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Quick & curious · Body

Babies have more bones than adults.

Some bones fuse as we grow. About 270 bones at birth become roughly 206 in adulthood.

Drawing of a newborn's skull showing the fontanelles
Illustration: OpenStax College · CC BY 3.0 · Original

270bones at birth

The story behind it

Babies have more bones than adults.

At birth there are about 270. As we grow, some fuse together – adults are left with about 206. The soft spots on a baby's head are gaps between skull bones that only close later.

Sources

Every statement in this discovery is backed by one of these sources and was checked before publication.

  1. Wikipedia: Human skeleton (accessed 2026-10-05)
  2. Wikipedia: Fontanelle (accessed 2026-10-05)

Image credits

  • “905 The Newborn Skull.jpg”, OpenStax College, CC BY 3.0