Baby has a flat head

[Kelly1978]

Hello,
I have noticed that dt1's head is becoming increasingly flat at the back. It's gettign very noticeable now, as the whole back surface is flat and it looks slightly high at the top too. It looks likely abecause he sleeps on it all the time, and I am hoping it might improve as he spends less time laying on it. (He is now 5 mnths)
I've been doing some reading, and there doesn' seem to be help available ont he NHS, and I am reluctant to go down the route of helmet therapy in any case. Has anyone had any experiences or success with repositioning or osteopathic techniques?

there is one person on MN [chicpea i think?] who knows a lot about corrective procedures - if you do a search under flat heads in archives you'll find old threads about it. I was very concerned when ds was 3 to 6 months - his head was very flat on one side - but now, at 12 months, it is hardly noticeable. I had a lot of worry about it and now realise in his case at least it sorted itself out.He was sleeping on one side only so we took him to a chiropractor who freed up his neck. Try and get him to have tummy time in the day and when he sits up it will help. It is a very common thing nowadays with the back to sleep campaign.

i would take him to a chiropractor who regularly treats babies. It can't hurt and it definitely helped my ds.

Hi Kelly - I mentioned it already on the April 2005 thread, but ds also has a flat head on one side caused by the way he likes to turn his head to one side when sleeping. GP referred him to the paed and we saw him on Tuesday - he said that it should round out as he gets older and to continue with the repositioning techniques I have been adopting ie turning his head when we find him sleeping the wrong way, putting toys in his cot to encourage him to face the other way more etc... He examined his neck and he does not suffer from his neck muscles being too short/tight on one side which can be the reason why some babies favour holding their head on one side.

I too have read loads of stuff online about it and have clocked the helmets - the paed was very scathing about these though as they cost around £1,500 and he reckoned there was no evidence they worked (he scoffed at them being an American thing that is slowly taking off here). This was not the impression I got from the online photos though, however even if they do work, personally I feel that it is too extreme a measure for ds given that it is a cosmetic thing and his flat head is not too noticeable - I can understand why some people may wish to go down this route though.

I too was wondering whether there was any other technique such as massage therapy that might help - I have dug around a bit looking at cranial osteopathy but not sure whether it would be effective.

hello!

my cousin (now 3 years) had this....

the suggested it MAY be because he spent sooo much time lieing down.... they didnt evn have a baby 'chair' for him and used his jane matrix car seat as his moses basket in the early days!

anyway my aunt (his mum) is Dr herself and she started to notice it (at around 8 / 9 months if i remember rightly)

he was taken to his GP... referred to a specialist (who at the time said it was on of the worst cases he had seen ) but also said they would wait a while...

i remember that they want any operation done before he was 2, but even earlier if possible, the earlier the better....

BUT it seemed to correct itself! hes now 3 years 2 months and tbh you hardly notice it at all now, even at 18 months it had gone to the extent that you would only notice it IF you were looking for it!

Hope that makes you feel postitve!
BTW i would take your child to the GP asap... so at least IF something needs to be done the 'ball can start rolling' (so to speak) cause IF it does, the earlier it happens the better.

Oh good, its reassuring to know that such a bad case which was also picked up late righted itself in due course .....

Hopefully ravi will sort himself out then. Because the whole of the back of his head is gettign flat it is now impossible to get him to sleep any other way while still on his back and while those helmets do look as if they work, I just didn't fancy it if it is purely cosmetic. I am tryign to keep him upright more, it's nightimes which are worse, and I think because he is a twin and the mroe placid of the two he has spent too much time laying down!
Roobie, I did see your post, this is how I got started thinkign about Ravi. I had noticed it didn't look normal, and your post gave me the answer!

Message withdrawn

My DS2 has been wearing a helmet for 7 weeks and it has made a huge difference. He had a flat back to his head and some asymetry. We have no regrets spending the money. Have a look at this web site (I can't do links) groups.msn.com/PlagioUK It should give you some helpful information, especially on repositioning.

My ds is also very flat at the back of his head.We had a horrible accident when he was 3 wks old(he's now 11 wks),which caused it.The hospital did tell us that it would go back to normal eventually,but was told it would take a bit of time.was also told to try and alternate the side when he's sleeping as babies that young still have very soft skulls."Tummy time" would most probably also help and to try and limit the amount of time ds lies flat,if poss.
I'm actually seeing the HV tomorrow and i'm going to mention the shape of his head,so i'll let you know what she says.

My ds had a very squiffy head when he was born (he got stuck in an odd position in my womb). It was quite triangular, and very noticable looking at photos when he was a baby. Now at 6 1/2 I can sometimes see that his head is not quite symetrical, but unless he wants to shave his head when he is older I can't see that it's going to be a problem. No one else has ever said anything (and I'm sure if my mother noticed she would tell me!)

I got one of these pillows for ds a couple of weeks ago - I wish I'd realised they existed when he was born as they say they are for 0-3 months (although instructions actually state 0-4 months)and I fear he may now be too old for it to make a difference. That said, it does anchor his head somewhat away from his flat side and I could see how it may also help those babies who have flat heads at the back. Kelly, perhaps you could try it - as he is getting older ds does come off it now and again but at least it's something....
heart baby pillow

Ravi is 5 mnoths now, maybe too old for that. I can't se fromt eh picture how it does stop baby from laying on the flat bit - how do you position it?
I tried the rolled up muslim last night and he did stay asleep with his head tilted more to one side, so I am goin to perservere with that for a bit, rotating sides and seeing how we get on.
Thanks for the link to the plagio site - loads of useful info. I think if it doesn't start rounding out in the next few months I might have to consider more intervention. It really seems too severe to be unnoticeable even when he is older.

I have just found this on kiddicare. It looks pretty good, wondering what other mums think?

hi kelly, my ds also had a very flat head at the back for the first 6 or 7 months due to sleeping on his back all the time, he is now 13 months and it has corected itself so much you can barely notice it. his head did look really misshapen from a side view and high at the front but he was born by ventouse and i was told this may have something to do with it, was just wondering how your ds was born? could this be anything to do with it?

I had a section, so I doubt that is related, but he was the breech twin for the last trimister, so i am wondering now if maybe that started it and I just didn't notice it until he kept sleeping on it and made it worse.

maybe that would be something to ask your health visitor / GP? i hope you can take some comfort though that it can correct itself over time if its just from his sleeping position

I am hoping it will improve, just wanting to do something to help him at the same time IFYWIM
I maybe should go to the drs, but it seems that it is a cosmetic poblem that isn't really taken seriously by the NHS. I am sure it isn't nething more serious, and I think he is beautiful anyway, but i jsut worried it might bother him if it did stay quite bad.

it is worrying isn't it but hopefully you'll start to see an improvement when he becomes a bit more mobile and starts fidgeting around in his sleep. i still put ds down on his back but within half an hour he has got himself comfy and flipped onto his belly, it was when he started this that his head started to "pop out" (!) at the back. but even before this when he started to grow more hair it became less noticeable, i know thats only a comfort if it superficial which i hope it is for you too