With the term "standpipe"alludes to the fibrous membrane located between the bones of the skull which, at birth, are not yet joined together.
Le main fountains there are two:
- one, called "front", which has the shape of a rhombus and is easy to identify by touch on the top of the head;
- the other, "posterior" which is located in the nape area and is very small.
Then there are four others drinking fountains, so tiny as to be impossible to identify. The temporary distance existing between the bones of the skull and filled by the fontanelles has the function of first allowing the baby's head to adapt to cross the narrow birth canal and then allowing the baby's brain to increase in size over the first few months. of life, without being undergoing compressions.
When do the baby's fontanelles close?
Le drinking fountains, so to speak, minors generally close within the month and a half of life, while the anterior fontanelle disappears definitively after the year of life, sometimes around 18 months.
What to do if the fontanel is pulsating
The fontanel is considered an indicator of the well-being of the child's brain: if it pulsates clearly and the area appears swollen or red and, above all, the child has a fever, appears whiny, dejected, unresponsive, you have to go to the emergency room.
(consultancy by Leo Venturelli, family pediatrician, author of numerous publications on outpatient pediatrics and co-author of popular books for parents including A child is born, The great encyclopedia of the child, From 0 to 6 years, a guide for the family )
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