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Original poster

4 months baby flat head

12 replies

LubnaRasheedi · 27/12/2015 16:53

Hi there,
My baby is 4 months old and has a flat head .
I noticed it when he was three months old and bought special pillow for him from Amazon. But I do not see any improvement .
Any parents facing similar problem and please suggest how I should help fix this problem ?

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Shantotto · 27/12/2015 19:16

I'd take him to your GP. My DS has it very very mildly on one side so we just encourage him to look the other way, place his head on the side that isn't flat when he is asleep, just try to keep him away from the side where its flatter.

Definitely get a doctor to look at it though.

BooOzMoo · 27/12/2015 19:28

Put baby at the bottom of the bed so looking the other way.... Most get flat head of some sort!

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LubnaRasheedi · 27/12/2015 19:36

Did anyone tried any medicated pillow ?

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Needaninsight · 27/12/2015 19:37

Go and see a cranial osteopath who specialises in babies. Can recommend a good one if you're North West.

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LubnaRasheedi · 27/12/2015 19:37

.

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Shantotto · 27/12/2015 19:40

I think pillows are better for prevention rather than fixing it - it will just stop it getting worse rather than improving it. Do go and see your GP and they can confirm how bad it is. My partner was getting really worried about it but the doctor confirmed it wasn't bad and just suggested we try to spend time on the other side.

ScarlettDarling · 27/12/2015 19:44

My dd had this. Infact her head was completely flat on one side, to the point where her little face was becoming distorted. Her eye and ear on the flat side were being shoved forward.

The gp said it was positional plagiocephaly, a flat head caused by the way she lay. The nhs provides no treatment for this, although the gp did print out some info about private clinics who provided treatment including plastic helmets to try to remould the skull.

We chose not to go down this route and instead chose to address how she lay. We propped her on her side between rolled up towels during day time sleeps and bought her a bumbo seat to try to keep her from lying on her flat patch. We also took her to a chiropractor as she seemed to have really tight neck muscles. She always seemed to be facing the same side. The chiropractor really helped to loosen her up and she naturally stopped lying on the flat side.

My dd is now 8 and she does still have a flat patch on one side of her head. She has masses of long hair though so it isn't very noticeable. I do still wonder sometimes if we should have gone down the route of plastic helmets etc but it's too late now.

Willow33 · 28/12/2015 01:30

Do get a physiotherapy referral from your gp and go and see a cranial osteopath who has experience with babies. I also haven't gone down the helmet route as a pp said.
My paediatrician gave me a paper which was an international study. It showed that helmets don't make hardly any difference compared to the group in the studies who didn't have helmet therapy intervention. It was published by the BMJ.

AmyAmy1980 · 28/12/2015 16:31

My daughter is now 12 months but did develop a flattened head on one side that became most noticeable when she was 3-4 months old. We didn't seek any medical help. I just bought a theraline pillow and started turning her head when she was asleep. I've no idea if either of these things helped in the end. I was very worried at the time. I can report that her head is round and lovely now, so it has all rounded off as she has grown and started crawling and walking. Having offered that reassurance, I'll just repeat what the others have said - definitely see an osteopath and get it checked out. That's the only way to know for sure.

Caterina99 · 28/12/2015 23:46

My DS had a mild flat head on one side which was most obvious at 2/3 months. I was much more concerned than the doctor. The advice was to do lots of tummy time and make sure he keeps his head turned to the non flat side as much as possible when sleeping, in car seat or lying on floor. He just turned 6 months and it seems to have gone

na5ima · 29/12/2015 23:30

My son has a flat head. It was flatter on one side as he use to sleep on that side better. The docs said to sleep them on both side and when BF swap. I just couldn't do it as DS would sleep on that one side. I even bought a special pillow but unsure if that even worked as the damage was done.

However my mum to the rescue. She use to sleep him on both sides. He helped. Still has a flattish head but it's not as bad as it use to be.. The docs said once the hair grows you won't able to see but told me to sleep his on both sides. My DS sleeps on his back and still does it's hard but ive accepted the flat head lol

If I have another I now know to put a pillow from the start and not make it flat from the start

Original poster
LubnaRasheedi · 30/12/2015 12:19

Which pillow do you recommend? Any special brand

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