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For free parenting resources please check out the Early Years Alliance's Family Corner.

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For free parenting resources please check out the Early Years Alliance's Family Corner.

Parenting

DD is developing a serious flat head at two months. advise hugely appreciated.

91 replies

bbface · 19/05/2013 18:51

My beautiful girl has a very noticeable flat head. I have to confess I find it utterly adorable, but my dh is very concerned and I do worry for the future.

Any advise pls, perhaps recommendations for pillows?

Many thanks

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bbface · 19/05/2013 18:51

Advise to read advice.

OP posts:

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mumtosp · 19/05/2013 19:53

We used this for DS. I have to add that we bought this pillow because DS had reflux, but my friend who suggested this pillow had used it for her DD who did have flat head... and she was happy with the results.

You can also search for 'pillow' on Amazon - baby department...

HTH :)

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fandango75 · 19/05/2013 21:08

Hi,

Our DS1 had this. It could be plagiocephaly. It's really important you see your health visitor or even better GP quickly. Look on NHS website. Not being alarmist as no danger but needs to be looked at.

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GingerDoodle · 19/05/2013 21:19

DD had a small flat bald patch, partly as she was born with a kink in her neck which was not sorted still we took her to an Osteo at 3 months. Around the same time we got the small pillow from lillakuddisbabypillows.co.uk. I also had her in a sling (up-graded by Baby Bjorn which knackered me to a Rose & Rebellion and then a Boba 3G) a LOT (6 hours a day as I was commuting with my DH).

She's now 7 1/2 months and its not noticeable at all and we've just got her the bigger pillow as she was rolling off hers and hitting her head on her cot mobile.

Hope thats of some help.

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flossy101 · 19/05/2013 21:22

Hi

My DS was born with a VERY flat side of his head, i worried myself sick about it. health visitors, GP, and midwives all said it would correct itself. He's 10 months and you can't tell now, I did a lot of tummy time etc with him and it righted itself.

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Rockchick1984 · 19/05/2013 22:21

It's normal. You don't need to do anything apart from try to have more tummy time, it will usually correct itself once he is older and rolling / crawling so not spending as much time on his back.

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Rockchick1984 · 19/05/2013 22:22

Ooops, HER not HIS, sorry :)

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bbface · 20/05/2013 07:02

Thank you all so much. Just looking at my girl now and I do feel a but panicked. Angry at myself for not pursuing this earlier. No one else looking out for her, just Dh,and I, and I feel we have let get down.
But these responses have galvanised me to but the pillow, are the gp, sling lots. Thank you.

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Einsty · 20/05/2013 07:15

Definitely see your GP. I got a referral to a very good physio who said that you have a good window of opportunity before one to correct this, so good on you for noticing now (it can take a while to develop so easy to miss). Lots of tummy time. Look at how you handle your little one: are they always lying with their head on one side to eat or sleep. We moved our cot and change table to correct this. I read that their skull is as thin as a credit card at this age and easy to distort. Sometimes also their neck muscles can be strained in labour which can make it hard for them to turn their head easily. This made things worse in the case of our DC2. Don't be panicked or beat yourself up - you've noticed nice and early abs can do so much.

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SoupDragon · 20/05/2013 07:21

DD is the only one of my 3 who didn't develop a flat head at all - she is the only one I carried in a sling rather than in a pram and she also didn't spend so much time lying in a rocking chair as they did as she would only nap in the sling.

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SoupDragon · 20/05/2013 07:22

Oh, neither DS retained their flat head BTW. Once they were sitting up etc, it went away with no other intervention.

Which is not to say it shouldn't be checked out.

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jitterbug85 · 20/05/2013 07:29

Check out a charity called headlines. They have a factsheet on plagiocephaly which should give you all the help you need.

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MamaBear17 · 20/05/2013 09:09

Avoid using the car seat attachment as a pushchair and keep her out of the car seat as much as possible.

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MiaowTheCat · 20/05/2013 09:35

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Katnisscupcake · 20/05/2013 09:35

Our DD had/has a flat-head. We noticed it at about 6 months but the GP said not to worry and it would right itself.

It hasn't.

She is nearly 4 and it is still very much noticeable to us. Her hair line is not down the middle and when we put her hair in bunches, we have to go by distance from the ear as opposed to just straight down the middle of the back of her head. When her hair is down, if you look down onto her head from above, it is noticeable where the hair hangs down straight.

Having said that, no-one else has noticed it. Only family who know it's there. I am very conscious of it though.

You don't notice it when her hair is up, but if she ever wants a hair style where she wants it down and wants to straighten it as she gets older, I think she will have problems .

We did refer her to a paediatrician (sp?) who said again that it would right itself and they didn't recommend the 'helmet' treatment as there was no evidence to suggest that those where it had improved, wouldn't have improved by themselves anyway.

But there you go. Nothing we can do about it now and DD just needs to live with it. She's still beautiful!

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JazzDalek · 20/05/2013 09:52

Definitely get a sling if you haven't one already. I carried my ds in a sling a lot of the time and he has the most beautifully shaped head (is 4 now and I still find myself looking at his head sometimes and thinking how perfectly shaped it is weirdo ). Wish I had had one for my dd (she didn't go flat but she did wear an impressive bald patch into the back of her head )

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purpleloosestrife · 20/05/2013 10:00

MY dd developed plagiocephaly too. Sometimes they grow out of it - sometimes not , it is pure "luck of the draw"

I didn't want my daughter to feel upset/be teased about it as she grew older, so we got treatment. We took her to the London Orthotic Clinic and she wore a corrective hat for a couple of months. She now has a beautifully shaped bonce!

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SoupDragon · 20/05/2013 10:04

JazzDalek I used to look down at DDs head when she was in the sling and marvel at how beautifully formed it was. In contrast to her brothers :) In their case it was obviously due to the amount of time spent lying on their backs.

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Bumpsadaisie · 20/05/2013 10:07

My DS had a lovely shaped head when born. By 6 months it was quite flat up the back.

Once he started sitting rather than lying it soon went back to how it was.

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MiaowTheCat · 20/05/2013 10:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

AmberSocks · 20/05/2013 10:27

its from lying in a cot isnt it?my 4 have all co slept and none had flat heads,from what ive read its a relatively new thing since cots have been used.

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AmberSocks · 20/05/2013 10:29

I dont think using a pram would make THAT much difference,unless they are in them loads and loads,they sleep all night in a cot!

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apatchylass · 20/05/2013 10:35

Do get it sorted. DS2 had this but he had so many other problems that we just left it. He's 10 now and still have a flat side to his head. His skull is misshapen because we didn't deal with it. I still feel guilty but if I listed the other stuff going on with his health it would take pages. Don't ignore it. Some HV's say it will right itself. It may not, especially if you have a baby like DS2 who absolutely refused ever to be placed on his stomach.

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gerbilsarefun · 20/05/2013 10:39

My dd developed a flat side to her head as a baby (can't remember exactly how old she was). HV said it was due to her favouring a side to sleep on, was nothing to worry about and would right itself. The advice was to put something for her to look at on the opposite side to her favoured side. She had a music thing which strapped onto her cot side. It did right itself after a short while.

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crazeelaydee · 20/05/2013 10:51

My Dc didn't have flat heads, but then they were always really alert and needed to constantly be doing something different so were very rarely in the same position for longer than 5 mins...sigh...that brings back very tiring memories! My Dsister has 4 Dc the 3 youngest all had flat head's, the eldest of the 3 is now 5 and his isn't as noticeable, but the other 2 (who are still quite young btw) are really noticeable. I did notice that they all tended to sleep in the same positions every time.