Editing Infant (section)

===Head===
[[File:Baby Face.JPG|thumb|Eight-month-old infant; as a common feature, eyes are usually large in relation to the face.|left]]A newborn's head is very large in proportion to the body, and the [[Skull#Humans|cranium]] is enormous relative to his or her face. While the adult human skull is about one seventh of the total body length, the newborn's is about {{frac|1|4}}. Normal head circumference for a full-term infant is 33–36&nbsp;cm at birth.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Wallace, Donna K. |author2=Cartwright, Cathy C. |title=Nursing Care of the Pediatric Neurosurgery Patient |publisher=Springer |location=Berlin |year=2007 |isbn=978-3-540-29703-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G6o3uSlfRKcC&pg=PA40 |page =40}}</ref> At birth, many regions of the newborn's skull have not yet been converted to bone, leaving "soft spots" known as [[fontanel]]s. The two largest are the diamond-shaped anterior fontanel, located at the top front portion of the head, and the smaller triangular-shaped posterior fontanel, which lies at the back of the head. Later in the child's life, these bones will fuse together in a natural process. A protein called [[Noggin (protein)|noggin]] is responsible for the delay in an infant's skull fusion.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Warren SM, Brunet LJ, Harland RM, Economides AN, Longaker MT | title = The BMP antagonist noggin regulates cranial suture fusion | journal = Nature | volume = 422 | issue = 6932 | pages = 625–9 | date = 2003-04-10 | pmid = 12687003 | doi = 10.1038/nature01545 | bibcode = 2003Natur.422..625W | s2cid = 4331659  | issn=0028-0836 }}</ref>

During [[childbirth|labour]] and birth, the infant's skull changes shape to fit through the [[birth canal]], sometimes causing the child to be born with a misshapen or elongated head. It will usually return to normal on its own within a few days or weeks. Special exercises sometimes advised by [[physician]]s may assist the process.