When we are born, we have up to 300 bones, with many being made of a softer cartilage. As we grow, bones merge and hardens until we reach a total of 206.
Unlike many babies mammals who can walk shortly after birth, human babies are very dependent on adults. But there is an area where babies go beyond adults: their number of bones.
While an adult has 206 bones, the newborn babies They have between 275 and 300 bones. This surprising difference results from the requirements of birth and early growth.
To pass the vaginal canal during delivery, the baby’s body must be as flexible as possible. Many of the bones of a newborn’s body begin as smaller and separate pieces Made of cartilage, a softer and more flexible fabric.
The most visible example of this flexibility is the soft point at the top of a baby’s head, known as Fontanela or Moleirinha. Pediatrician Matthew Badgett explains that “babies are born with five large bones of the skull that allow the skull to be shaped during delivery. ”During the first or second year of life, these bones are gradually fusing, closing the Moleirinha as the skull hardens, reports the.
As children grow, their skeleton suffers a process called ossification. This process involves the Gradual cartilage replacement By bone tissue, resulting in the fusion of many of the smaller bones in one bone. At the end of this process, adults have a final count of 206 bones. Ossification begins in the eighth week of embryonic development and continues in childhood and adolescence. It may even be resumed in adulthood to cure party bones.
There are two main types of ossification: intramembranous ossificationwhich forms some of the flat and irregular bones, such as those of the skull, and Endochondral ossificationwhich replaces the “scaffolding” of bone cartilage in most of the skeleton. Osteoblasts – cells that produce bone matrix – are the main actors in this process, using proteins such as collagen and minerals such as calcium.
The development bones of children also heales faster than adult bones, thanks to this process of dynamic growth. Although it may seem risky to have newborns with incomplete skulls and softer bones, it is a crucial evolutionary adaptation and a crucial part of the human path.
