Is it true that babies who are delivered via C-Section have heads that are more round in their shape, while babies who are delivered conventionally are often pointier?
And what effect does the use of forceps have on the shape of the child’s head. I know a person who has a ‘Gumby’ head, but when I asked him he said he didn’t know whether or not the doctor use forceps during the delivery.
Thanks.
The skulls in babies are not fused like they are in adults to allow them to compress during birth and so conventional deliveries usually result in ‘cone heads’ of varying degrees. The cone headed look slowly disappears as baby grows.
If a section is done before the child’s head is engaged in the birth canal then there was no compression and so the baby’s head is more ‘normally shaped.’
I’m not sure about the forceps as I don’t have any personal experience there but my hubby was a foreceps kid and his pediatrician told his folks that was why his ears were pressed in on the sides a little… then I had our son by C section with ears just like daddy’s.
My sister’s kid has a “cone head” look but the doc’s attributed this to her being a breach kid. She had a C-section to have her.
I suppose we could borrow the Scout’s Soap Box Derby track and find out.
I was a forceps baby and my head was fine. My mom said I had a couple of red marks for a few hours, but it didn’t do anything to the shape of my head.
My little niece had a total cone head. 56 hours of labour, a teeny-tiny Japanese mother with slim hips and a 91/2 lb baby will do that.
Fortunatly, she grew out of it. 
One of my girlfriends has a “scar” from the forceps, so yah - they can affect head shape too.
Um, that’s 9 and 1/2 lbs. Not 91 or 92 lbs, just in case anyone was wondering. 
I was a head-first kid who couldn’t make it past the gate. I was a C-section, but not until after quite some time attempting to birth me normally.
To hear my old man tell it, I was “a squalling little purple bullet-headed thing.” Gotta love the old man.
I was a cone-head. This condition was supposed to relieve itself with time, but in fact I still have a prominent raised ridge running front to back across the top of my skull, which my girlfriend lovingly describes as my “dorsal fin.”
She’s also lamented that I have pussy on the brain. And in fact, I think she’s entirely correct.
My brother had a forceps delivery and had terrible bruises for months. Mom was heartbroken that he might end up with permanent “wine splotches”, but he got over it okay. His head returned to round within a week, I think they said.
The babies that I helped deliver had pointy heads if they were in the birth canal for a while. The ones we had to vac extract ended up with a noticable caput, a soft lump, on their heads. I never saw a forceps used–this is discouraged at my hospital. A baby with a face, brow or chin presentation usually has an oddly shaped head, swelling and bruises. Most resolve within the week.
I comfort a lot of parents about this.
Cyn, OB/GYN RN
On average, yes. This is since a large head might be a reason for doing the C-section in the first place.
You can usually make the C-section cut bigger to minimize head squishing, but I did assist at a brow presentation C-section a few days ago here baby came out torricephalic (and very blue, but got better).
I have used forceps before. I have seen them used often, but only in rare circumstances. No one uses them often. I have delivered about 80 babies in my time, but try not to do it often (as I do not deliver enough to feel that I do it safely; most of my deliveries were as a resident or in emergency circumstances).
I have no cite, but I have heard that Stallone and Frank Sinatra were just slightly deformed due to forceps. You can kind of see it on Stalone. His grill is a little misshappen.
AHHAA, 7th down in trivia.
Ever heard of Lamarck? 