# Does your baby's father have a big head?



## VeganC (Dec 2, 2006)

Not in the egotistical way, but in size. My DH's head is huge. He can never find a hat that fits him right. This makes me really scared that the baby will have his head and I'll either tear really badly or have to have a c-section, both of which I really, really want to avoid.
If your baby's father has a big head (or you, yourself), did your baby end up having a big head as well? Did that cause any complications during birth?


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## MsElle07 (Jul 14, 2006)

My DH DOES have a big head.









I had two big babies with large heads and one baby with an average size head. Couple of thoughts:
#1: the cranial bones are moveable, so they can mold to the shape of your pelvis and fit out more easily.
#2: Women don't grow babies they can't birth. Your body knows how to get the baby out. If you stay active during the birth, and stay off your tailbone as much as possible, your pelvis will almost act as if it's hinged in order to accommodate the descending baby.
#3: If you only push when you absolutely have to, and not when you're 10cms or when someone tells you to, you'll be much less likely to tear. Mother directed pushing results in less perineal damage.
#4: If you birth outside the hospital, you'll have fewer interventions that would lead to an epidural, forceps, or vacuum, all of which can increase pelvic floor damage.
#5: If you labor and/or birth in the water, it helps the tissue stretch and maintain its integrity.
#6: Tears are nature's way of making a little extra room for the baby. Most don't require stitching and heal very nicely with few complications.
#7: Don't spend your time worrying about something you can't control. Trust that nature knows what it's doing.
#8: At my most recent birth a month ago, I had a 10lb baby with a large head, and had no tearing at all. I felt some soreness, more like the kind you would have from riding a horse, and that was completely gone inside of a week.

Take care! You can birth the baby you're carrying.


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## ~*max*~ (Dec 23, 2002)

Yup, dh has a very large head - and so did all the kids. So big that newborn & baby hats never fit them. But the head size did not interfere w/birthing. Try not to worry mama. This is one of those things completely out of your control. Enjoy your pregnancy.


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## hottmama (Dec 27, 2004)

My partner has a HUGE head. No hats will fit him. I am a small woman-- a size 2, 120 lbs., and my baby was born unassisted at home, 9 lbs. with a big fat head and I didn't have any trouble birthing him and I didn't tear. His head was a little squished but that's supposed to happen! Your body is made to birth your baby. My oldest son had a big head, too, although he has a different (smaller head) father and was only 8.3 lbs. It really isn't a big deal!


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## VeganC (Dec 2, 2006)

Thank you for the reassurance. It makes me feel better!


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## teeny_bean (Jul 27, 2006)

No, his head is normal, but mine is several inches larger than average. My brother's head is also gigantic -- it's either 26" or 27" around, I forget which.

My baby's head was a nice average size (14"), which, incidentally, was also the size of my brother's head at birth. So obviously, genetics for a large adult head don't necessarily translate into a huge baby noggin. And, like the previous posters said, baby heads are amazingly squishy, and mold to the shape of the birth canal. It's very rare that a woman will grow a baby she truly can't birth, and even then, that's generally because of a pelvic deformity or injury, or because of something like wildly out of control blood sugar issues leading to a truly massive baby.

You'll most likely be fine.


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## Diprincess (Jan 5, 2006)

My husband does have a pretty big head, and I have 2 boys with pretty big heads. My first was 15" when he was born; my second was 14.5" when he was born. My first was born in the hospital with and epidural through almost my entire labor (3 hours of pushing), my second was born naturally in a birthing center (less than 20 minutes of pushing). With my first they had to cut me 3 "phases" (I think that's what they called it....they said it was 3 out of 4). My second, I barely tore at all, and it healed much faster than my first did. I agree with what MsElle07 said in her post. You're going to do great!


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## umami_mommy (May 2, 2004)

dh has a big head.

ds' head was 14 inches (i know that's big but i didn't even tear, just a skidmark) dd's head was 12 inches, i didn't tear wirh her either even though she was born after 40 intense minutes of hard labor.

i'm sure you'll be fine, just get regular chiropractic adjustments while pregnant (to keep your pelvis aligned correctly) and have someone support your perenium while birthing. (or support and warm compresses if you aren't in the water)

it's not the head, it's the shoulders that can get stuck.


