Have you ever seen an older child or adult with a really flat head?

[AugustSeptemberOctober]

My DD is 18 months old and she has severe brachycephaly - the back of her head is very flat. She was extremely refluxy when she was smaller and tummy time got quite distressing for both of us, so unfortunately I didn't do it much. The health visitor just said not to worry and that her head would round out once she started sitting up.

Unfortunately it just hasn't. She's been to the GP and anything medically wrong has been ruled out, but the GP did admit that it's very noticeable. I try to remind myself that it's just cosmetic and that we are lucky, but sometimes I feel sick with guilt over it because she'll probably get bullied. It's too late for a helmet now so nothing can be done. I went to a toddler group with her yesterday and was so conscious of all the round heads, I'm sure people stare at her and judge us.

My friend keeps telling me to stop stressing about it, and asked me if I've ever looked at someone else's head and thought it was a funny shape (which I haven't!). So is it likely to be noticeable when she's older or am I really stressing over nothing?

The good thing being a girl is that she will be able to have a hairstyle that would hide any noticeable flatness to the back of her head.

It’s probably more noticeable now as she is so young.

I’m not sure if it’s the same condition but my friends daughter had a very flat head at the back. She was offered a helmet in an attempt to help ‘correct’ it but decided not to go down this route.

By the time her little girl was around 6 it really wasn’t very noticeable when she had a full head of hair. Now at 9 I can’t notice it at all.

My ds had a flat head from birth. We saw a consultant but decided against any treatment, the advice being that it would correct itself.

I kept his hair quite long, but you coukd still see it when his hair was wet - no one commented after he was around 5 years, and by time he started secondary school it wasn't noticeable at all.

He's 17 now and sometimes wears his hair very short. Not flat at all.

DD1 was premature and completely opposed to the idea of tummy time - once she learnt to roll over it was a total "fuck you" to that idea! At one point her head looked like someone had chiselled off a corner of it it was that flat. Despite the fact I used a sling rather than a buggy and did everything right - she was a stubborn little soul and was determined to have her head one particular way to go to sleep whatever I did (she's still a stubborn bugger now - god help me when she's a teen).

Honestly - once their hair comes in - you don't notice it at all, and then it rounds out naturally over time and suddenly they have wet hair and you realise that their head is... head shaped and you've not thought about it for years.

DD2 had such a perfectly shaped head the staff commented on it and assumed she was a c-section baby.

In Mexico.
Our tour guide said that lots of Mexicans have flat heads. Something to do with Mayan ancestry.
I'm not sure if he was joking but the back of his head was rather flat!

He was very good looking and we wouldn't have noticed that the back of his head was flat if he hadn't pointed it out.

My friends daughter had a flat head/face (more like on the side not back of the head) over time it has rounded, but is still slightly noticeable, but then she hasnt full grown yet still mid teens.

My DS is 18 months and has this and I purposefully kept a look out for peoples heads (that sounds odd written down) but I wanted to work out if it was visible and never saw someone with a noticeable flattened head

DD had a flat head until around 6 or so. I don't know if it rounded itself gradually or what, but I just noticed one day it wasn't flat any more.

Thank you all so much, you've made me feel loads better!

My husband has quite a flat head when you feel it. But to look at him you would have absolutely no idea.

My DH does, but looking at his family it is clearly a genetic trait. Sadly DD does too, but fortunately she has curly hair and it less noticeable.

My Albanian boyfriend says all Albanians over the age of about 25 have very flat heads as it's something to do with the traditional way of lying babies in their cots (I'm afraid I zoned out at this point so didn't really get what this entailed). About 25 years ago there was a campaign to change this way of doing things - in order to avoid the flat heads I think. Anyway, after visiting Albania I have to say he is completely right - but you only notice the men as they have short hair.

My df father has a flat head from lying down so much after his stroke and honestly nobody bar us has ever noticed in nearly 20 years.

My DC had plagiocephaly as a baby and it was very noticeable. The paediatric physio was very ambivalent about the use of helmets and just advised to get them sitting up. At 18 months it was still noticeable (although nobody ever commented if they did notice) but by 3 or 4 it was much less obvious. Now a teen and not noticeable at all.

I felt really bad at the time, and was furious with the health visitor who just shrugged and said “we see a lot of that these days”. Grrr, you could have watched out for it / warned me! It was picked up on the baby’s first GP check.

Ds1 has a tiny bit of a flat head, he's 13. I had never heard of it when he was a baby. He slept so much as a baby, he was a dream, always content in the Moses basket of cot so spent a lot of time lying on his back. Had I known I'd have tried to perhaps do something differently. Such as have him in a sling.

It's really not noticeable with his hair. I expect it won't be with your dd when her hair grows.

My ds2 was a breech baby, delivered naturally and has the classic breech very round head. Then we noticed when he was a few weeks old that he always slept with his head to the one side and it has started to go a bit flat on the one side. Got that all checked out and that did go back to normal.

But he still has his very round head.

The head shape will continue to improve until 3/4 years old as the last of the skull sutures fuse

You could ask for a skull X-ray to check if they have prematurely fused (craniosynostosis) but it is unlikely if various health providers all say it is fine

My ex and my younger son have flat heads. Or “thumb heads”, as my other son calls them!

Fortunately my son has thick hair.

DS had a very noticeable flat head on one side. His whole head seemed misshapen, I was very worriedand consciousof it. I've never heard of tummy time? Is this supposed to correct it?
Anyway it slowly corrected itself. Still noticeable at 4 or 5 iirc but as an adult heis as symmetrical as anyone else.

I think there was research recently which suggested that children largely outgrow this? The shape improves over time. I am sure I remember hv giving us a leaflet about it

My mum had a Foster child with a very flat head. He'd spent his life laying down for the first 18 months. His head didn't really improve but it was less noticeable as he got older I think.

Ds did but once he got a full head of hair it was less noticeable. He’s an adult know and you can’t tell.

Friends son had very weird head as a baby, toddler, up until secondary school- kryten from red dwarf- still very angular now he’s 15 but not sure what anyone could have done about it. One of mine lay on one side as a baby and had a flattening on that side but it went as soon as he sat up/6+ months.

My sil her husband has really flat head but it’s on the top - think old Frankenstein. No one says anything. Not even a joke or nickname. I think he was swaddled too high - the cribs are pretty solid.

We as a family have famously flat heads on top. More noticeable on the boys, both my sons have it. No one ever notices !