Pediatric Pearls: Infant's Head - Bumps, Lumps and Soft Spots

March 27, 2023

The newborn skull is comprised of 5 major bones:

• Frontal (2)

• Parietal (2)

• Occipital (1)

At birth, the bones of the skull are not fused which allows the head to mold and the brain to grow. Sutures form at the junction of bones. Sutures can be narrow, open, or prematurely fused (a condition called craniosynostosis). The diagram below shows the bones and sutur…