At birth, many parts of the newborn's skull are not yet converted to bone, leaving "soft spots". Later in the child's life, these bones join together naturally. A protein called noggin is responsible for the delay in an infant's skull fusion. During labour and birth, the infant's skull changes shape as it goes through the birth canal. Sometimes this causes the child to be born with a misshapen or elongated head. It will usually return to normal in a short time. 