A newborn skull is not a closed box. Membrane-covered gaps, the fontanelles, sit where the bony plates have not yet met. The largest is the soft diamond on the top of the head.
Those gaps let the skull overlap slightly during birth, then leave room for a fast-growing brain. The back spot usually closes in the first few months. The top one often stays until sometime in the second year.
The soft spot is a scheduled opening, not a hole left by mistake. Bone fills it on a timetable.
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