Re: Kendall's ortho appt. - fontanels

September 8, 2001

> What makes you say the fontanelles are closed? Was there an X-ray

or CT scan? Usually this is an indication of craniosynostosis. I

encourage you to ask your orthotist/neurosurgeon to explain what s/he

means by this statement. If there is any uncertainty, and there were

no scans done, I would suggest taking that next step.

> Kendra

Kendra, this was determined by her ped., but not by X-ray, just by

feel, so I'm guessing it may not be COMPLETELY closed, but very

close. Typically, the posterior fontanel closes around 3 months and

the anterior one begins closing around 9 months and most babies are

completely closed by 18 months. When her ped. said it was closed I,

of course, FREAKED OUT thinking cranio. Still no x-rays have been

done, but I have asked her ped,. her craniofacial specialist, and her

ortho. about it and they all say that closed at 9 months is early,

but on the early side of normal (anywhere between 9-18 mo. is

considered normal). And, they all say that the soft spot being

closed does not mean that the sutures are closed. Of course, as I am

sure it does with most plagio moms, the cranio thought lurks in the

back of my mind, and this didn't help. No one we have seen so far

thinks she has cranio, but of course they didn't do any tests. I'll

be sure to push the subject again at her ortho appt. next week and

her next craniofacial appt. Thanks for giving ME a little push.

Debbie

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