Only moving head to one side and flat head syndrome

[WinterOfOurDiscontent]

Dc (9 weeks) heavily prefers turning head to the left. He can move it to the right but not fully. He's a great night time sleeper so spends 9 hrs or so back sleep. As a result the left side of his head is flat.

Seen a physiotherapist and he told me to encourage movement to the other side which I've been trying to do since 2 weeks old.

What else can I do? Will he need a helmet to correct this? It looks really bad.

Bump

Tummy time! Which he probably wont like to start with. If he cries you just turn him over and try again the next day. Put toys on the side he won't turn to, to encourage him to turn his head. Babies often get flat heads as they sleep on their backs now. But it'll often just grow out as they learn to roll and sit and move more. It'll get covered by the hair anyway.

Torticollis. If you see a physio already they should have already assessed this.

Yes the physio said there was tightening in the neck but couldn't feel a lump. He suggested tumny time, interesting toys on the side he doesn't turn to etc but I've been doung this for weeks already. The problem lies at night when I'm asleep and his head is flat on the side he prefers. It worries me that the flattening will get worse.

I do tummy time everyday but he screams after 30-60 seconds.

Does a carrier like an ergo count as tummy time?

Try not to worry. My DD (in my opinion) had terrible flat head on one side. You can still see I when her hair is wet but you can't even tell now. She benefits from being a girl I suppose with long hair. She is 4 now. I looked into the helmet but couldn't bear to put her through it just for cosmetic reasons.

I've read the helmet is no guarantee to change the shape of the head back. They seem to cost around £2000 which we can't afford at all.

It is really unlikely that you will need the helmet.

You need to go and see your GP - the most likely explanation is that it is a sternomastoid tumour.

It is quite common and normally goes away before they turn 1.

You can do things to help and I'd be happy to explain them to you, but you really need to see your GP to make sure that's all it is.

My dd was like this at the same age. Took her to an osteopath for some gentle cranial osteopathy. She went 3 times in all and the difference in dd's ability to move her head was noticeable immediately after the first session. After the 3rd session, the problem was resolved altogether.

I actually cancelled the cranial osteopath aa I thought physio would be better. Shall I rebpok an appointment?

My son was exactly the same. My hv gave great advice which worked for him. Babies will apparently look toward light, so i moved his position when lying on the floor and swapped the end i put him in his crib. Plus tummy time, but he screamed and it was hard to watch but worth it. He is 18 months now and you can barely notice it.
I hope that helps. Dont worry too much, its quite common and you have noticed early.

Well all I can say is that it worked for us. Had a friend whose son also had the same problem, tried tummy time, putting toys on other side to no avail, etc. She took him to osteopath when he was 4 months and again the osteopath resolved the problem but by that time he already had a flat patch on his head which is still noticeable now (5 years later). The earlier you take them, the better I think I remember being told. I was a bit embarrassed that I was taking my 6week old at the time as it seemed ridiculous taking a baby that age. But I'm glad I did. Also took DD2 at about 4 weeks for the same thing and that sorted it too.

I've used an osteopath and it has really helped, although they didn't do the cranial part. They've done a lot of work on her neck and now she sleeps on both sides. Her head looks a lot more even. She used to have bald patch on the side of her head where she lay, and that has moved to the centre now. I have however heard that a lot of babies heads get better on their own once they start to sit, but I just didn't want to risk it as it was so flat and her head bulged on one side!