Suggestions on Fixing a Flat Spot on Baby's Head

my daughter is five months and for a while she was looking a little flat on one side because of the way she sleeps also. So I just feed her on the opisite side, if you breastfeed that wont work but if you bottle feed then just feed her so that she lays on the other side. Good Luck!

My daughter had the same thing.

First of all...take a breath and let go of any blame or stress over it and know that she will be just fine.

My daughter's was pretty severe and still at a year, we were getting so worried. My daughters whole posture curved to the left and she wouldn't straighten her body. They suspected scholiosis...I have it.

We even had x-rays done. They pulled her straight, layed her flat and taped her head. She nearly passed out from crying and started to throw up. It was awful but she turned out to be fine. It turned out to be a leftward posture do to the muscles in her neck and shoulder being tighter on one side. It pulled her head. I did fun neck exercises with her at 4 months. (Turn to the left, turn to the right)...singing it and smiling with her. Also a chiropractor suggested mild fun swinging upside down. That would let her muscles stretch without forcing them or pulling them.

Keep doing what you're doing. Try rolling a receiving blanket under the side of her head that she is leaning to. They also have side sleeper cushions but chances are they won't do much. She' probably flip over and turn her head anyway. (Get the one with one short tummy cushion and one long back cushion...it will give her room for her arm and for her legs) I used to just sneak up to my daughter and tip her head as often as I could. Who knows if it helped but it made me feel better. She never did sleep on her belly and she never did tummy time. She hated it.

Look on line about cranial specialists and have it looked at in the 6 months because if it's a serious condition, they say it's not correctable after a year old.

It will fade as she sits and crawls and walks. And it will fade even more as she grows hair and grows up.

My daughter still has a mild spot that is flatter but so does my niece. I can't even tell with either now. Niece is 4 and my daughter is 20 mos.

I would not worry! My son is now two yrs. old and he too had a flat spot on his head. He always kept his head to one side.(Even though he has a rare skin disorder known as APLASIA CUTIS CONGINITA.)Once he was about 1 years old it started to go away, the reason being he could move around more. Meaning turn his head better, sit up and walk. Give it time it will go away.
Congrats on becoming a MOM. :-)

I have 3 little girls and all of them have had the famous flat spot which generally includes the balding too. I have also watched many of my friends freak over the same situation. Be assured it is perfectly normal. My youngest is now 8 months old and she finally got over it about a couple months ago. It happens mainly just because they are on their backs so often. You know like the swing, the car seat, the bouncer, playtime and finally bedtime. Every mother worries about it frantically, but it does go away my suggest would simply be to encourage a little more tummy time and prop her up a little more often, so that she isn't on her back so much. As she begins to crawl she will gradually lose the flat spot and even the bald spot (if she has one). Good luck!

Cranio Sacral Therapy works wonders!!!!

I went through the same thing when my son was a newborn. All the repositioning didn't help and it turned out that he had torticollis which then led to plagiocephaly. He was also a big baby so it took longer for him to sit so his head continued to get flatter. We sought treatment using the DOC band (www.cranialtech.com) and the results were amazing. His head was rounded in a matter of 16 weeks. Our experience was awesome. As far as your pediatrician saying it is cosmetic...WRONG! If severe and left untreated there are a host of eye, ear, and other problems that may occur. Check out Yahoo health boards (plagiocephaly) to meet other moms going through the same thing.

A consult at Cranial Tech is free and I found them to be honest and straight forward. I may be in the minority in the responses you receive but you only get up until about 18 months to do anything if correction is needed. Personally, I decided that not doing something now could lead to some serious problems later adn I would not be able to forgive myself if that were the case.

If you want to chat more or see pics of my son, just LMK.

Good luck!
M.
PS Also try the BUMBO seat.

