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Baby’s First Year: What Every New Parent Needs to Know: 63 total pages.

down. Your doctor may use a tape measure, much like you use at home, or may utilize a special "baby-measuring device", which consists of a headboard and movable footboard to obtain the most accurate results possible. Head circumference: This measurement will be taken in almost the same way you did at home. The doctor will take the measurement at the point where the head is at its largest circumference, right above the ears and around to the back of the head where the neck meets the cranium. Usually the pediatrician will record this measurement to the nearest 0.3 cm (1/8th of an inch). The head is different from other parts of the body in that the brain is not fully formed at the time of birth and therefore the head will continue to grow during baby's first year. Baby's head is a particular point of concern for the doctor because a head that is growing too rapidly can be a sign of hydrocephalus (water on the brain) and a head that is growing too slowly can be indicative of nutritional or developmental problems. Regardless, you shouldn't

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