4 mnth old baby - soft spot on head nearly closed but it's too early to close - anyone's baby had this problem?

Hi NinaSimone I 'think' we have had the same problem with DS (he is just about to turn 2) from what you are describing, it was "diagnosed" about the same time, and we had x-rays to check exactly what was going on. I came away from my visit with our paed completely clueless, not his fault at all, but mine because I had been so shocked/surprised - and he wasn't demonstrating any major concern, that I didn't ask any questions and just smiled and nodded... I did post the question on here at the time to see if others had experienced anything similar and I am afraid got no responses, but this was 20 months ago - so others may have experiences to share now. I hope this is useful, and not too confusing - but most importantly, don't panic (I googled - big mistake) there are varying degrees of severity, so I would definitely wait to hear the determination from your neurosurgeon prior to finding out too much, which can cause a bit of stress. Anyway (if it is the same thing) DS has (partially) prematurely fused skull - which means the plates that form the make up of the skull that are supposed to be fully fused by the time children are 3-4 (I think) began to fuse really early. In the case of our son his fontenelle (the hole you are describing) was almost completely shut at about 4.5 months, and the frontal two plates had fully fused closed - his back plates had not. So.... what does this mean?? By the time DS was 4 months - he had a slight ridge that ran up the centre of his forehead (the fused plates join is exaggerated) - this is how they can usually tell this has happened as it is visually apparent, coupled with the lack of spongey fontenelle to press. DS's head also measured a bit small (to be honest, not that it at all looked disproportionate at all to the rest of his body, but still small on the 'scale of averages'), so that while he sat in the 90th percentiles for every other scale, he was in the 10 - 15% for head size. Also if you took a 'birds eye view' on DS's head, his forehead had a slight triangular shape. All in all for DS, his case is very mild, and it just continues to get monitored at each paed visit with head measurements, I did start taking 'birds eye view' pictures of his head when we first found out, but to be honest stopped at about 10 - 12 months, because there wasn't too much of a difference, and the 'triangulation' wasn't becoming anymore prominant. He still has the ridge on his forehead, which people only notice if I point it out, and the only impact seems to be on the rare occasion when he bumps his head, because this ridge sits out probably 3-4mm from the rest of his forehead, the bruises seem to be in exactly the same place on the ridge. My paed has said that by the time he is 4ish, the ridge should naturally flatten out normally, but to be honest, if it didn't it certainly isn't something I am concerned about - and trust me, if I thought it made him look 'different' I would absolutely take the necessary measures to have this corrected. Now, I did a lot of research at the time, and I do think only time will tell over the coming months as to exactly what you are dealing with, unless it is determined that things are already fully fused, and intervention will be required. Absolute worse case scenario's would be a neurosurgeon needing to operate to put space between the plates to ensure the brain can grown correctly, without adding undue pressure on the skull. Alternatively, if intervention wasn't required for 'medical' reason's, cosmetically you may chose for your DS to have an operation to reduce the visual effect of the head being mis-shapen from the triangulation caused due to the plates fusing. Sooo.. again, I am not 100% if this is exactly what is happening with your DS, if so, honestly, try not to worry or panic at this point, regardless of the severity of the case, it is treatable - and also it is quite a common occurance for the skull to fuse prematurely (at least partially). If I have completely misunderstood your post, and this is not what is happening - apologies, but now you know more about prematurely fusing skulls!! Anyway, I hope this helps, and isn't too confusing!