Fontanelles

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Fontanelles:

Fontanelles are the "soft spots" on an infant's head where the bony plates that make up the skull have not yet come together. It is normal for infants to have these "soft spots", which can be seen and felt on the top and back of the head. Fontanelles that are abnormally large may indicate a medical condition.

Reviewed last on: 11/14/2007
Deirdre O’Reilly, MD, MPH, Neonatologist, Division of Newborn Medicine, Children’s Hospital Boston and Instructor in Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.

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