An Update on the Huge Head Incident of '09

re: An Update on the Huge Head Incident of '09

Erica — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:17:59 GMT

Remember Ed Big Head from Rocko's Modern Life? How about Zippy the Pinhead? If you have any artistic talent you could draw a cartoon called "Baby Big Head" that lampoons conformity and bourguoise values.

re: An Update on the Huge Head Incident of '09

jessica — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 21:39:01 GMT

yay for Archer! Thanks for the update. Your family is beautiful.

re: An Update on the Huge Head Incident of '09

GirlsGoneChild — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 04:10:29 GMT

Hey, Jessica! No worries! Yeah - I'm pretty sure I wrote about it but maybe on GGC? Archer tested fine for everything except speech about 1.5 years ago. He was diagnosed with "speech delay" and has since caught up like crazy. We were told he could even start Kindergarten early which is crazy coming from a child who was at the speech level of a 1.5 year old on his 3rd Birthday. He was just on his own time. As I suspected. :)

re: An Update on the Huge Head Incident of '09

jessica — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 19:13:02 GMT

i have to agree with the ladies of the "downer" stories and with you as well. there is a "norm" for a reason. because it is normal for children to do certain things at certain times. it just is. BUT...i think that we need to keep in mind that yes, average does mean middle. there is a wide range spectrum of normal and children may be at the low end, high end or right in the middle but being on that spectrum is a sign that things are okay. it's when they are given the leeway and start slipping past the low end and fall off the "chart" that there is cause for concern and then there is a need for further testing.

I am a preschool teacher and have kids come to me at age 3 who are obviously special needs and no one has noticed. they chalk it up to being unique when that's not the case. if their doctor had paid a little more attention to the charts and the ranges of normalcy then perhaps they could've gotten help earlier.

I have to vote for better safe than sorry on this one.

ooh and while you're updating...can you update Archer's status as being on the spectrum? you had mentioned all the testing and therapy and then wrote about how he's on the spectrum in some capacity (pretty sure that's what i read- if i'm wrong i apologize- don't hate me!!) Do you still think he's on or has he tested off...whatever happened with that?(if you wrote about it i apologize-again-maybe i just missed it)

re: An Update on the Huge Head Incident of '09

Heather, Mom to Jack and Collette — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 03:42:00 GMT

Hey Rebecca,

Jack had a gigantic head, and they scheduled an ultrasound for him at the Kaiser in Anaheim. Turns out he comes from a family of giant headed people. My birthfather can't even wear a normal baseball cap! He was fine and he's grown into his head nicely. As for his early intervention, he has tested out of his pre-school (yay!) so I'm putting him into half-days until kindergarten. He was just a late talker as well.

I'm off to your neck of the woods tonight! My girlfriend convinced me we should tromp off to Hollywood to see Rocky Horror. Midnight show. Not sure if we'll be dressing or not. I've never been and fear I'm too old for this these days! (We'll see in the morning!)

Heather!

P.S. Does your Fable have red hair? Have I asked that before? La! Have a wonderful night!

re: An Update on the Huge Head Incident of '09

s.a. — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 21:41:33 GMT

They worry about head size because if it is disproportionately large (which Fable's clearly is not) it may be indicative of hydrocephalus (accumulation of water in the the brain space), which at Fable's age generally doesn't cause any symptoms, but can be very serious down the line. I was an ENORMOUS baby with a giant head- I still have a giant head (have never been able to find an off the rack hat that fits, ever) but am 5'2" and Asian american. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, 'charts'!

re: An Update on the Huge Head Incident of '09

JJ Keith — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 05:52:59 GMT

My babe is still only 4mo so the only 'rankings" we get are for height and weight (she's small), but one of my aims as a parent is to not give a rat's about her developmental pace. In good time she will become who she is and the best I can do is practice a parent's version of AA: accept the things I can't push, push what I can, and wisdom to know the difference. Amen and pass the wine!

re: An Update on the Huge Head Incident of '09

Jennifer — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 14:49:00 GMT

My son's head was also deemed "a little to large on average." We did end up getting an scan done (he was older than your cutie-pie) and everything was fine. I know my instincts told me everything was fine, but you worry. You know?

re: An Update on the Huge Head Incident of '09

Baby in Broad — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 04:02:53 GMT

This is what I hate about statistics: I feel like we hear them ALL the time, and they rarely do us any good.

