Question

The nurse palpates the anterior fontanel of a newborn and notes that it feels soft. what does this datum indicate to the nurse?

Answer 1

The anterior fontanel is a diamond-shaped area where the frontal and parietal bones meet. It closes between 12 and 18 months of age. Vigorous crying may cause the fontanel to bulge, which is a normal finding. A nurse is performing an assessment on a postterm infant.

What is anterior fontanel?

• This is the junction where the 2 frontal and 2 parietal bones meet. The anterior fontanelle stays soft until about 18 months to 2 years of age. Doctors can consider if there is increased intracranial pressure by touching the anterior fontanelle.

• The fontanel can broaden in the first few months of life,18 and the median age of closure is 13.8 months. By three months of age, the anterior fontanel is secured in 1 percent of infants; by 12 months, it is closed in 38 percent; and by 24 months, it is closed in 96 percent.

• The fontanelle allows the skull to distort during birth to facilitate its passage through the birth canal and for expansion of the brain after birth. Skull at birth, showing frontal and occipital fonticuli. The anterior fontanelle normally closes between the periods of 12 and 18 months.

To learn more about anterior fontanel, refer to:

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