Tyler's Noggin

Tyler just had his 9-month checkup. His “stats” are pretty funny – 5% for weight at 16.8 pounds, 50% for length, and 80% for his head! Our pediatrician is not overly concerned about his weight since he eats like a little piggy (30 ounces of food per day-off the charts for his age) and is probably just built how his daddy was as a baby. Gene was a pretty scrappy little kid and didn’t really fill out till college. We are still trying some things to get a little more weight on the kiddo, but I don't see how I could possibly feed him more!

Dr. Nanna (she is so smart about medical topics – among other things) said that his brains are just using up all that food. Then she sent me the little medical article below which confirms this. I decided to attach the article because I thought it was really interesting. The study cited notes that Einstein’s brain used and needed more energy than the average brain. So...this concerned mama is going with the theory that we have a budding little Einstein in our home.

Article----------------------------
The brain makes up 2% of a person's weight. Despite this, even at rest, the brain consumes 20% of the body's energy. The brain consumes energy at 10 times the rate of the rest of the body per gram of tissue. The average power consumption of a typical adult is 100 Watts and the brain consumes 20% of this making the power of the brain 20 W.
Based on a 2400 calorie diet (Adapted from Yang)
2400 "food calorie" = 2400 kcal
2400 kcal / 24 hr = 100 kcal/hr = 27.8 cal/sec = 116.38 J/s = 116 W
20% x 116 W = 23.3 W
Glucose is the main energy source for the brain. As the size and complexity of the brain increases, energy requirements increase.
The human brain is one of the most energy hungry organs in the body thereby increasing its vulnerability. If the energy supply is cut off for 10 minutes, there is permanent brain damage. There is no other organ nearly as sensitive to changes in its energy supply.
In 1955, Albert Einstein's brain was preserved for research. Three scientific papers have been published examining the features of Einstein's brain. Albert Einstein's brain differed to normal men's brain in that his brain had more glial cells per neuron that might indicate that neurons in Einstein's brain had an increased "metabolic need"-- they needed and used more energy. Einstein's brain weighed only 1,230 grams, which is less than the average adult male brain (about 1,400 grams). The thickness of Einstein's cerebral cortex was thinner. However, the density of neurons in Einstein's brain was greater. In other words, Einstein was able to pack more neurons in a given area of cortex.
The most recent study concerning Einstein's brain was published in the British medical journal The Lancet, on June 19, 1999. They found that a portion of the brain that governs mathematical abilities and spatial reasoning -- 2 key ingredients to the sort of thinking Einstein did best -- was 15% wider than average allowing better connection between its cells, which could have allowed them to work together more efficiently.
Jacqueline Ling -- 2001