My son is 3 months old and a part of the back of his head is flat. I read a baby book written by the spokesperson of American Academy of Pediatrics, which stated that the flatness is only temporary and that the head will get back to normal after a while. Is this true?
I never had to worry about this with my daughter because when I put her on her back to sleep, she would naturally turn her head to the side so the back of her head was never touching the mattress. But my son doesn't do this. I do my best to keep him from being on his back, but since he's only 3 months old with a flatess already, it's only going to get worse. I'm worried that with him being a boy, he will have short hair and he won't be able to hide the flatness. I know this is not a medical issue, and it's just aesthetics, but still I'm curious.
Find out if it's going to be a long term issue or not. My DD has a slightly flat spot, but she spent a lot of tummy time to even it out and once she started to roll, all bets were off how she slept. Face down, butt up was a favorite. If he isn't getting enough tummy time, try increasing it. We used to use the boppy and drape her over it with her arms over the front.
I would have the pediatrician continue to assess whether he has positional plageocephaly. This IS a medical condition, not just aesthetic. Some insurance companies will try to claim that it is just aesthetic, but we weren't fooled by that. We did an appeal of our daughter's claim and got them to cover treatment for the flat spot. The squeaky wheel gets the oil =)
If he does have this condition, a helmet is an easy way to fix it =)
I have worked with lots of babies. I try to position them a little differently throughout the day: tummy time while awake, adjusting the position of baby's head while they are sleeping (they end up moving it back), moving to different places to lay him down (boppy pillow, bouncy seat, swing).
M
Depends on the severity as to whether it will go away on it's own or not.
There are many ways you can help it from getting too bad. One is never leave him in his infant car seat. Always take him out when you go places and wear him or put him in a stroller that can lie flat (we had an inexpensive Gracco that the seat went entirely flat). Turn his head around each time you put him down in his crib to sleep, put him in the crib opposite ways so he'll move his head both ways. When he's awake don't let him lie on his back the whole time, wear him while you do errands, hold him on your chest. Not all babies like "tummy time". You can get the same exercise and benefits just having him lie on your chest.
Dr. Sears' website has some fantastic recommendations http://www.askdrsears.com/topics/health-concerns/childhoo...
My husband was very concerned about this too. Our kid happened to work out how to roll himself over at <2 weeks old, so flat never proved a problem.
Can't tell you whether or not it will right itself by itself, just wanted to tell you you aren't alone in this concern.
F. B.
I'd ask at your next check up. A cousin's son's head is quite flat at the back. No big deal but worth asking your dr about. I know my cousin took her son to a specialist at one point bc he also has a big head. Everything was fine but makes me think if the flatness is just from sleeping, it probably does go away while flatness from genetics doesn't no matter how the child sleeps. So maybe a doctor can clarify for you. I can't imagine my cousin didn't try to avoid the flatness as she's very attentive and as I said, they took him to a specialist.
My daughter was the same way. We didn't raise the issue till around her 1 yr well child and by then it was too late to do anything. If we had gone to the doctor earlier we could have fitted her for a helmet to reshape her skull. Luckily she's a girl and the long hair covers it. If it bothers you ask your doctor.
I carried our son a lot in a sling his first year and he slept while I carried him.
Being held a lot keeps the head from flattening out.
Our son did this too. I was also worried, but we changed up the way we positioned him during the day, carried him in a sling, and in the crib we'd put his head on one end for a sleep, then the other direction. He started turning his head to each side shortly after. I talked with his pedi because he pretty much wore off all of his hair in one area on his head and I was worried the slight flat spot wouldn't go away, but it did, especially after moving positions a lot. He's 18 months now and has no flat spot, although it took awhile for the bald spot to go away. He moves his head while he sleeps still, but never turns on his side or belly.
My son had Torticollis as an infant. So his head turned naturally to one side. So when he lay in his crib (or anywhere) or even just in his car seat, his head always looked one way. He developed a flat spot on his head.
We took him to physiotherapy and I had to do exercises with him every day to strengthen and relax his neck muscles - so that eventually he would look straight on.
You do want to do something about it, because it can lead to a permanent flat spot.
Some people recommend wearing helmets. I could ours in time (around your baby's age) and we were ok. He still has a flat spot on his head, but unless he goes bald at some point, it's covered.
I would definitely talk to your pediatrician about it.
There are devices you can buy to put in the crib (that are safe) to encourage them to change head position.
The big trick I did (along with the stretching his neck to go the other way) was to always situate him so he had to look the way he didn't want to. It felt a bit cruel, but it helped strengthen his neck.
I don't know what is causing it in your case (may not have anything to do with neck) but tummy time, also bouncy seats (again move him around so not always looking one way), etc. can help.
When you put in crib, you can also change it up - so head one direction one time, next time put his feet that way.
Good luck :)
My son developed the flat head thing.
His pediatrician said he would need to wear a helmet 23 1/2 hrs a day for
however many months.
My husb & I confirmed it was only for esthetic purposes & wouldn not interfere w/the development of his brain. So we opted not to put him in a
helmet.
I did my best to keep him turned. Used an infant wedge that kept him just slightly off the back of his head, held him a lot when possible etc.
His flat head was prominent when so young. Guess what? After approx 2
years his head filled out (no helmet) AND he's very bright.
So I went with my mommy instincts ruling out something simply for
esthetic purposes. In my opinion, I made the right decision for our family.
My nephew has a flatter head than normal. It's not horribly obvious though. I suggest you turn his head a tiny it of something. Not where he might not be able to breathe but just a tiny bit.
He'll be rolling over soon and flipping in his sleep on his tummy. Then it won't matter any more. Once they can do that they can sleep however they like.