I mean, how is it helpful for me to know that Westley is in the 50th percentile for height--for two-year-olds (he's 18 months). To me, framing it that way says, "He's freakishly large," not "Your son is tall." It bothers me that my head is filled up with statistics--"1 in 3 children will this, 68% of mothers will that"--that I don't really need because they're kind of meaningless in the long run.

I'm all for checking to be sure things are all right, but putting so much weight on charts and graphs and average numbers sucks.

re: An Update on the Huge Head Incident of '09

saba rashleigh — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 20:37:12 GMT

Look at those rolls on the last picture! She is scrumptious and perfect!

re: An Update on the Huge Head Incident of '09

charlotte — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 19:22:17 GMT

Little Miss Kickboxer's in the 75th percentile for height and weight, and in the 30th or so for head circumference, which had me panic the other day and google the crap out of "small head" "microcephaly" and the like. Not a good idea.

Averages etc. suck. I'm with you.

re: An Update on the Huge Head Incident of '09

Cosmos — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:48:51 GMT

My niece was ginormous at birth (more than 9 lbs, with like a 15 cm head or something. ow). She was ginormous as a toddler, as in, she looked like a 4 year old at 2 and was the same size as her sister who was 22 months older than she. Nine years later she's still pretty tall (but her dad's Dutch) but incredibly "normal" sized. Incredibly smart too. Big head = big brain :)

re: An Update on the Huge Head Incident of '09

Buffy — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:46:41 GMT

I have to know where you get all the leg warmers Fable wears....they are awesome!!! and of course Fable is adorable as always...and who cares if anyone thinks she may be "abnormal"

re: An Update on the Huge Head Incident of '09

Lauren From Texas — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 13:18:08 GMT

I love her name! Luella is so adorable. And I also love her clothes! You're a cool mom. :)

re: An Update on the Huge Head Incident of '09

wantbitty! — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 03:46:57 GMT

You don't strike me as the kind of person who does everything on the predictable, "normal" path. Why would you expect that from your offspring? Development schedules are a guide, try not to stress! Resist the urge to compare with other people's kids too, a waste of energy. Someone has to be in the highest or lowest percentile of a category, everyone can't be safe in the middle. Your babes will likely color outside of the lines, think outside the box and take the road less travelled too. Rebels.

re: An Update on the Huge Head Incident of '09

Expat Mom — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:07:14 GMT

The first time I took Dorian to a doctor, at 3 weeks old, she freaked out and said, "Your kid is WAY too thin, you aren´t feeding him right, he´s going to have to go back to the hospital." She pointed out his super scrawny legs with the flappy skin as a sign of malnutrition. I should mention he´d been in the hospital for the first 2 weeks of his life for a birth defect that required surgery, so he´d been on an IV the entire time. So that left one week for me to totally screw my kid up by not feeding him right.

Then she put him on the scale and he weighed 9 lbs. And she ate her words because apparently? My kid is just long. To this day he´s skinny as all get out, but he´s healthy and strong, so we´re good.

As for milestones, Dorian started talking at 4 months, but didn´t crawl until 11 and walked at 15. I was about to give birth to his brother by the time he decided that walking might be a good skill to learn! And the second? He came out walking, practically! But he didn´t start talking until recently. Dorian has babbled nonstop since infancy, but his physical skills are just about on par with his brother´s, who is 16 months younger, and Dante is the opposite, ahead in physical stuff and behind in words. I figure it just means they won´t be competing with each other in the same arenas. :)

re: An Update on the Huge Head Incident of '09

Dari — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 21:52:22 GMT

My Lola has always been off the charts as well. Its to be expected with 2 above-average height parents. I love that she is tall and different and lazy... aka not crawling at 9 months. I don't have to chase her around and it means she still needs me that much more. ;) She was the same weight as Fable at 8 months and I'm sure she'll be at least 24 lbs at her 9 month check up tomorrow. To each child, their own. I am not going to let anyone get me worked up over what she can and can't do!

re: An Update on the Huge Head Incident of '09

Courtney — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 21:31:11 GMT

I just got back from spending a weekend camping with my 14 month old and another couple with a 12 month old. Our boy is practically running now, his walking is getting so strong, and he's into everything, but he hasn't really shown much sign of talking. He says mama, dada, and now hi, but that's really it. Their girl, on the other hand, isn't even crawling yet, but she can name half a dozen animal sounds, waves hello and goodbye, points out flowers and birds.

