Fontanelle

Imagine your head is like a puzzle made of big bone pieces. A baby's head is a bit like that too, but some of the puzzle pieces aren't quite stuck together yet! These wiggly spaces are called fontanelles, or soft spots.

They are covered by a tough, leathery skin, not just squishy jelly. These spots are super important for brand new babies, helping their heads do some amazing things right from the start.

When a baby is born, their head needs to be a little bit squishy to fit through their mom's body. The fontanelles let the baby's skull bones slide over each other, like overlapping roof tiles. This makes the head a bit smaller and more flexible.

Once the baby is born, these soft spots are also important because a baby's brain grows super fast, much faster than the bones can grow. The fontanelles give the growing brain room to expand!

These fontanelles are like secret superpowers for babies. They help during birth by letting the head change shape just enough to make it out safely. After birth, they are like little windows that let doctors gently feel a baby's head and check if everything is okay.

As the baby grows, these soft spots slowly close up, usually by the time they are about two years old, and the skull becomes one solid piece.

There are actually two main soft spots on a baby's head. The biggest one is at the very front, shaped like a diamond. It's called the anterior fontanelle. The smaller one is at the back, shaped more like a triangle, called the posterior fontanelle. The big one usually closes first, and the smaller one closes a little later. They are both vital for a baby's healthy development.