Baby with Big Head.

My baby girl's head was in the 97% and the pediatrician hasn't said a thing. Her dad's head is ENORMOUS. Ha!

A big brain needs a big skull to fit into it. Wouldn't a big boy look funny with a little head? Since you do not state any other concerns in his development, I would not worry too much. Maybe you have Vikings in your deep ancestry!

1. this happened to me when i was adopting my baby... she was a few months old and still in korea.. they told me that thought she had a problem because her head was very big.. 2. my dr. told me to ask .. it she looking at you when you come into the room, is she grabbing for things, is she putting things into her mouth like her fingers, does she seem normal... can she follow you, does he or she make noise, does she turn when you make a noise.. 3. this will tell you if their is a big problem.. 4. she did all this so when we did adopt her and she came home they told me to bring her for a cat scan - less invasive then an mri... to make sure she had no water on her brain.. i was so scared.. we had it done.. it was simple... and guess what.. she was 7 1/2 months old.. they told me right then that her brain seemed very well developed for such a young baby... he told me that i would have a smart baby.. and he didn't see any problems.. go home enjoy her... well guess what.. she is 12 and top of her class.. she is a geniuos.. go figure.. all that upset-ness and i have a wonderful girl.. who still has a big head.. the only problem was getting shirts over her head.. she is beautiful... and i love her so much.. good luck.. go to the dr. and talk to him.. and see what he thinks.. get two opinions if your not happy with the first one.. tell him your head it big too.. we didn't know about my daughters family so we couldn't know if she had a big head because of them... my dr. 's sons also have very big heads and they are also smart.. he told us not to worry when she was still in korea and we were here and didn't know what to think.. he says go by what the baby is doing.. when you have water on the brain.. you would usually have problems like slowness... or somehting like that..

My daughter's head was so big when she was borned they measured it 3 times!!!! She was also 10lbs at birth. She's graduated from highschool this year at the top of her class and now she's studying Industrial engineering at Purdue. I guess she just needed room for that brain of hers. By the way she never crawled and didn't walk until she was 13 months old.

The whole reason pediatricians measure the head circumference is to detect fluid buildup on the brain. I would follow your doctor's advice. There most likely isn't anything wrong. I know it's hard to think of your little guy getting a CT scan, but can you imagine if there was something wrong and you didn't take the opportunity to find out early? I'd rather be safe than sorry.

My brother had a rather large head for his entire childhood. My mother described as being like a football. He was delayed in many things; crawling, walking, talking, etc. (When asked later about stuff like that his answer was always that he just didn't feel like doing it!) Two women my mother knew who were public school teachers actually thought he was retarded (this was back in the 1960s-70).
He "grew into" his head in his late teen's and is now 6'3" and a lawyer. If "larger" heads run in your family, like it does in mine, I wouldn't worry about it. Sometimes I think people forget that there is no such thing as "perfect proportions" and that they need to stop comparing others to the "norm."
Anyone else is your family have big heads? Talk to them. Since you haven't said otherwise, I'm sure they're just fine.
Best to you both.

Actually, a tell tale mark of successful movie actors is that they have larger than normal heads. They film well, for whatever reason. (That'll get ya thinkin' now won't it?).

IMHO, however, it's always better to err on the side of caution. Is there any harm whatsoever in seeing a ped neurologist or getting a scan? Nope. None at all. And in the unlikely event that there IS anything wrong, you've caught it early.

Often times wee ones will be put into a scanner in a dead sleep. Other times they'll be papoosed with a head brace. Other times they'll be sedated. It really depends on the doctor how they like to operate, however.

I personally have no qualms whatsoever about my son being restrained. I did it multiple times a day, every day, when we got into the car. Yes, he was often ticked the ENTIRE time we were in the car because he didn't like it. Versus being fully restrained (head, papoose, etc for dental or scanning), is 15 minutes out of his life. Versus every single day in the car. I can handle him being ticked.

Ironically, the few times it's been medically necessary to restrain him... he's done better than when he's been irked about his carseat. Kids.

My sister in law went through this too. The ped. wanted her son to be checked, but so many members of the family have bigger heads so they opted not to do anything. My nephew is now 5 and thriving in kindergarten, big head and all.

My advice is to look it up on line. I recently did a search on this for a friend who was told the same thing. From what I was able to turn up there were other symptoms to look for if it was a neuralogical problem-none of which my friends kid had. Mostly I found it was hereditary and also a measuring problem(have to measure at the exact same place) My friend's doc said that they were just going to watch it for a little while-and then it turned out fine.

Definitely get a second opinion before a cat scan. You don't want to expose your son to that much radiation if not necessary.

I'm the mom of a big-headed (but adorable!) little boy. When he was about 18 months they mis-measured his head by about a cm and sort of freaked out, but then remeasured and said not to worry! His head is like 97% and his weight and height are like 40%--so I'm sure everything will be fine! Also, my husband and I have small heads--go figure!

LIsten to your gut on this one. Since he seems to be in proportion to his head, there is most likely not an issue. I have seen lots of kids with large heads that are just fine.

