Springs are areas at the joints of the cranial bones, covered with elastic shells instead of bone tissue. Thanks to them, the head of the baby is plastic and during labor can adapt to the bends of the pelvis. There are 6 total springs, but in full-term babies, by the time of birth, only 1, as a rule, remains open, in the area of temech.
Normally, its size is from 0.5 to 3 cm, and the shape resembles a rhombus. After birth, it helps the baby to adapt to the external environment: maintain body temperature, regulate fluctuations in intracranial pressure.
The big spring grows gradually and finally closes between 6 and 18 months. When exactly this happens depends on the personal characteristics of the baby.
Although too slow or, conversely, the rapid overgrowth of the spring is a sign of the disease, but not alone, but along with other symptoms. So, most often, “dent” is slowly delayed due to rickets, but this problem is also manifested in babies with restless sleep, sweating, and appearance of bald patch on the back of the head.
It happens that the spring disappears in the first six months of the baby’s life – the reason for this is a violation of the exchange of calcium and phosphorus in the body. Sometimes mothers are worried that after overgrowing the fontanelle the child’s head will stop growing – of course, this is not so, because it gradually increases in all growth zones running along the sutures of the skull.
Moms should not be afraid that by touching a spring with a hand or a comb, they will touch the brain of a child. Although, of course, much pressure on him is not worth it.
In appearance, the fontanel can assess the condition of the baby:
Normally, he should neither bulge nor sink down; touching his fingers, it is easy to feel the pulsation.
It is worth contacting a doctor if the spring becomes hard to touch, the pulsation is not felt inside, it swells or falls, and the baby is worried or, conversely, looks sluggish (normally the spring can swell out when the baby cries, but then quickly takes the former form).
When the spring draws in, it may indicate severe dehydration of the child. In this case, the baby should be urgently watered with water, and better – with a glucose-saline solution (for example, Rehydron, Orion) and as soon as possible show the doctor.
