6 month stats - yes, I am a worry wart.
epphd
member
Sam is doing great - almost 27 inches in length and almost 16 pounds. So he is still in the 20th percentile for weight and 65-70th for length. What changed is his head circumference. From 2 to 4 to 6 months it has gone from 35th-50th-80th percentile. The doc said it was fine but that if it was in the 95th percentile or something it might be worrisome.
So what did I do when I got to work? googled. DUMB.
First thing that comes up when you google "increased head circumference"?
Autism.
ARGH.
So tell me I'm being ridiculous.
TBH, I am uncertain the measurements were right. I am pretty confident Sam is more like 27-27.5 inches in length, and I can't be positive the head measurement was more accurate. And even a cm difference would put him back in the 50th percentile.
Still. That's going to bug me until his 9 month.
dammit.
I am a runner, knitter, scientist, DE-IVF veteran, and stage III colon cancer survivor.
Re: 6 month stats - yes, I am a worry wart.
A) No Google.
So, maybe Sam's nurse just had a bad measurement day.
Our Thanksgiving Day baby 11/22/07
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Hmm, I'll have to look in his baby book. DS was small in the beginning but quickly went to the 85% in weight nad height. the weight just recently dropped off as he is more active.
But his head circumference did a huge jump kinda like yours....
I never worried about it. I am pretty sure it went from the less than 50% to 85% or something like that and when he was born it may have been in the 15%.
Yea, you can be sure I will be measuring it myself at home to verify! He's so squirmy now that it easily could have been off, and like I said - 45cm is 80th percentile and 44cm is 50th. So the measurements require a great deal of accuracy.
I am a runner, knitter, scientist, DE-IVF veteran, and stage III colon cancer survivor.
Katie has a pretty big head and her head percentiles have definitely gone up since birth. I am pretty sure she was around 50% at birth but since then she has been closer to 80%. I also think it is likely that the measurements are off. I know Katie struggles a bit when they measure her and just a cm makes a huge difference. I would not stress over it.
I also have to add- he is just so cute!!!!!
You are being ridiculous.
But I totally understand the paranoia. It must be ingrained in all of us. Nate went from 90% to 75% for weight between his 2 and 4 month appointments. I didn't freak out, but of course, it made me worry. Am I feeding him enough? Is he starving and I don't know it? And on and on...
Anyways, you seriously have nothing to worry about. He's growing, happy, healthy, and thriving. A growing noggin just means he is getting smarter.
Nate has had a huge head from birth (always 90-95%). Just be glad he had a smaller head at birth and you didn't have to push something like that out!
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Married 8.13.2005, M/C 12/8/06- 5 weeks, M/C 2/27/07- 7 weeks, M/C w/ D&C 8/10/09-6.5 weeks *Charles Lawrence born 5/2/08 @ 3:14am, 7lb 8oz, 20.5 inches. Clomid, Crinone and baby aspirin. *Alexandra Claire born 9/14/10 @ 9:52am 6lb 14oz, 20.5 inches. Femara, Crinone and baby aspirin.
I just had this scare! doctor was concerned that the head was increasing to quickly- when we went back yesterday everything was fine- our pedi said it could have been a mismeasurment by the nurse.
Don't sweat it! I am surprised your pedi sees you every 3 months, we go every month for a visit. Maybe call and have your pedi see you next month just to calm your nerves.
***Twin fraternal girls born at 35w6d in 12/2008***
Don't worry. The last 2 appts the dr has had to remeasure DS's head because the first measurement actually showed it had shrunk! I think it's really hard to get an accurate measurement, really depends on the person doing the measuring.
Even if the measurements are accurate-- a big head does not = autism. I also worried about this because I do worry about autism with DS (but it's based on other behaviors-- he doesn't have a big head, Nevertheless, I was anxiously awaiting his appts between 6 mos and a year to see if, in addition to the other things I worried about, his head growth would jump.). In my research I found that something like 6% of kids start out with small heads and then have a jump to big heads. That sounds like a small number, but if you consider that even the most pessimistic stats on autism say it occurs in 1/150, that's a .06% chance of child having autism. So, it's way, way more likely that a kid that has major head growth just had a big head, not autism.