My son had the same problem, he had torticollis My son went to physical therapy for it but one of the biggest helps reshaping his head was called a Secure sleeper made by Dex, bought at Target. It has a memory foam pillow. This little wonder saved my son from having to wear one of those helmets. He was getting close to nerve damage, one ear is still slightly lower than the other but his head is almost perfect at 18 months now. http://www.dexproducts.com/sleeping.htm#hbss-01

Hi C.,
You have many responses and I see that you have updated. I just wanted to add one thing, as you doc said, to see a specialist in case it is something more, I just wanted to tell you that babys have many openings in the scull that move and adjust to pressure. This is so they can make it through the birth canal. The biggest one is the one down the middle and there is a 'soft spot' on the top this closes after about two years and the scull grows together and gets harder over time usually it is done by 2 years of age. So, usually the reason for the flat spot is because of the pressure and the ability for these plates in the scull to adjust and move. Just as every Ped says, when the child is sitting up and not always laying down, the head becomes round. This response was only to give you more of a 'why this happens' than a 'what to do about it' Sometimes it just helps to know a little information as to what causes something. I do hope this helps a little with the understanding of it...
God Bless~ E.

If you are not doing it already, can you do all supervised naps on the tummy? So that she is just sleeping on her back in the night.

And one other suggestion, if it gets worst, is that there is a type of padded football helmet hat that helps keep the head isolated. So, if they are laying down, the head is secure in the hat and there's room to reshape. Am I talking about the device you mentioned? I don't know the name of it.

That's all I've got.

PS: My kids have been natural tummy sleepers and as soon as they could they turned themselves over in the night bottoms up. But, just to have some peace and a long nap, they did all of their daytime naps on their bellies.

Good luck and keep us updated.

rub your childs head in a circular motion every day several times a day. this helped with my older son

I see that you've already written an update, but I just came across your request and wanted to tell you about my experience. My baby (who is 7 months old) was in the NICU for 33 days. During that time, the nurses RARELY moved her head. As a result of her health complications, she had to be sedated, so she couldn't move on her own. As such, she developed Edema (which is swelling of the head) and a HUGE flat spot on the right side of her head. During her well baby visits with her pediatrition, I always brought this up, worrying that she was going to have an "alien" head (think little green men with huge heads, except only huge on the left and flat on the right). Now that she's finally rolling around and mobile (boy oh boy is she mobile now!!! :D YEAH ) her head is getting rounder, it's actually almost normal looking now! Anyways, long story short, her pediatrition always kept telling me that once she was up and mobile, mother nature will round her head out all by herself. This is of course after she had head x-rays done and ruled out that there wasn't anything wrong medically with her head.
~ S.
Mom to Larabelle (3 in May),
and Desirae, my miracle baby (7 months)

My grandson had the same problem. My dil was actually told to use a helmet for him. She refused, because our peds doc said it would be fine as he got older. He is now 4 1/2, and his head is normal. I would go ahead and get a second opinion, but I bet it will be fine as she gets older.

we have the same thing with our daughter. i took the head pillow out of her carseat and put it in her crib so she faces upward. its safer than placing a pillow or other deterent by your baby. hth!

I say that their is no need to worrie. I have had friends that have had children with flat spots. I don't remember any of them telling me the went to a special doc for that. They were told to keep the baby on it's tummy and as they grow that spot will go away. If your doc said to go see the specialized doc I would. Never hurts to be sure.

I agree with Melissa. Do the exercises with every diaper change; hold each stretch for ten seconds. My son was born 7/16/06 and we had to see a specialist in October. He's fine but they gave us a list of things to do such as always placing the interesting/fun stuff to her right so she'll look that way. What has helped the most, I think, is changing the way we hold him (we hold him on our left hip now so he'll look to his left) and the fact that he's holding his head up now. I suspect that once your daughter is sitting up and moving around on her own, everything will be fine.

One thing that I wish I had done is to take my son to a massage therapist. I think you should be able to find one that has experience with infant massage and that would be able to give you some ideas. It just might be worth the effort.

Hey there.. My daughter had the same problem when she was that age and she had a flat spot up till around a year old.. It wasnt as bad but it was there.. Its gone now.. Just get one of those littl wedge things thats suppost to keep them from rolling over and put them beside the side she sleeps on and that might help keep her head the other way but just do it while shes napping to make sure she doesnt move it and move her head and get it in front of her face.. if it works that will help some but for the most part it just goes away as she grows up... :D

My son did the same thing when he was that age. He had a flat spot on one side of his head. My pediatrician advised me to roll up a towel and prop him up on it so he had to face the other way. I did this and it worked. I would rotate what side I made him sleep with and it evened the shape of his head out. You could also try using a baby sleep positioner. My son would sometimes turn his head back to that flat side again and I would turn it the other way and prop it so he couldn't turn it once he fell asleep.