Learn About Newborn Head Molding
The bones of a newborn baby's skull are soft and flexible, with gaps between the plates of bone.
The spaces between the bony plates of the skull are called cranial sutures. The front (anterior) and back (posterior) fontanelles are 2 gaps that are particularly large. These are the soft spots you can feel when you touch the top of your baby's head.
When a baby is born in a head-first position, pressure on the head in the birth canal may mold the head into an oblong shape. These spaces between the bones allow the baby's head to change shape. Depending on the amount and length of pressure, the skull bones may even overlap.
These spaces also allow the brain to grow inside the skull bones. They will close as the brain reaches its full size.
Fluid may also collect in the baby's scalp (caput succedaneum), or blood may collect beneath the scalp (cephalohematoma). This may further distort the shape and appearance of the baby's head. Fluid and blood collection in and around the scalp is common during delivery. It will most often go away in a few days.
If your baby is born breech (buttocks or feet first) or by cesarean delivery (C-section), the head is most often round. Severe abnormalities in head size are not related to molding.
Related topics include:
- Craniosynostosis
- Macrocephaly (abnormally large head size)
- Microcephaly (abnormally small head size)
Newborn head molding is an abnormal head shape that results from pressure on the baby's head during childbirth.
Newborn cranial deformation; Molding of the newborn's head; Neonatal care - head molding
Jeffrey Hammoudeh is a Plastic Surgeon and a Pediatrics provider in Los Angeles, California. Dr. Hammoudeh is rated as an Elite provider by MediFind in the treatment of Newborn Head Molding. His top areas of expertise are Newborn Head Molding, Pierre Robin Sequence, Micrognathia, Osteotomy, and Myringotomy.
Desert Sky Osteopathy
Megan Sofka is a Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine provider in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her top areas of expertise are Chronic Pain, Neuralgia, Coccydynia, and Painful Menstrual Periods.
Henry Ford Health System
Lamont Jones is an Otolaryngologist in West Bloomfield, Michigan. Dr. Jones is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Newborn Head Molding. His top areas of expertise are Infant Hearing Loss, Newborn Head Molding, DFNB1, Septoplasty, and Gastrostomy. Dr. Jones is currently accepting new patients.
Summary: Orofacial clefts are the second most common birth deformity and vary in etiology and phenotype, e.g. isolated cleft palate, cleft lip or cleft lip palate. Especially newborns with unilateral complete cleft lip and palate (UCLP) present severe facial asymmetries auch as a broad and flat ala of the nose, a deviation of the columella and the philtrum to the non cleft side. Since postnatal asymmetries...
Published Date: November 06, 2023
Published By: Neil K. Kaneshiro, MD, MHA, Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA. Also reviewed by David C. Dugdale, MD, Medical Director, Brenda Conaway, Editorial Director, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team.
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Fulton GK, Blessing MS, Evans KN. Craniofacial conditions. In: Gleason CA, Sawyer T, eds. Avery's Diseases of the Newborn. 11th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2024:chap 88.
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Lissauer T, Hansen A. Physical examination of the newborn. In: Martin RJ, Fanaroff AA, Walsh MC, eds. Fanaroff and Martin's Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine. 11th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2020:chap 28.