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Functional Fontanels

Two Pediatricians Examine the Ins and Outs of Soft Spots

By Renee Roberson

For something so small, it can look so intimidating. Your new baby's soft spot, or fontanel, is delicate, and you may be afraid that touching it too hard or bumping against it will send you to the emergency room with a wailing newborn. But what are fontanels, exactly?

A bit of trivia first: The word "fontanel" is derived from the Latin term "fonticulus," and the Old French word "fontaine," meaning "little fountain or spring."

According to the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health, a newborn's skull is made up of six separate cranial bones that are held together by strong, fibrous tissues. The spaces between the bones are called soft spots, or fontanels.

Checking your baby's soft spots is a key way that doctors and nurses follow an infant's growth and development. During checkups, doctors are able to assess the pressure inside the brain by feeling the tension of the fontanels, which should feel flat and firm.

To answer all other questions related to soft spots, two pediatricians, Dr. Jennifer Shu and Dr. Laura Jana, co-authors of Heading Home with Your Newborn: From Birth to Reality (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2005), fill in the gaps, so to speak.

"A soft spot is an area on the baby's head where the skull bones don't quite meet," Dr. Shu says. "There are two spot – one on the front (anterior) and another on the back (posterior) of a baby's head."

"They allow the skull to squeeze slightly during delivery," Dr. Shu says. "Because the bones of the skull do not fuse right away the open spaces are called sutures; the larger spots are called fontanels. These spots also leave room for the brain to grow as a baby gets bigger."

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