daughter out of anastesia and we were in the docs office the doctor measured my head and my moms head and said oh well she just comes from big headed people. Whatever comes of this if it starts out very bad please get a second opinion. One persons opinion is not set in stone..people recieve the wrong diagnosis more times then we like to think about. My prayers are with you and your family.

M.

It sounds very normal, but worth bringing up at his next appointment!