A fontanelle (or fontanel) (colloquially, soft spot) is an anatomical feature of the infant human skull comprising any of the soft membranous gaps (sutures) between the cranial bones that make up the calvaria of a fetus or an infant. Fontanelles allow for rapid stretching and deformation of the neurocranium as the brain expands faster than the surrounding bone can grow. Premature complete ossification of the sutures is called craniosynostosis.
During infancy, the anterior fontanelle is known as the bregma.
Fontanelles are soft spots on a baby's head which, during birth, enable the bony plates of the skull to flex, allowing the child's head to pass through the birth canal. The ossification of the bones of the skull causes the anterior fontanelle to close over by 9 to 18 months. The sphenoidal and posterior fontanelles close during the first few months of life. The closures eventually form the sutures of the neurocranium. Other than the anterior and posterior fontanelles, the mastoid fontanelle and the sphenoidal fontanelle are also significant.
Fontanelle is a frazione of the comune of Campello sul Clitunno in the Province of Perugia, Umbria, central Italy. It stands at an elevation of 653 metres above sea level. At the time of the Istat census of 2001 it had 14 inhabitants.
A fontanelle is a soft spot in the skull of a baby where the bones of the skull have not yet knit together, but normally will do so in time.
Fontanelle may also refer to:
Rip strike
Let me enter you
Entertain center
Entertain you
With my pain
Rip strike
Black eyes
Your side
Capsized
Revel and strike
Got my love in pocket
Gonna hock it for my life
Fall short
Rip strike