flat head syndrome

[bodiddlydora]

Hello all - my baby will be 24weeks old tomorrow. She was born with a fair amount of hair which a few weeks ago started to fall out. It has become apparent that she has a slight flattening to one side of the back if her head. I think the main problem is that she turns her head towards our bed while she sleeps. Just over a week ago I took steps to try and correct this - I moved the crib so she now sleeps with her head facing the other way. She spends most of her awake time sitting up now anyway.
Basically I'm hoping to hear from others who have had this problem. If I'm honest I don't think it's particularly bad but I feel AWFUL for not noticing it sooner and i'm worried I've left it too late 😢 Can anyone make me feel better?

My DD had this, I was the only one that could see it until she got a HV check and it was the 1st thing she mentioned. I became really paranoid that my Dd would only turn one way but once she was sitting up and crawling etc and she got hair I forgot about her flathead, the only time I would notice it was in the bath when she got her hair washed. My DD is now 2.5 and she has so much hair I definitely can't tell whether she still has flat head or not.

Thank you - that's reassuring x

Don't worry, pretty common.the skull flattens less as they are moving and not lying in the same place all the time.. Plus hair covers it! Two of mine had a bit of a flat head and you can't notice it at all now..

It's fine. They grow out of it as they move and position themselves with more variation.

My sister in law has the flattest head EVER!!! If you feel the back of her head, it's completely flat so she definitely had it. She's 35 now so I don't know if they did anything about it back then. I think now they can give helmets or something for it. But it hasn't affected her at all, her daughter has it as well, but you'd never know how flat their heads are from looking at them. It's only if you feel it.

My DD had this from birth due to her position in the womb and I was so paranoid about it, I ended up buying a ridiculously priced pillow to try and correct it but she just rolled straight off it! Anyway she's just over 2 now and still hardly has any hair so I notice it sometimes but once her hair grows more it won't show.

She likely has a normal skull with a positional flattening that will correct itself the more she sits etc - you've done the right thing by moving her cot.
Encourage her to turn to the non-favoured side by talking to her from that side, putting an interesting/moving/musical toy in her cot or even feeding her from that side to make her turn her head the non-favoured direction.

If you want to reassure yourself that her skull is growing normally, look at her ears from above - they should be symmetrical. If one ear appears to be positioned more forward than the other, let a HV have a look at her.

My ds3 has a fairly noticeable flat head. He doesnt have a great deal of hair as yet but tbqh I don't care one bit. He spent the first 4 months if his life in intensive care after undergoing major heart surgery at 10 days old. He couldnt move, roll, or even be held as he was ventilated and wired up to so many medicines....Seriously ladies, if your baby is fit and well but just has a slightly different shaped head to their peers- does it really matter???? X

Hi. My son is almost 7 now, but we had the same issue as he sleep with his head tilted to the right. I remember we consulted a Paediatrician and I was terrified he might have to wear something to correct it, and obsesses over going into his room and altering his head position when sleeping. Anyway, long story short. His head is fine now. Once he learned to sit up and spent less time on his back, then crawled, walked etc it just sorted itself out. Keep an eye on it but int experience it just resolved itself over time x

Both DS and I have flat heads.
We were both in the breech position.
I do remember DS being jammed under my rib cage so the pressure from that on his soft skull would perhaps have flattened it.

It's something that's commented on from time to time, but really isn't a problem. I wouldn't worry about it. Unless as a PP says there is a noticeable difference with ears etc.

And our lovely, thick hair covers it anyway.

My DS now 7 months had it really noticable when he was about 4 months, we had him referred and were told that it is just cosmetic and will sort itself out. It is now barely noticable just 3 months later!

My girl had this problem - flat right side because of the way she slept. It drove me crazy, I couldn't reposition her because she would just roll back. GP and HV were useless but I asked GP to refer us to a physio, who was great, giving us exercises to loosen her neck muscles. I also used a special pillow to take the pressure off her skull, used the sling instead of the buggy where possible and propped her up when playing on the floor. And we saw a cranial osteopath. Eventually I started putting her to sleep on her side instead of back, and finally, around nine months, she started rolling onto her tummy to sleep. Only then (she was starting to crawl too) did it start to improve. She is 22 months now and pretty much 100% symmetrical. It's possible that the skull would have corrected itself without me doing any of these things but I'll never know. I do think you need to make some kind of changes. Good luck with it, I know how stressful it is!

The little boy I look after, had a flat head. We booked a course of treatment with an osteopath, and after a while it started to correct itself

Get a MIMOS pillow, they're great. The XXL is suitable for 5months upwards.