Infant head circumference

Posted by pb23 @pb23, Aug 15, 2023

Hello,
I have a new born Boy and has been following up with the pediatrician since he is born. He was exactly 2 months on 8/14/23 when he had last follow up for routine vaccination and wellness check. Since his first visit his Head circumference has been changing and that concerns me as parent.
His head circumference was in following percentile on each visit:
1st - 6/14/23 - 35.81 percentile
2 nd - 6/16/23 - 45.38 percentile
3rd - 7/3/23 - 27.63 percentile
4th - 7/17/23 - 21.26 percentile
5th - 8/14/23 - 8.17 percentile.

As you can see it dropped quit down and close to 3 percentile after which it could be called as Microcephaly condition.

I do not see any developmental delay based on his age but still worried since it is dropping down slowly. My pediatrician seems to be ok and states that is normal but that drop in percentile seems to be drastic to me.
Anybody if you have any knowledge about this or share insight on this would be appreciated.

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Ingegerd Enscoe, Alumni Mentor | @astaingegerdm | Aug 16, 2023

@pb23
Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect!
First- Congratulations on your baby!
I definitely understand why you worry about the change in head circumference measurement.
It is not a normal change from one month to the next.
I have worked in Pediatrics and know that measurements are not always correct- depending on the experience of the person measuring. Babies are often squiggly on the exam table making it hard to get a good measurement- that’s why it’s a good idea to measure 2-3 times.
You definitely could ask your pediatrician to remeasure before next visit.