A text-book on hygiene and pediatrics from a chiropractic standpoint

by J. H. Craven

HEAD

The occipito-frontal measurement of the child at birth is from 13.52 inches to 13.90 inches. The most rapid growth of the head takes place during the first year. With the average child this growth is about four inches. For the first few months the growth is about half an inch per month. During the second year the circumference of the head increases only about one inch and for the next three years, about one and one-half inches. From this time until puberty, about five years, it increases only about half an inch. The head develops so rapidly so early in life that it appears to be all out of proportion for the body.

Sutures

In syphilitic infants or in premature birth, the cranial bones may be distinctly separated. This condition does not, however, necessarily prove that either exists for often subluxations are produced at the time of birth and these prevent the normal expression of Innate Intelligence in bringing about the adaptative processes necessary to close the sutures. This is an abnormal condition and should receive careful consideration at the hands of the chiropractor. Normally the main sutures ossify at about the end of the sixth month, although there may be some mobility at the end of the ninth month. If after this the sutures have not entirely ossified the child should be carefully examined for subluxations.

Fontanels

Under normal conditions the anterior fontanels should be completely closed at the age of one and a half years. If at the end of two years they have not completely closed it is abnormal and indicates cretinism, rickets or hydrocephalus. In case of hydrocephalus the sutures will be distinctly separated and the head will be enlarged. This condition may also obtain in rickets. When the fontanels are slow in closing the child should be very carefully analyzed and an effort made to find symptoms of other conditions which might be responsible for this abnormality. Most excellent results have been obtained from chiropractic adjustments in these cases. It is quite as objectionable for the fontanels to close too soon as it is for them to be too slow in closing and it may be much more serious. There are many cases on record in which the fontanels have been closed when the child was born. A case of this kind is ordinarily beyond the reach of Chiropractic. The closure of the fontanels during the first few weeks, or even at the middle of the first year, indicates microcephalus.

Normally the anterior fontanels should be completely closed about the eighteenth month, although it may be as late as the twenty-second month. In rachitic children it may be as late as the third year. In cretinism the fontanels may become very large and sometimes do not close until the eighth year. In hydrocephalus also the fontanels become very large, the head develops rapidly to an enormous size and this results in the spreading of the sutures. If these cases receive adjustments early enough in life, excellent results are obtained.

The posterior fontanel is very much smaller than the anterior and closes about the second month, normally.

Shape

In most cases the head of the infant is more or less compressed during labor. In hard labor it may be so greatly compressed that it gives the appearance of being deformed, but this apparent deformity soon disappears, usually from the third to the fifth week. Healthy children and especially good natured ones are sometimes neglected and permitted to lie in one position for such a length of time that the head becomes misshapen. Usually in such cases the child is placed on his back. This results in the flattening of the back of the head. This, however, may be easily corrected by changing the position of the child occasionally. These variations should not be mistaken for actual deformities of the head.