Our boy eats like a champ, but only purees or bread products. Any other solid gets spit out immediately, followed by a look of pure disdain. Their girl, on the other hand, doesn't really have much interest in eating, but happily accepts just about anything you put in front of her when she is eating.

Sadly, I think that both sets of parents spent a good portion of the weekend wondering why their kid didn't do all the wonderful things the other kid was doing. I'm betting that a year or two from now, both kids will be walking and talking just fine, and we'll have mostly forgotten who did what first.

It's too bad that we spend so much time worrying about how our kids are developing. I agree that it's important to keep an eye out for potential problems, and it can be hard to tell what's a warning sign and what's just harmless variation, but parents are just under too much stress.

re: An Update on the Huge Head Incident of '09

Marie-Eve — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:12:48 GMT

Right!

re: An Update on the Huge Head Incident of '09

eva — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 05:55:42 GMT

My daughter is 17.5 months old. She is 19.5 pounds. She wears 12/18 month clothing. 5th percentile baby! Except for her head. That's sitting squarely at 50th percentile. So what does this mean? NOTHING. She's perfect just like Fable. We are so lucky that there is such a wide wide spectrum of "normal" and that there has been nothing seriously wrong with our girls. My heart goes out to those mommas who had totally different outcomes for their large/small babies, and hearing those stories just makes me thankful instead of irritated whenever some random stranger feels it necessary to comment on my daughter's size.

re: An Update on the Huge Head Incident of '09

KGuyader — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 05:55:26 GMT

Oh the old "Off the Charts" categorization - we know it well. Our now 4 year old daughter was and still is a big girl. At 7 months she was 23 pounds too - and at a year, she tipped the scales at 29lbs! Super tall too and she still is - easily almost a full head above most of her preschool classmates. AND - she never crawled. Walked at 14 months, never "traditionally" babbled and didn't start talking, really talking until after her 3rd bday (turned out to have Childhood Apraxia of Speech). Even in the midst of all of our pit in our stomach worry, EEG's, MRI's (to rule out serious reasons for the speech delay) she was the sweetest, most social little girl. She didn't let it slow her down for a second. She is AWESOME and perfect in our eyes. Now she doesn't stop talking, is still a tall, solid little lady, perfectly proportioned weighing in at about 53 lbs.

Our newest baby girl just weighed in at 20 lbs and is nearly 7 months.

In my opinion - just more to love! Cheers to thriving, happy, healthy babies : )

re: An Update on the Huge Head Incident of '09

samantha jo campen — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 02:05:35 GMT

Right on lady.

I'm glad everything is okay. I wrote before that Theo got tested for the big melon and everything was all good. He didn't crawl until right before his 1st birthday and only just started walking at 15 months. People were all "OH! He's not WALKING yet?" and then give me the long pause. No he's not. He's huge. YOU try bipping around with 30 pounds of kid--not so easy when learning a new skill eh?

So pshaw. I'm glad Fable and Archer are so beyond perfect. All kids should be measured up against THEM :-)

re: An Update on the Huge Head Incident of '09

Jill — Sun, 31 May 2009 18:01:58 GMT

There's a reason those measurements and milestones are called "average." Because some kids are below the curve and others are above it. It's easy to forget that though, when it's your kid being judged as "not average." It's all a matter of persepective, though. I like to think my two off-the-charts big-headed boys just need more room for all their brains!!

re: An Update on the Huge Head Incident of '09

eringremlin — Sun, 31 May 2009 17:31:38 GMT

My Beef is also "off the charts" but what the eff does that mean when every third mom you talk to says the same thing. Maybe they should redo these charts, cause umm... big babies abound.

re: An Update on the Huge Head Incident of '09

Raeann — Sun, 31 May 2009 16:22:20 GMT

To answer your primary question about baby heads and "what would have happened if it wasn't? Tests? Cat-scans? Helmets? Me being worried for (most likely) no reason?' That's what happened to Heather with Leta over at dooce.com I was unable to find the entry, but tests, cat scans, and outrageous health insurance issues is exactly what it lead to.

Usually I am not one to say, "You're the mom, you know best!" but in cases where we're talking about whether your child is "normal" or not, you're probably a better judge than your pediatrician. Doctors know a lot about medicine and the benefits of vaccination and so forth, but you spend all day observing your child engaging with the world, you strike me as a realistic and sane woman-- you probably would have picked up on a legit developmental disorder.