16 MONTH OLD SON WITH VERY LARGE HEAD

My son is 16 months old we recently moved to a new town and he just seen his new peditrican, she said his weight 29lbs and height are good but his head is to big 21.5". she wants to do a bunch of test on him does anyone else have a child with a large head? are they ok?

[Ashelen]

my daughter's head is large, but not huge....what matters is not so much how big the head is, but whether it's been growing steadily or getting bigger all of a sudden.

if the head goes from normal to large in a short amount of time, it can indicate hydrocephalus, which needs treatment. however if your son was born with a large head that has been growing steadily since birth it's usually not a problem...some people just have bigger heads :).

they'll compare the measurements to all of his previous measurements and determine if he needs further tests to look for hydrocephalus. i had a friend who had it and she had to have a shunt inserted from her brain to her stomach to drain excess fluid, but other than that she was perfectly normal :).

[blueeyedtabbycat]

Hi! I agree 100% with what Ashelen said. Has he always measured large??? I have 4 kids and they ALL have large heads, lol! Every single one measures above the 95%. With my 3rd son the doctors saw a jump in the size from the 80% to the 97% and made a huge fuss. BTW, he was the only one with a "normal" size head at birth! I had to see a plastic surgeon. No clue why (still, lol). But they basicly told me he was fine.
If your son's head was average size and then just grew large over night I would worry alittle, but just having a large head doesnt mean there is a problem. Good luck!

[eyansmommy]

see thats the problem the doctor he use to see never messured his head nor did the health department for his well baby check ups

[Ashelen]

they should have a record of his head measurement at birth, which will give you a good idea of where he started out...I would look at the hospital records.

[eyansmommy]

His head was at 13" at birth he was 18.5" and hes weighed 7lbs 12oz

[Ashelen]

did they ever mention before that he had a large head? make sure and bring those measurements to your pediatrician, it will help him determine if your son just has a big noggin or if it's something to worry about :). i don't remember what my daughter was at birth, but it was big!