flat head

My son has a bit of a flat spot on 1 side that the dr is going to watch. He favors that side. In his car seat or in his bouncy seat even changing him. As soon as you turn his head in the other dorection he immediately moves it back. I put him on his side for naps but at night I out him on his back. Itg is a constatnt struggle to move his head. Even in his sleep he moves so much. I feel like he does not get restful sleep becasue I am constatnly moving his head. I have tried rolling up a receiving blanket and puttin it under that side but he still squirms his way on to it

did anyone have an issue like this? the ped actually said if it is not better by next month she recommends a "helmet" that I do not know if I can deal with. I feel like a terrible mom

Re: flat head

my daughter actually had a flat spot on the back of her head. but as soon as she was old enough to roll it rounded out. a friend of mine had a daughter that had to wear a helmet. it is actually quite common and there is a medical term for it that i cant remember this second. she only had to wear the helmet for about a month and it rounded back out. its not bad at all. it will bother you more then then the baby. but dont worry about it yet. give it a little more time. it may not come to the helmet, but if it does, its fine, if thats all you baby ever needs, consider it a great blessing.

Re: flat head

How old is your son? Did the Dr. say he has torticolis (sp?) or plagiocephaly? My daughter developed a very noticeable flat spot on the back of her head. When she was born she favored one side due to positioning in the womb. Its tightening of the neck muscles on one side. This is the torticolis. Due to this she developed the flat spot in the back. At her 3 month appointment the Dr. mentioned the helmet. I was devastated and of course blamed myself. I did a lot of resource and opted to go with "repositioning" to try to correct the problem. I went out and bought a bjorn and carried my daughter in malls, around the house, etc. I would also change her position as you said you have been doing. I took her to a pediatric physical therapist who did not think it was that bad and showed me some exercises to stretch Grace's neck muscles. I have to add that during this time Grace had started to roll over and the problem seemed to almost be correcting itself. Then she was crawling and rarely on the back of her head. By 6 months her head was perfectly round.

The Dr. really scared me and I kind of think that Dr.s today are overly cautious to avoid lawsiuts. Everyone told me she would grow out of it and she eventually did. I still followed the Dr.s advice such as carry her more, no more bouncy, etc. I hope this is helpful. You can FM me if you have any questions.

Edited to add: Try to change his diaper facing with her favored side closest to the wall. Also every night alternate the direction you place him in his crib.

Message edited 1/6/2006 11:42:17 AM.

Re: flat head

Sarah had a slight one that they were watching for a while. The doctor recommended rolling up a receiving blanket or towel and kind of wedging that under her on the flat side so that she would be forced to sleep more on the other side. I bet you could do that in the bouncy too, to keep his head from going to that side.

Once she started sitting up and rolling over they stopped mentioning it. I still see it, but it's much better. I don't know if it will ever fully round out, but no one has ever pointed it out to me other than the doctor, so I guess it's just me who sees it.

I know how you feel, I was so upset, I felt like I'd already screwed her up and she was barely in my care.

I know that on babycenter.com boards there is one that is dedicated to flat heads as well as the problem with the neck muscles (I forget the names). There are a lot of parents on there with kids who had to wear the helmets and have ideas for exercises that help with the neck muscles. It might be informative for you, just be aware that some of the pictures are a little upsetting, at least to me, especially the neck ones.

Re: flat head

he is 9 weeks. She did check his neck muscles and she sadi they look good. From what she explained 1 could be shorter then the other due to the flat spot. but in that aspect he seems to be ok.
during delivery he developed a huge "knot/bump", I forget the name of it, and of course I never forced him to lay on that side because i felt maybe it hurt him even thought the dr said it didn't. that has since gone away, i guess the blood drains back into the body. But he is rolling his head alot more and even holding itup for short periods, so I guess it will get better, I just have to be more conscious of it. I never really saw it until I saw him on someone elses's shoulder

Re: flat head

Duirng birth my DD had fractured her collar bone it was nothing major it didn't bother her but she did favor one side. She wound up getting a flat spot and what the dr told me to do was when she is lying down and your playing with her make her look to the opposite side so since the spot of was on the right I always layed on her left and always played with her so she can look to the left at night I took a travel pillow and put it under her so she would lay on her left side. But like you said she found a way to sleep on her right side. Like many moms have said once she starts to roll over and crawl it will be fine. I did also speak to the dr. about the helmut and in my daughters case she would only have to wear it when she was sleeping since that was when she was on her back the longest.

Hope this helped