Flat head

[gemsie23]

Has anyone had experience of their lo having a flat head from how they sleep? My dd likes to look to the right most of the time although she can look left and we are trying to get her to more but she always favours right and turns that way to sleep etc? Is the flatness anything to worry about or will it change as she gets older and her head grows? I have spoken to the doctor and he said not to worry but I wanted other people's opinions as to whether I should push for them to do anything about it or not?

im sorry but i dont understand why your dd as got a flat head from which way she sleeps. my dc was very premature 28 wks and his head was very thin and long ( i didnt notice this the doctors did) but they said this was through coming down the birth canel so small and it would round it self out which it did. i hope that helps.

My ds has quite a flat head and the consultant said that it was a mixture of how he slept, luck and the fact that he has a big head (his head size was why we were seeing her). He's absolutely fine. I went through a phase of fretting about it a lot but there's very little you can do other than keep them off their backs as much as possible when they're awake. My hv said that we'll see more flat heads since the "back to sleep" campaign. It's anecdotally more common in good sleepers-ds slept through from 3-6 months, absolutely flat on his back and that's when the "damage" was done. He's 17 months now and hos head has started to round out a little but it's still quite noticable to me. I think that the helmets are a waste of time and money. In all likelyhood your dd's head will "round out" or her hair will grow to cover it! My friends little girl has quite a flat head and you can only tell when her hair's wet.

If your dc has a flat head and prefers to turn to one side more than the other sometimes the neck muscles can become a little tight. It s a good idea to try to get them to look to the other side and to sleep on the other side - but still follow the back to sleep guidelines.
As they do more tummy time and grow and become better at holding teir head up themselves and generally stronger, and sleep a little less, the head then has a chance to round out.
Studies have shown same resolution with helmets as with repositioning advice at age two follow up.
You can also ask for a referral to Physio if it s not improving or getting worse.

our ds had a torticollis, a neck stiffness, and developed a very pronounced flat side, it's called plagiocephaly, it caused some facial asymmetry too as the skull at the forehead was pushed forward on that side causing a bulging eye. it was most prominent at 8-12 weeks but the torticollis resolved with physiotherapy and we were fastidious about not lettibg him rest his head on that side.....rolled up towel against his head at night....never left him in a car seat whilst not driving and had a rolled up muslin to keep his head straight in it. ..used sling instead of pram for carrying him and constant tummy time. the flattening is probably 90% improved now, he's 16m, and there is no facial asymmetry. we looked into a helmet but it only relieves the pressure of lying on the flat spot, it doesn't remould the skull into a normal shape, so our diligent repositioning did the same job and as the torticollis resolved he stopped favouring that side. I would recommend you make every effort to encourage dd to not keep lying on the flat spot. the nhs don't take plagiocephaly seriously, we saw a private consultant who did and I am glad we acted quickly to avoid any worsening. ds still has opthalmic follow up as the bulge caused a squint which has thankfully resolved. sorry im not painting a very pleasant picture. ...he's a stunner actually. ..just went through a difficult time a wee one!!

My ds1 had a very flat head as a baby at the back it was almost right angled from the top if his head down as he got older it corrected itself he's 7 now and has a perfectly normal shaped head

We had/have the same problem and I was frantic with worry between about 4-8 months. Makes me so angry that the NHS barely acknowledges the problem - my GP and HV were useless. I am hugely relieved to hear other posters saying their older kids have normal-shaped heads now, because there is so little information out there about phagiocelaphy (apart from scare stories and clinics charging thousands for helmets...)

Mine used to sleep with her head turned to the left and nothing I could do would change that! She is 12 months now and while her head is by no means perfectly symmetrical, it is much, much better. We had physio to sort out a slight bit of tightness in her neck; cranial osteopathy (not sure if that did anything); used a special pillow designed to relieve the pressure when sleeping; tried to get her to enjoy tummy time; and used a sling more than the pram. None of it seemed to do anything so I started to place her on her side instead of back in bed, and she would stay that way for maybe half the night, which at least made me feel better. But at around 10 months she started rolling herself onto her tummy to sleep, and as soon as she started crawling and pulling up, I noticed the head getting rounder.

Sorry for the essay. Basically, I think there is every chance that a flattened head will sort itself out in time without you doing anything (you never actually see adults with asymmetrical heads, do you?). But it's worth keeping an eye on it and making a few changes to take the pressure off while yours is little.

Our DD is just over 2 years now. When she was about 2 months she started getting a flat spot. We did a lot of research and ended up buying a Lifenest. They weren't available in the UK at that time so we imported from the US (at considerable expense). The Lifenest mattress topper has a mesh hammock that distributes the pressure really well and is FDA approved in the US for preventing flathead. In use in US hospitals as well apparently! Anyway, her flat spot disappeared within about 2 months and she has a gorgeous symmetrical shape now.We also noticed she seemed to sleep much longer on the Lifenest. We are big fans. Just had another addiion to the family smile and she is most definitely on a Lifenest. An we stumbled over this on youtube recently. www.youtube.com/watch?v=bulbAJ9xSpU