Flat head

[OG2020]

Can anybody please give me some advice, my baby is nearly 4 months and has developed a flat head on her right side. I’m not sure wether it is mild, moderate or severe. She always sleeps with her head to the right no matter how many time I reposition her head she will always move it back. I really don’t want it to get any worse, some days I feel like it looks worse than other days but maybe I am just used to looking at it. I don’t know if a doctor will even see her to evaluate anything due to the corona virus but I really don’t want it to get worse and I feel like the doctor will just pan me off.

You're being paranoid, your child does not have flathead. A doctor will give you short shrift. Take her out on a carrier rather than a pram if you are paranoid. She will be sitting up in a couple of months and it will level out. This is flathead btw

Hi

Ignore the last poster - you aren’t being paranoid, infact its comments like that that lead to head issues being undiagnosed 🙄.

It’s isn’t flat head but there is a definite ‘bulging’ on left side as you look at her, which could be due to her head positioning when she sleeps or is in pram etc. Send these pics to your gp and ask to be seen by a physio at the very least who can help with your daughters neck muscles if she has / may have a preference to turn one way. You should also ask to see a paediatrician to rule out any premature fusing of the head sutures.

Definitely get her seen - we didn’t get my daughter seen until it was too late, due to people saying I was ‘paranoid‘. Now she’s 4 and her head shape is unfortunately formed for life like that.

X

It was just my opinion. Many babies have uneven head shapes due to lieing down in cot etc. I can remember being worried about my pfb because of this. If it is aesthetic the doctor will unlikely do anything as helmets will only be used in more severe cases. If the op needs medical advice she will of course go to the doctor, rather than forums full of unqualified (not always I realise, but this is the parenting board) mums.
Tummy time, sling time and eventually sitting will lessen the severity of this over time and of course the baby's hair will grow.
I bought a cleva mama memory foam mattress for my pfb, no idea if it worked or not.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/plagiocephaly-brachycephaly/

Actually Rubyroost you aren’t quite correct on this one. Some babies are born with stiff neck muscles, even something called a torticollis - both of my children had this. This means they have a preference to the way they turn their head, as op describes, and no amount of tummy time etc will resolve this. What will resolve it is support from a physio to stretch out the neck muscles which in turn will resolve the head shape.

There is also the other end of the spectrum relating to fused sustures (again mine had this) which does need seriously monitoring and isn’t always picked up by HVs.

Mums shouldn’t call other mums paranoid. It’s not helpful.

Sorry, not the best choice of words, you speak from your experience though and me from mine.

For me I was a paranoid momma, I looked up torticollis and also thought baby had that as he too would only sleep on one side, so I also tried repositioning head etc. He may have had a mild version as it is very common with newborns. Most do grow out of it, again with a bit of stretching, repositioning and tummy time etc. Some, but not many do require physio for this. So yes, you're right, any doubts then op should go to gp.

For you, your child's head shape was symptomatic of something more serious, and I'm sorry your baby had fused sutures, that must have been stressful.

Neither of us are wrong or right we are both speaking from our own experience which is why it's always a better idea to go to the doctors than ask on a mum's forum.

Consider going to a chiropractor specialising in pediatrics. Preferably Mctimoney.

They can actually make subtle adjustments of the cranial bones that can help with this.