As all the bony system, flat bones of scull of a new-born and a baby are relatively soft. A baby's scull constitutes not an entire whole, but on the contrary it consists of separate bones, connected with soft, ununited bones. In the places, where some bones come together there are spaces, where there are conjunctive-woven membranes instead of bone tissue. These are exactly fontanels.
Lateral fontanels close within the first days of life or even before a baby's birth.
Lesser fontanel is closed by birth with 80% of full-term newborns. With the rest of babies it closes up to the 3rd month.
Greater fontanel closes by 12 - 18 months with a healthy baby.
During teething a child feels some discomfort, and thus can be capricious and restless. Sometimes children sleep badly or lose appetite temporarily. In order to relieve pain in gums, you can give your baby to chew a special rubber ring or another suitable item.
The first tooth usually appears after the 6th month. By the 7th month a baby has two lower mean incisors, at the 7th - 8th month, 2 opposite upper incisors appear. Then at the 8th - 9th month, two more upper incisors appear, and within the last quarter of the first year two lower incisors appear. Thus a healthy one year old baby should have 8 incisors. However teething is an individual peculiarity of a child.
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