I would say wait until his next appt at 15 months and see what he is measuring then. Remember you know every inch of your sons body and the dr only see him for maybe 15 minutes every couple of months.

Is his head off the chart for his length? My 2nd daughter's head would measure big enough that the doctor would come in and remeasure and get it just on the chart of "acceptable"... Kind of cracked me up. My nephew has a large head and a bit unusually shaped. So my sister finally took him for tests and everything was fine. Turns out my dad has a big head and so does she. You'd never know just looking at them though. My husband is 6'5" btw and always needed an special order helmet for sports etc. So I'd look at heredity and it also looks like you may just have a big kid. Unless his head is measuring really big for his size (not an absolute big but relative), I wouldn't worry. My nephew was much older than a year before they took him and his head really was noticeably big bc it's kind of flat in the back. But he was fine and my daughter is too. It's hard to ignore a pediatrician's advice so maybe you could get a second opinion. If they BOTH say test now versus wait, I guess you should. But your doctor now may be overly cautious.

I bet there is nothing wrong but need to make sure his skull is not fused. My friend was just telling me about her son that had this as a kid. I bet there is nothing wrong.

I'd say that is HIS normal.

My nephew had to go through all of that and it was miserable for him. The neurologist finally measured my ex sister in laws head after months of tests on my nephew and said, "Well, heck... It's hereditary!" My ex's whole family had large heads... But were proportionate.

My son's head 'measures' at the 80th percentile but it fits his body and he doesn't look abnormal by any means!

get a second opinion. i was a 10 pound baby and my mother,brother and myself have big heads- it just runs in our family. before you put your baby through the testing get a second opinion. you wouldn't want to go through all that for no reason. and if the 2nd doctor says his head is fine- then its tiebreaker time- ask a 3rd doctor. as far as an actual ct scan goes- your baby will be fine. the machines don't even touch them and some practices can sllightly sedate your baby. but i would definately do my homework.

I think your son is fine, but I would get a second doctor's opinion, too. And definitely see if there is an alternative to a CAT scan. CAT scans give 100x more radiation than a regular x-ray and should only be used if necessary. One dr wanted to give my daughter a CAT scan to check her sinuses. I saw another and we were able to see everything we needed with a simple in-office x-ray.

My kids both have big heads. One grew into his and the youngest still has (to my eyes anyway) quite a noggin. He was off the charts at birth and after that sat around 90th. Now that he is 5 and they don't check those %tiles anymore, I have no idea where he is in comparison.

But our ped never thought it was worrisome big. In fact, he just laughed off my questions and said, "There's a significant correlation between head size and IQ." My FIL has a big head and I figured that was the cause.

Meet with the ped neurologist. Most likely they will check him out and allay your fears without further intervention. If he does need a scan, do not worry. Read up on what it will be like to prepare him (and yourself...moms are always more worried than children). Also, ask the hosp/clinic if they have a children's advocate. We got assigned one when our oldest got stitches. He really didn't need her -- He was totally handling the situation. But it was interesting to watch how she interacted with him and with us. She explained what would happen at a level he could grasp. She showed him the tools the doc would be using and let him handle them, etc.

I would get a second opinion before getting a CAT scan. Although a CAT scan is fairly quick and has a lower risk of radiation than an MRI, but it can still be scary for a little one. Once you get a second opinion, if they still recommend the CAT scan see how long you can put it off. If he is a little older and understands what is going on he may think it's cool. My son had 1 this past summer and thought it was really cool, he was 9 then though.

As far as the big head, my son also had a big head and was in the 90th percentile. He was average weight at birth and quickly grew but was always in proportion, so if you son is in proportion I bet nothing is really wrong. I would also question why they are recommending a CAT scan, was the head measurement significantly different at this visit compared to the last visit? Did they do any other neuro exam tests? CAT scans can be expensive too.

Hope it works out, if he does get the scan I can tell you it's quick and painless, he just needs to lie still for a minute and then it's done.

my son also had a large head as a baby (80th percentile) My pedi had us go to the dell's children's center and get an ultrasound done of his head. It was very non-intrusive. They were also looking for fluid. Everything was fine. Most likely your son just has a big head:) I wonder if they can do a more simple procedure like the ultrasound and if they see something that is questionable, then take the cat scan route.

Good luck with everything:)

My large son has a large head, too (>95%). The only time my pedi got worried was when his percentages changed quite a bit from one visit to the next. He jumped up on his head circumference curve. From what I understand, when changes happen in the way a kid measures out, that's when it's time to start thinking about being concerned. At the next visit, he stayed on that same curve, so that was considered acceptable. His head wasn't growing uncontrollably. He, too, has been delayed in his milestones. We had him checked by therapists through Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) at a year old when he wasn't crawling yet. They felt like he was fine, just creating his own developmental curve. He's 19 months and hasn't started walking yet, but he's really close. I still may have him evaluated again by ECI just to be sure everything is ok. He seems to be appropriate in every other way, though.

Is there another pedi or PA or NP that you could see for a second opinion? Also, if you went to a pedi neurologist, he/she might just look at your son and say he's fine, no imaging needed. Hope that helps!