Neonatal Skull Overview 👶🦴

Key Structures

• Facial bones
  • Mandible, maxilla, nasal bone, nasal cavities
  • Orbital cavities (for the eyes)
• Cranial bones
  • Frontal bones (not yet fused into a single bone)
  • Temporal bones (left and right)
  • Parietal bones (large bones on the sides)
  • Occipital bone (back) with foramen magnum (spinal cord passage connecting to medulla oblongata)
  • Sphenoid region (partially visible)

Fontanelles (soft spots) — main neonatal feature 🟡

• Made of cartilaginous/membranous tissue (not ossified)
• Provide flexibility and allow brain growth
• Allow skull deformation during passage through birth canal

Named fontanelles

• Anterior fontanelle (large, top/front of skull)
• Posterior fontanelle (back of skull)
• Anterior lateral fontanelles (one on each side, front/side)
• Posterior lateral fontanelles (one on each side, back/side)

Functional significance

• Flexibility during birth (molding of the head)
• Permits rapid brain growth during first two years of life

Clinical notes (implicit)

• Fontanelles are palpable “soft spots” used in neonatal exams to assess hydration and intracranial pressure.
• Frontal bones fuse later in infancy/childhood (not fused at birth).