Question About My Babies Head

All babies need belly time/tummy time to strengthen their neck muscles and shoulders/arms. At 2 mos she should be able to hold her head up if you do the tummy time. Yes, it sucks and they generally hate it and scream but it is something you just "do." And yes, the head can get too flat and stay that way requiring some sort of a helmet (which you do not want) so get to the tummy time lady!

It is very common for babies who spend too much time on their back ( for instance...sitting in a car seat or baby carrier) to have a flattened back of the head. The skull is very maleable and easily molded in an infact...so luckily that means that if you listen to what your pediatrician has told you and start letting your baby spend tummy time...or even better...get a baby sling and start "wearing" your baby...that the back of her head should return to normal shape without any intervention.
My oldest niece has twin boys and one of them had to wear a special helmet for a year to reshape his skull because he had spent so much time laying on his back as an infant.
Here is an excellent video about the subject from the Detroit Medical Center...it should explain to you what the doctor was discussing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut_HjCFMX18
If you cannot physically SEE a deformity yet then I would say that the pediatrician has caught this really early and it should be easily correctible by some simple changes on your part.
Good luck to you and congratulations on your little one!!

First of all Congratulations on your baby! Hope you are feeling well..

Her head will not stay that way, but you do need to place her on her tummy with her head to the side every once in a while.. She needs to be in lots of different positions..

Even when you hold her in your arms, you can lay her on her tummy on your arm while you support her head in your palm up against you. She also can be held with her head resting against your neck in the up position so she can see over your shoulder slightly.. You can lay her on your lap while you are in the sitting position, her head to the side.. (do not do this right after she has eaten.. may be too much pressure on her tummy and she may spit up..

And do lay her on a blanket on her tummy while she is awake every once in a while, just make sure her head is turned to one side or the other.. get down there with her and look at her so she can see you, or lay a toy close to her so she can look at the toy.. This will also help her strengthen her neck so she will learn how to lift and then turn her head..

Do you have a infant book to look through? It will also give you lots of ideas on different ways to hold her..

Very exciting time!

Yes she needs to have time on all sides. A lot of these question you are asking are great, I would highly suggest purchasing a What to expect the first year book or similar from the store. And read up as a new mom it will be a great help! You can keep asking as needed of course but it would be nice to have the book/s as references when we are not all awake!

Congratulations on your sweet baby:)

Our son is nearly 1 and we are in the process of sending him to a specialist because of his 'flat head'. It's really extreme though....as in like a steep cliff!

He HATED tummy time until he was around 5 months. We still did it regularly, but were limited in how long each time because he cried so hard. We repositioned him a lot in his sleep but always found him laying flat whenever we'd check on him sleeping. He just preferred sleeping on his back I guess! We also used a sling and when holdong him avoided resting the back of his head. In our sons case, it was so frustrating to see and not have his doctor very active on this issue. He just kept saying to do what we were doing and it would 'naturally' fill in. Well, it didn't and got worse. He' NEVER on his back now with crawling and sitting and sleeping on his side, and his head isn't 'naturally' filling in.

I'm SOOOOOO happy your doctor is proactive on this. We have a friend whose brother used the helmets on his kids and they worked great. We are still fighting to get appointments and had to be VERY firm with our doctor to even get the referral (which is why we still haven't seen a specialist). Hopefully next week we get an appointment set.

Sorry...probably tooooo much information! Just sharing so you know there are options for you early on (I didn't know....had to do the research myself) and to keep communication open with your doctor. Sometimes the flatness corrects itself, but if it gets worse by the 6 month check up I might recommend seeing a specialist earlier than we are while the head is still super malleable. Our son is otherwise super happy and healthy...just with a flat head!

Yeah remember to turn your babies head to the side when she sleeps. Alternate sides everytime. Also do a lot of tummy time. Try to make sure the head does not get very flat - I have heard they treat that later with some sort of helmets or something.Thats what I read somewhere. So do be careful with that. Doctors mentioned it for my son too as he was sleeping too much on his right side, his head was getting flat on the right.He preferred his right side a lot but we always turned him to the left everytime after that and it was fine later.

I think the key is to place baby in different positions so that she is given the opportunity to use different muscles & strengthen them. i work from home & I do the books for two businesses. it is really a full time job, so when I added to that, my kids, I had to get creative to get work done, but still care for babies & interact with them. I had a timer I set for 30 minutes. This was my reminder. I would have baby in bouncy seat, then Bumbo, then floor, then sling, then on floor tummy, then in swing, then propped up on tummy time play mat, then in my lap, then bouncy, swing, etc..... once she got older then I included excersaucer and jumparoo. The different positions kept her entertained & i had different toys & things for her to look at. Did it with both my kids & I feel this is the reason they were both early walkers. Neither of them crawled for long. Daughter took her first steps a day after she turned 8 months & by 9 months was running & at 10 months learned to climb onto my dining room table!! Not cool. She would put toys in front of the window & would climb on top of them to see out the window. This worked out great cause she was 15 months when I brought her brother home & it was great that she had been mobile for awhile & i used a back pack leash with her going into & out of stores. Otherwise it would have been impossible for me to do my errand running alone with them both. My son, took his first steps at 9 months. I know some people will say, nope that is just genetics, but my daughter is adopted and that is why I am positive that just by giving babies the opportunity to use different muscles often each day, that they develop a more well rounded thus helping to get them mobile quicker. Also I think it helps with keeping their ears clear as well since different positions help drain the fluid out of ears, if the have the tendancy to hold fluids in their ears. I also found that by interacting with them throughtout the day & changing their immediate environment, they did not become clingy to me. Not to say they didn't need me or that we didn't have cuddle moments, they just were ok entertaining themselves for 15-30 minutes, which was really nice! So lots to be gained here. My friends had the flat head problem and their son had to wear a device to take pressure off the back of the head when he was 13 months and it caused him to regress in walking. His head did readjust and he is 3 now, so don't fret at this point. Great your Dr. is catching it early. Oh & if you don't have all those things like , bouncy, bumbo, swing, no biggie, at this point you can use pillows and prop her up in different positions, or on the floor, put her on her side with pillow behind then do opposite side, then prop up her chest during tummy timewith towels. that sort of thing. carry her like a football, then up on your shoulder, I also would put her back to my chest and with one hand under her bottom & one hand on her chest hold her this way & sway and while doing this, I would meditate or de-stress myself & they usually fell asleep. Once they got fairly good neck muscles I would use a front carrier & vacuum like this & both mine would be sleeping or real close to it when I was done. who doesn't like a two for one special? LOL this is a special time and it does go very fast. Enjoy her and don't worry about permanent problems at this point since your Dr. caught it so early.

It's called plagiocephaly and it is due to too much time with her head resting in one position. You need to do lots of tummy time, hold her up a lot (baby wearing may help) and reposition her head to the other side when she sleeps (she may not leave it there though). If your ped. is concerned already, I would ask whether you should be seeing a craniofacial specialist or how soon she should be re-assessed. If it is significant, it is better to address it sooner rather than later. Mild plagiocephaly is very common. I would NOT put her to be on her tummy - SIDS is way worse than a slightly flattened head which can be corrected.