How many bones are found in the body of a new born infant?

An infant'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 (KAR-tel-ij).

Other bones in a baby are partly made of cartilage. However, the number of bones an individual has varies developmentally. In fact, a person has the most bones when they are an infant. A person has less bones as an adult. Over the course of development, some of a person's bones fuse together, so that by the time the person reaches adulthood, the number of bones in the body is 206.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone

More Info: www.livestrong.com

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12 Comments

Marian Spitzig

We still have cartilage in our bodies until we die. Examples are your ear lobe and the tip of your nose.

Jon Dodson

Hey, I Iike the phonetic spelling for pronunication!! ( I know cartilage, of course), but for future reference, say with scientific nomenclature or foreign place names, I think it would really add to the experience of learning.

✨KRISTA✨

In a newborn, the little "soft spots" fontanelles allow growth of the brain and skull during an infant's first year of life. There are normally several fontanelles on the newborn's skull. These soft spots are spaces between the bones of the skull where bone formation isn't complete. This allows the skull to be molded during birth. The posterior fontanelle gradually calcifies and solidifies first--within two months after birth. The anterior fontanelle closes between seven and 24 months.