preferential head side

mcnava · June 2014

so my DS has an abnormally large head (off the charts). The pedi isnt concerned because both DH and i have large heads and his head is growing in the same rate as his body, but I've found that he will only lay with his head to his left side. He doesnt seem to be flattening, but even if i turn his head the other way, he just rolls it back to the left. anyone else's LO have a preferential head side? I think the big head makes it hard to be directly upright, but i feel like he should do both.

ksyknelvr73 · June 2014

This was DS1 exactly...he ended up with a flat spot. We are trying to be diligent this time around. If you can, hold LO on the other side so he has to turn the opposite way(like when feeding). There are ways to encourage them to look to the other side and hopefully that will help.

MrsT2008 · June 2014

In her crib (where she sleeps overnight), DD almost always turns her head to the right but she doesn't seem to have as much of a preference when she's in something like the RnP or bouncy seat.

deanna1313 · June 2014

Yes! My little guy has the same thing going in although his head seems to be shaping more normally since birth.
The pediatrician said to turn his head and to talk to him in that direction to get him to try to keep it facing that way. He seems to be responding well. It's important to work in it now just in case it doesn't get better in it's own. I've seen many children who needed therapy or one of those hats as the get olde.

mcnava · June 2014

thanks guys. I know I tend to hold him with his head to my right, but my husband is the opposite. I'll work on getting him to look the other way!

spacepotatoes · June 2014

anniemore said:

I've seen some people mention physically turning his body 180 degrees because infants tend to prefer looking in a particular direction. So.. essentially, if it's the wall, they will keep staring at the wall, turn them 180 degrees so that they end up laying on the other side of his head to stare at his favorite wall.

Yes, we were told to do that in our prenatal classes. They said to alternate which direction we put her down in to help prevent this.

We noticed LO favouring her right side a lot during her first week so we started being more diligent about alternating her position and it seems fine now.

jenb_99 · June 2014

DS always turned his head the same way. It's even noticeable in pictures. But he never developed a flat spot or any other issues.

ho11yday · June 2014

DS1 did this but gad torticollis contributing to it. Ended up doing physical therapy to help rectify.

chillypenguin · June 2014

DD1 did this and had torticollis (tight neck muscles). She did develop plagiocephaly (flat side on her head) and started physical therapy at 2 months old. She didn't need a helmet but the physical therapy definitely helped. Initially I would try to gently turn her head the other way and she would just turn it back to the preferred side. Next time you have your LO in to their pedi I would have them feel their neck muscles to make sure one side is not tight.

Marcella05 · June 2014

DS prefers to look to his right so I've been worried too. No flat spot yet, but he keeps moving it back when I try to turn his head left. I hate doing it when he is asleep, cuz I fear waking him up. Hoping for the best.

danabsd · June 2014

Beb did, and Q is definitely favoring her right. Beb was getting flat head around 2 months we used a Tortle and it corrected the problem enough that she did not need a helmet. You can also roll up a receiving blanket and use it to position Los head. That didn't work for us because she just moved off of it.

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