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## MamaJenese (Aug 14, 2006)

When my aunt weent in for an ultrasound with her first pregnancy the tech asked her, Does your husband have an unusually large head?! The babys head was so big he wanted to rule out a problem! My uncle does have an giant head! She delivered both her boiys vaginally no drugs! We get a big kick out of the story in my family. Other than hearing your child may be ill we figure Does your husband have an unusually big head is one of the top ten things you do not want to hear at an ultrasound!


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## witchbaby (Apr 17, 2003)

yup! he wears an extra large motorcycle helmet where i wear an extra small! our kids heads were both around 13.5 inches and i only tore the tiniest bit with m (k was a c/s).


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## zinemama (Feb 2, 2002)

Dh has a huge head. Both my babies had regular-sized heads at birth. It's pretty clear now that my 4yo has inherited his dad's big head and my 7yo has my size-small noggin. But it's taken years for this to be apparent.

Don't worry about it.


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## Kayaking Mama (Feb 15, 2006)

Yup, DH has a huge, custom-hat-size head, and I worried about it all thru the pregnancy. DS also has a pretty big head, and I did tear in 3 places--needed 6 stitches. It wasn't as bad as I thought it might be--i think your best bet is to go into the birth feeling positive and knowing that your body knows what to do!


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## maliceinwonderland (Apr 17, 2005)

I don't know if my head is actually larger than average, but I think it probably is. Dd gets her head/face shape from me, but it wasn't a problem. I spit her out like an alley cat, as my less than couth coworker likes to say


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## UUMamaVeg (Feb 6, 2007)

My head and my DH's head are both too big for most hats. I didn't think about it with baby #1 and lo and behold, her head was in the 98th percentile! I had a pretty serious tear, but was fine and back to usual within a month or so. The most important lesson, however, came with baby #2--birth outside of the hospital or at least with a midwife or doula present! She was born at home, I pushed when my body felt like it--very important--and the midwife did perineal massage. The baby, with just as big of a head, came out with no tearing at all. Such a different experience! All those interventions in the hospital led to a longer recovery. With DD #2, I felt completely healed within a week--in fact, I was X-mas shopping two days later!


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## Throkmorton (Jun 30, 2003)

DH has a gigantic melon, as do my brother and dad.

My MIL had DH naturally, and he weighed 10lbs, 2 oz. She is a tiny slip of a thing, 98lbs soaking wet.

My Grandma had my dad natually, and he was 10lbs, 4 oz with huge shoulders.

My mom had my little brother, shaped much like dad only a lightweight 8lbs something 17 minutes after arriving at the hospital. She barely got her pants off.

It's not the head that it the concern (the bones mold) but rather the shoulders of really, really big babies. An experienced birth attendant can handle that though.

I can't speak from my experiences because I had c-sections both times, but both of my kids had 15.5" heads. No molding, obviously.


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## wildmonkeys (Oct 4, 2004)

My husband has a huge head. One of my three sons also does and it did cause problems during delivery - tearing/broken tailbone. I would talk to your Dr/midwife about it prior to delivery as I think it is something they can estimate with a good ultrasound.

My other two boys had large but not freakishly large heads and it was fine during delivery.

BJ
Barney, Ben & Patrick


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## huggerwocky (Jun 21, 2004)

No, I'm the one with the big head, 59 cm circumference , now go try finding a women's hat in that size







:


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## Blucactus (Nov 20, 2006)

I wasn't worried about my DH's head size, but it turned out my son got my BROTHERS huge, round head. Sooo....don't worry about it too much. No telling who's head your baby will get!


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## papayapetunia (Feb 6, 2006)

My dh has a huuuuuge head, and he's 6'6". He was a 10-pound baby. I understand your fears. Both my children were in the 7-8 pound range, with large heads, but nothing abnormal. And I didn't tear. Thank you, God.

ETA: During the few ultrasounds I got, the doctor would always say, "Oh my God...that's the biggest head I've ever seen..." Thanks, doc.


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## nannyboo (Jan 8, 2007)

yes, dh has a huge head and so do i! both of my babies had huge heads at birth, but miraculously, i got them out and lived to tell the tale.







their heads were identical in size at birth and were about 99th percentile! with dd, i tore some and required stitches (but no episiotomy) and with ds, i didn't tear at all, thanks to slow pushing and skilled midwives who worked very hard to make sure i didn't tear.


