Flat head

larossa

While playing with my 8 week old son yesterday i noticed the back of his head is slightly flat. I lay him to sleep/nap on his back as per the Sids prevention guidelines and he mostly sleeps flat on his head rather than turning it to the side. I know his skull is still soft at this stage so I'm wondering will this correct by itself or is there anything I can do to help things along like special pillows etc?

ChewChew

Lots of tummy time and if he'll rest on his tummy, allow him to sleep on it during the day when you are nearby keeping an eye on him.

Coopaloop

The cleva mama pillow is very good. Also tummy time. Maybe when baby is asleep you could gently turn the head either side. Our little guy was the same , loved putting his head to one side for sleeping, so we would turn it as much as possible, itsrighted itself in the end by doing the above.

larossa

Thanks, I'm hoping that by catching it early I can avoid any problems for him down the line.

Diamond Doll

It's called positional plagiocephaly, it's quite common now that it's recommended for babies to sleep on their backs rather than their tummies.

First, get to your PHN asap. They will refer you for physiotherapy, however it'll take a while before you get an appointment. Therefore it's best to get on that list as soon as you can.

Look into babywearing - if you can have your baby in a sling or carrier as much as possible, rather than lying down in a buggy or cot or bouncer, it would help a lot. (My son never took to this, unfortunately!)

What kind of mattress do you use ... it's best to invest in a really good one. If the baby is still in a moses basket with a thin mattress, I'd recommend moving to a cot as soon as possible.

Tummy time, as much as possible. While waiting for the physiotherapy, it would be worth looking up tummy time exercises on Youtube.

If your baby is ever inclined to lie with head to one side, put decorations/mirror etc the opposite side of the cot.

My son had "moderate to severe" positional plagiocephaly in his early months, we did the physio etc and (at 22 months now) it's completely back to normal. So it's definitely reversible, but it's best to have it addressed as early as possible.

ChewChew

Physiotherapy will just recommend tummy time unless there is a preference to looking to one side which the op says isn't an issue!

Diamond Doll

Maybe that depends on the physiotherapist. Our physio did detailed physical exams of him, to check his hips/back/neck etc, and also provided us with printouts of tailored daily exercises and demonstrated them with us.

ChewChew

That's to be expected with 'moderate to severe' pp, which your son had. I'm just referring to the op which mentions 'slight' and no positional preference.

Diamond Doll

In our case, though, we hadn't noticed a problem at all, and even the PHN only said it was "slight". It was the physio who diagnosed it as "moderate to severe" ... if the PHN hadn't picked up on it, we probably wouldn't have for a long time afterwards - he had lots of hair, so it wasn't very noticeable.

If the OP sees a noticeable problem, I think it's worth getting the PHN to check it as soon as possible. Maybe a referral to a physio won't be necessary, but in her position, I'd want to get it checked at least.

Millem

Your phn will see it in a few weeks anyway at 12 week check
Ditch the bouncer chair if you have one. Or turn the babies head so they leaning on other side. nhs recommend the clevamamma pillow and Scandinavian countries use a different brand (can't remember the name but you can buy them online).

larossa

Thanks for the replies folks. I'll take on board the advice on here and give him more tummy time, stop using bouncer etc...my phn is hard to get hold of so ill do the above until I see her in a month's time. I have been researching those pillows, the clevamama has been deemed unsafe now and the Scandinavian one mentioned called mimos is said to be ok however a lot of experts say no pillows are safe and the baby should have nothing in a cot when they sleep? I have managed to turn his head to the side just now as he is sleeping so he is not putting pressure on the flat part, hopefully it will help.

Millem

larossa wrote: »

Thanks for the replies folks. I'll take on board the advice on here and give him more tummy time, stop using bouncer etc...my phn is hard to get hold of so ill do the above until I see her in a month's time. I have been researching those pillows, the clevamama has been deemed unsafe now and the Scandinavian one mentioned called mimos is said to be ok however a lot of experts say no pillows are safe and the baby should have nothing in a cot when they sleep? I have managed to turn his head to the side just now as he is sleeping so he is not putting pressure on the flat part, hopefully it will help.

You put the pillow under the fitted sheet. A hse physio in 2014 told me about the pillows. they also recommend bumbo seats when the baby is old enough. I am scared of them as my boy was a real wild one so I got a "fisher price sit up floor seat".

We actually didn't need physio. But My phn made me a bit OTT obsessed with flat head :eek: and it was all in my head!!!!
Do you have a baby gym with dangling things and music? My guy used to love going into that.

larossa

Millem,

Hadn't thought of placing the pillow under the sheet but it makes more sense. I know how you feel about getting obsessed with it as I feel like im constantly checking his head the last few days! He has a jungle gym set but it's the lying down type I will get one that keeps him off his head.

Millem

larossa wrote: »

Millem,

Hadn't thought of placing the pillow under the sheet but it makes more sense. I know how you feel about getting obsessed with it as I feel like im constantly checking his head the last few days! He has a jungle gym set but it's the lying down type I will get one that keeps him off his head.

I used to put my guy in the gym for tummy time! He would try and hold his head up to look at the toys!

I was so obsessed that I would ask everyone who saw him about his head!!!! Tbh every baby I see nowadays out and about has a bit of flat head! It 100% rounds out though. From 5 months my guy slept on his belly plus they grow hair!!

My mum's friend's baby has flat head and it is really really flat. Like one side is totally flat. I have never seen anything like it so I presume that's what you call moderate/severe. I don't know what I was stressing about :rolleyes:. He goes for physio and they measure the shape...it has really affected the position of his ears. :eek:

ChewChew

We have the cleva mamma pillow here and it is brilliant. My girl has a slight bit of flat head but nothing much tbh, her problem was positional preference. She had a horrible, right muscle on her right side but we corrected that. I brought her to a neck specialist physio whilst waiting for the public appt so unless you had an problem with that, I wouldn't stress over getting appointments that aren't particularly necessary supervised tummy naps really helped here! Thankfully now, after a few weeks of intense physio, our problems are 90% resolved

Roselm

Millem wrote: »

A hse physio in 2014 told me about the pillows. they also recommend bumbo seats when the baby is old enough. .

I thought the complete opposite, that physios DIDN'T recommend those bumbo type seats. I thought it was because they place the child in an unnatural position. Also that the child doesn't have to learn to use it's own muscles and balance to get into that sitting position and hold it-the chair does all the work?

Millem

Roselm wrote: »

I thought the complete opposite, that physios DIDN'T recommend those bumbo type seats. I thought it was because they place the child in an unnatural position. Also that the child doesn't have to learn to use it's own muscles and balance to get into that sitting position and hold it-the chair does all the work?

In 2014 tallaght hse physio had them (saw them with my own eyes) and recommend them to me. I have posted before how scary I think they are as kids can throw themselves backwards in them....so I went with fisher price one.