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parents ignoring cot death advice due to flat head

15 replies

chocohead · 11/05/2006 08:09

have a look at this \link{http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4758345.stm\link}

Maybe HVs and MWs will give more advice to parents before or just after baby is born. My personal experience is my DD has slightly flat head one side

Before having DD i wasn't even aware of plagio, now it is probably one of the things i worry about the most with her. Am worried if i leave it maybe it will never correct itself.

I always gave her tummy time, she always used to sleep the same side but was never warned about this. Am just hoping the more press it gets the more it can be avoided.

Other opinions ?

OP posts:
QE · 11/05/2006 08:17

I vividly remember with dd (now 14) being told to sleep her on her side but to alternate every time I laid her down.

Incidentally my nephew has a flat head but he spends a lot of time during the day in a bouncy chair which may have contributed to it.

mummyhill · 11/05/2006 08:48

In other countries where babies sleep on the floor they make a quoit out of fabric and rest the back of the head on this. Perhaps this would help????

blueshoes · 11/05/2006 09:16

Unless she was asleep, my dd would not be put down on floor, in a bouncy chair or sit in a carseat for more than 5 mins before 6 months. She had to be carried all the time when awake. Hard work but no flat head there!

Piffle · 11/05/2006 09:18

This is such bullshit
Me and everyone I know who lets their baby sleep on their tummy does it because it's the only way they'll sleep!
End of
Car seats contribute to flat head too

CarolinaMoonfish · 11/05/2006 09:23

snap blueshoes Smile

it is spending half the day in a car seat or on a baby gym on a wooden floor that puts pressure on babies' heads imho, not sleeping on a mattress on their backs.

Anyway, what baby sleeps with their head facing up to the ceiling? They always turn to one side or the other, so how would the back of their head get flattened?

MadamePlatypus · 11/05/2006 12:46

I have only every seen one baby with an obviously flat head - he was about 4 months old and I haven't seen him since so I don't know if it corrected itself. I don't know any toddlers with flat heads. I agree that a child with a propensity towards having plagio may make it worse by lying on their back for long periods of time, but I don't think lying on your back can cause a baby who would otherwise have a completely round head to have a flat head - otherwise wouldn't there be an awful lot more flat headed children around?

MadamePlatypus · 11/05/2006 12:47

Obviously Children should spend time on their fronts and shouldn't be left in car seats for ages - its just that I think its one more thing for mothers to feel guilty about.

gomez · 11/05/2006 12:50

Quite agree Piffle. DD2 was a tummy sleeper not because of vanity on our part but a need for her to get a rest of longer than 20 minutes.

Eowyn · 11/05/2006 12:50

I always put dd down on her back as instructed but as soon as she could she'd turn on her front. At the time I thought she was inviting certain death.. I followed instructions a bit religiously at first. anyway, no flat bits on head. agree there is surely a predisposition.

rosycheek · 11/05/2006 13:43

I think there is definately a predisposition. Of my 3 Lo, 2boys have flat heads, dd doesn't. All 3 were treated the same, in fact ds2 always used to roll himself onto his side and from about 6 months has slept on his stomach. DD on the other hand was slower to roll and move around so spent more time in her bouncy chair...yet no flat head. And all 3 were carried alot in slings when they were very young, so spent minimal time on their backs. BTW I have a flat head too.

I think people worry too much about it. I think most of the time the flat head thing is mainly cosmetic, and once their hair grows it's not noticed.

MrsBigD · 11/05/2006 13:54

also agree with piffle! both dd and ds would burst out screaming if I event attempted to put them on their back!

Raggydoll · 11/05/2006 14:09

one side of ds head was flat - he's 2 now and has a lovely round head - somewhere along the way it must have corrected itself. read somewhere about a couple that took there ds to europe to have a kind of helmet fitted that slowly pushed his head back into shape ... he had to wear it something like 23 hrs a day.

PrettyCandles · 11/05/2006 14:18

It seems to me that the majority of babies have bald patches at the back of their heads because of spending so much time on their backs. If back-sleeping, or carseats, or playgyms on hard floors caused flat heads, or made them worse, then most of these babies' bald patches would be flat. But they aren't. So I'm deeply unconvinced.

BTW, dd slept on her stomach from day 3 (days 1 and 2 I put her down on her side, to keep the midwives in the hospital happy) - and it's the top of her head that's flat!

finefatmama · 17/05/2006 22:08

We had two babies who had to wear helmet looking things at our local sure start. The moderator went into the tummy time thing and said that cases in our local area had risen from about 6 a year to about 1000 (to varying degrees) since pple stated putting babies to sleep on thier backs.

ds sleeps facing the ceiling most times now but fortunately spent his first 7 months on his tummy.

supakids · 17/05/2006 22:10

Choco, I took ds to cranial osteopath who seemed to be able to manipulate it back to a better shape.

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