EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -During childbirth, the flexibility of the sutures allows the bones to overlap so the baby’s head can pass through the birth canal without pressing on and damaging their brain. During infancy and childhood, the sutures are flexible.

Detailed explanation-2: -A baby’s body has about 300 bones at birth. These eventually fuse (grow together) to form the 206 bones that adults have. Some of a baby’s bones are made entirely of a special material called cartilage (say: KAR-tel-ij). Other bones in a baby are partly made of cartilage.

Detailed explanation-3: -This is because a baby’s bones aren’t fully formed and are joined together with a tough but flexible tissue called cartilage, which helps protect the baby, and the mother, during birth. As a child grows, the cartilage hardens and turns to bone, fusing the parts together-a process known as ossification.

Detailed explanation-4: -Changing bone as babies grow Many of your baby’s bones will fuse together, which means the actual number of bones will decrease. The space that separates the ends of two bones that eventually fuse is also cartilage, like the tissue you have in the tip of your nose. The fusing of bones occurs throughout the body.