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## BlueIrises (Jul 23, 2006)

Do you mean actual size or ego? (DH refers to himself as topdog at work...








The answer to both is YES but not as big as mine...my son on the other hand has this teeny tiny head...I joke with my DH that maybe he isn't really ours (we did IVF)







He never laughs at that...I do b/c DS looks like my DH's twin!


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## BlueIrises (Jul 23, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *huggerwocky* 
No, I'm the one with the big head, 59 cm circumference , now go try finding a women's hat in that size







:

They don't make hats my size either...


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## MissMaryMack (Apr 7, 2007)

It wasn't DH's head that worried me... I'm the one with the big noggin. But DH has huge shoulders. Our eldest daughter inherited both my large head and DH's wide shoulders - and the head came out easily. The shoulders? Stuck. Luckily my midwife had me flip to hands and knees, pushed the baby's head down, and her shoulders slipped under my pelvic bone and out she came!

Without a midwife to direct us, we would've been in trouble. With the head born and the body stuck, OBs are trained to break the baby's collarbone to get them out. If we'd done UC, I think we'd be permanently damaged.

But everything was fine! Thank goodness for a smart midwife.

And DH's shoulders are very good for leaning my head on, so I'm glad he has them.


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## User101 (Mar 3, 2002)

Moving to Birth and Beyond


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## jocelyndale (Aug 28, 2006)

My husband has a rather large head--custom hat land, for sure. At the 22w ultrasound, the baby's skull measured 1.5-2 weeks ahead of the rest of the bones.









I have a teeny, compact skull (please don't say dense). I can wear some children's glasses and hats.

Anyhow, I'm not worried. My husband is slight of build other than his noggin. The shoulders would be more of an issue than the head. His mom delivered him with no problems.

I'm looking forward to a big ol' conehead baby sometime later this month.


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## veganf (Dec 12, 2005)

I have a large head. My husband has a HUGE head. Seriously, he wears XXXL hats, even though he is not a big person overall. And I'm only 5'3".

Our babies also had large heads. I pushed for 3 1/2 hours with our first homebirth (with a wonderful, calm and patient midwife), and I got one probably unnecessary stitch.
My second son's head (and all of him) was even bigger, and the entire labor was less than 2 hours long. I opted for 2 stitches, but again it probably would have healed fine without them, but I didn't want to worry about it with a toddler and newborn to care for.
Third son, same size as the first. No tears at all.

And they all have wide shoulders like dada too.

You can do it!!!


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## stacey2061 (Feb 1, 2006)

yes, DH has a big head, and yes, DS was born with a big head...lol it's the one and only note about him on the birth record: "larger head"








oh, and no i don't think it caused any problems


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## gottaknit (Apr 30, 2004)

No. DH and I both have little pinheads. But DS's head is consistently in the upper 90th percentile (his body is in the 50th!).







:


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## kkar (May 22, 2005)

DH and DD#1 have huge heads!!! (No c-section though, just a sketchy delivery) and DD#2 has a more normal sized head.


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## Full Heart (Apr 27, 2004)

Dh and I have avg sized heads and I've had a couple of babies with big heads. When I had my youngest dd at the drs as a baby the dr had the nurse come find us in the parking lot to remeasure her head cause he thought for sure it was wrong since it was sooooo big. Nope, it was right







. I have to go dig up her records, she was a HUGE baby.

BTW, the babies I had with bigger heads actually were easier to birth. The molding for some reason felt much better birthing than the small heads. The small heads stung. So I kinda like the big headed babies







No problems with any of the deliveries, heads fit just fine.


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## Robinna (Aug 11, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *VeganC* 
Not in the egotistical way, but in size. My DH's head is huge. He can never find a hat that fits him right. This makes me really scared that the baby will have his head and I'll either tear really badly or have to have a c-section, both of which I really, really want to avoid.
If your baby's father has a big head (or you, yourself), did your baby end up having a big head as well? Did that cause any complications during birth?


My DH has an enormous head. I'm a teeny woman. No problems whatsoever - I didn't even tear.


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## CallMeMommy (Jun 15, 2005)

DH has a huge melon, and DS is already taking after him. I joke that I'm almost glad DS was a preemie because if he was full-term his noggin would have ripped me in two.







