Baby's Unusual Head Shape: Potential Signs of Craniosynostosis

Newborn babies typically have round heads. Some may develop a longer head shape due to vacuum-assisted delivery, but this usually adjusts over time based on sleeping positions. The head tends to flatten where it rests most, with other areas compensating.

Understanding Head Shape from Above

Imagine the baby's head as a quadrilateral box when viewed from the top. Postural changes often result in a parallelogram shape. For instance, if a baby sleeps on their left side, the left back of the head flattens, the left ear shifts forward, and the left forehead bulges, while the right side flattens and the right ear moves back.

Indicators of Early Cranial Suture Fusion

Certain features at birth might indicate changes from premature fusion of cranial sutures, known as craniosynostosis. These include:

• Uneven eye sizes, eyebrow heights, a tilted nasal base, and uneven forehead concavity or convexity.
• A prominently bulging forehead with deep concavities above the eyebrows on both sides, along with a long anterior-posterior head diameter that appears boat-shaped.
• Closely spaced eyes that seem crossed, paired with a sharply convex central forehead, making the head look triangular from above.
• One-sided flattening of the back of the head, with inconsistent ear and forehead positions compared to postural changes.
• A very flat head that becomes increasingly high at the top as the baby grows, maintaining a flat anterior-posterior diameter.

These traits often appear in craniosynostosis, though some cases involve partial fusion of multiple sutures, leading to varied changes.