We're planning #2 and potential head size isn't even on my "worry" list, though.


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## cidercat (Oct 31, 2006)

I'm bad at judging head size. But DH swears he has a huge head. And DS has consistently measuring in the 90th percentile for head size (and right now is 75th percentile for height and 45th percentile for weight). DH calls it a bad case of PSHS (Patrick Swayze Head Syndrome).









The PSHS was not a problem for me delivering him. However, he had the worst cone head DH or my family had ever seen. Seriously. My mom's jaw almost hit the ground when we pulled of DS's hat for the first time. The hat kept coming off and off and off.

That said, I never noticed the PSHS or the cone head. He was beautiful to me.


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## Yo Becca (Apr 17, 2005)

My DH has a *huge* head too, or as we call it, the grande cabesa. DD's head was 92 percentile at birth, and still in the 90's (weight in the 20's, height in the 30-40's). Not sure of the percentile's for DS's, but his was 14.5". I had a 3rd degree tear with DD and a 2nd degree tear with DS. Not ideal, but tears heal.

I think with me, it's not the size as much as the firmness - neither of them had any coning to speak of. DD's was very minimal, and DS's was perfectly round. Not sure if it's b/c they were "late" or what (42 weeks and 42 w 2 days), but they came out round-headed and hard-headed.


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## kerikadi (Nov 22, 2001)

Just because an adult has a big head doesn't mean that adult had a big head at birth.

My first two are with my EX he has a big head, both boys were small with head circumference in the 10th percentile. He had a small head at birth.

My three girls all had good size heads 14-14.5, my DH does not have a big head but also had a good size head at birth.

Keri


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## MacKinnon (Jun 15, 2004)

My DH has a HUGE head (as in the XXL fitted variety)... DD had a BIG head at birth, big enough that they commented on her giant melon! She has always been 95% or better on her head. DS however has a teeny little head ,25th%, I didn't tear with either. It's funny though, DD's head has always been too big for most hats, DS's is too small. We got him a newborn size sunhat recently (he's just about to outgrow his 3-6mon stuff and weighs almost 16lbs) and it's too big!!


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## hapersmion (Jan 5, 2007)

My dh has a pretty big head, and ds did too - and now it's in the 115th percentile or so!







But he came out just fine - backwards! (Maybe he was breech because his head was big, but it didn't cause any real trouble apart from that.) The top of his head kind of hung inside me for a few seconds after his face came out, but I think that was mostly because I'd used up the contraction pushing the rest of him out. At the next contraction he popped out just fine. I did tear just a little (8 stitches), but it didn't hurt or cause me any trouble - and it might have been his feet that started me tearing, his heels were pressing right on that spot before they popped free.

hapersmion


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## VeganC (Dec 2, 2006)

Thank you everyone for your amusing, inspiring, and reassuring stories! Of course, now I'm worried about the baby inheriting DH's broad shoulders!







But I'm going to try and let it go and just trust my body in its ability to birth my baby. Thanks again!


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## crunchy_mama (Oct 11, 2004)

I think we both have normal/average size heads. Luke's head was 14- I think that is smack dab in the middle for average- or so the nurse said- it wasn't a concern at all. My dear nephew had a monstrous head, but neither of his parent's did. They did wind up using forceps on him, however she was pushing flat on her back with an epidural.


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## Individuation (Jul 24, 2006)

I didn't read the replies, so maybe this has been covered, but I wanted to tell you to NOT WORRY. I come from a huge-headed family. As a child, my head was being monitored by our pediatrician because it was over the cutoff size for normal-headedness. My sister went through a phase where she wouldn't go out (age 12 or so) because people would see her big head.

My daughter has followed in our footsteps (headsteps?), and is one of the biggest-headed kids I've ever seen. She's right on the borderline for an abnormally-large-head, our pediatrician said that if he didn't know that she just came from a family with great big heads, he'd be worried. Her head, by the way, is the same circumferance as my husband's head. His head is not small, by any means. He's 31. She's 9.

How was the birth? Easy, simple, two pushes and she was out, no episiotomy, no tearing.

Please don't worry!


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## bobbirs (Sep 27, 2006)

DH has a big head. babies head was only 13" at birth. I did tear but that was because her heart rate dropped and they had to suction her out.


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