Flat head

tripledaggerWed95976 · June 2016

we just had our two month check up and the doctor said my son has a "moderate" flat head and that I need to c a specialist. Wondering if anyone has had experience with this? Attached is a pic

sarawifenow · June 2016

I don't have any experience with this, so I have no advice, but I just wanted to say that I don't really see anything that I would think of as flat? Where on his head is the Dr talking about?

camillaandcarson · June 2016

That sounds stressful! Keep us updated on your LO. I have heard that once baby has head control most of the time it works itself out. I am curious to know what the specialist thinks though.

tripledaggerWed95976 · June 2016

sarawifenow said:

I don't have any experience with this, so I have no advice, but I just wanted to say that I don't really see anything that I would think of as flat? Where on his head is the Dr talking about?

It's sort of difficult to show in the picture. The doctor basically said his head is mis-shapen (like a cone head almost??). Idk, but I feel like it looks normal too!!!! In really anxious to get a second option because now she (the doctor) has me all freaked out!!!

Bluejay3030 · June 2016

Errr, maybe it's just the angle, but I don't see it. Either that or my kid has a flat head, too... Anyway, I don't have any experience, but I hope it is something that's easily corrected.

LadySamLady · June 2016

I don't have a lot of experience but a family friends baby had flat head syndrome and wore a helmet for a while. I don't think it was very long and I'm pretty sure the issue is 100% cosmetic. I'm sorry you're dealing with it! FX your doctor is wrong - his head looks totally normal to me!

dsmith211 · June 2016

If your baby has a flat head then I feel like mine does too. That looks completely normal to me. FX everything goes ok at the doctors appointment.

tripledaggerWed95976 · June 2016

Thank you ladies so much! You have seriously made me feel so much better. I was seriously in tears when my doctor gave me the news, because I felt like it was my fault. She said babies who don't get enough tummy time get it. I told her we do tummy time all the time and she looked at me like I was lying or something.

ayeshaohara · June 2016

tripledaggerWed95976 said:

Thank you ladies so much! You have seriously made me feel so much better. I was seriously in tears when my doctor gave me the news, because I felt like it was my fault. She said babies who don't get enough tummy time get it. I told her we do tummy time all the time and she looked at me like I was lying or something.

Doctors suck. There's lots of reasons and if she's trying to convince you 15 minutes of tummy time is the cure all then she's mean. A lot of it is actually from them sleeping on their backs...which they do for far more hours in the day than bloody tummy time (gah stupid Doctor).

My friends twins had it too and it was because they favoured one side of their head when they were sleeping which again is very common. Their ears ended up out of alignment with the side of their head which was weird but fixable. Mostly it rectifies itself by the age of 2 but sometimes needs some help with helmets and little hat things!

DO NOT STRESS it's fixable and not a big deal at all!!!

wamam027 · June 2016

Your sons head looks fantastic, if that's flat head, then you're lucky! My friends 6 month old daughter has flat head and you can REALLY tell, like there's absolutely no doubt about the fact that she has a flat head. All she does for it is more chest to chest holding and more tummy time, (now that she can kind of sit up on her own she sits her up a lot more frequently), and turning her head to the side while sleeping and alternating which side she turns it to.

Charissadeats · June 2016

This thread made me look at LO's head and realise that he definitely has a flat head forming on the one side that he favours.

I have since tried to get him to sleep on the other side a bit - to no avail. It also doesn't help that my 5 week old still sleeps the majority of the time... I will up tummy time and chest to chest with him to see if it works!! Ergh. I didn't even know it was a thing...

@tripledaggerWed95976 I can't see what your doc means though, so am hoping for your sake it's not flat head. But please keep us updated after you've seen the specialist!

NinnyJean · June 2016

Hope everything turns out well! LO's pediatrician said that they almost always correct themselves so they rarely use the helmets anymore or take measures to correct

tripledaggerWed95976 · June 2016

Thank u guys so much, we are going to see a specialist next week and I will definitely post an update

andiie5 · June 2016

Lurking from June -
My first baby developed a flat head on one side because he definitely favoured it. I was so worried because I didn't want to go through the helmet route.
i recommend being proactive by giving him tummy time and search on eBay for flat head pillows. It definitely helped reshape my baby's head and they are only like $7.
Please don't dismiss it, you have just caught it in time.
good luck

tripledaggerWed95976 · June 2016

andiie5 said:

Lurking from June -
My first baby developed a flat head on one side because he definitely favoured it. I was so worried because I didn't want to go through the helmet route.
i recommend being proactive by giving him tummy time and search on eBay for flat head pillows. It definitely helped reshape my baby's head and they are only like $7.
Please don't dismiss it, you have just caught it in time.
good luck

I will definitely check those pillows out, thank you!

tripledaggerWed95976 · June 2016

andiie5 said:

Lurking from June -
My first baby developed a flat head on one side because he definitely favoured it. I was so worried because I didn't want to go through the helmet route.
i recommend being proactive by giving him tummy time and search on eBay for flat head pillows. It definitely helped reshape my baby's head and they are only like $7.
Please don't dismiss it, you have just caught it in time.
good luck

Just ordered this one! Thanks for the tip!!

cortney626 · June 2016

I've been kind of worried about my LO's head. She seems to have more than 1 soft spot. Not sure of that's normal. And the shape seems like it could be flat. I plan on asking her dr at her 2 month appt next week. Better to be proactive I guess.

amberraysofdawn · June 2016

cortney626 said:

I've been kind of worried about my LO's head. She seems to have more than 1 soft spot. Not sure of that's normal. And the shape seems like it could be flat. I plan on asking her dr at her 2 month appt next week. Better to be proactive I guess.

I know that babies have one at the top and one at the back of their head (iirc)...

andiie5 · June 2016

Not a problem! I'm sure it will help your baby

and once they grow more hair it won't be noticeable at all!

proudparent2b · June 2016

Let us know! I'm not seeing a flat head from that pic.

seasalt123 · June 2016

My baby has a favourite side and I thought I saw a bit of flatness. I told his doctor who confirmed it but said it wasn't that bad and to continue to try to get him to look the other way.

It's hard because he just turns his head back! I am thinking of ordering the Mimos pillow as it's making me anxious.

KidShrink · June 2016

Our little guy's doctor has been talking about his flat spot since he was 2 weeks old (yup, he was crammed in there). We've since been seeing a chiropractor and that helped, until our little guy decided to be nice with his parents (but not with his quickly growing head) by sleeping 6-8 hrs at night. We just got the Mimos pillow (checked with Dr who thought that was a good idea). Hopefully that'll do the trick!

seasalt123 · June 2016

KidShrink said:

Our little guy's doctor has been talking about his flat spot since he was 2 weeks old (yup, he was crammed in there). We've since been seeing a chiropractor and that helped, until our little guy decided to be nice with his parents (but not with his quickly growing head) by sleeping 6-8 hrs at night. We just got the Mimos pillow (checked with Dr who thought that was a good idea). Hopefully that'll do the trick!

Do you find your baby will lie on the pillow? I'm worried about spending the money only to have him roll off it or something. What size did you get?

KidShrink · June 2016

We got the XL. We just got it yesterday, but so far so good. It sometimes needs repositioning if he moves too much, but it's working fine so far. We've taken pics of his head before and plan on taking weekly ones to check the progress. We're using it everywhere we can (bassinette, play mat if not doing tummy time, swing, siesta high chair).

seasalt123 · June 2016

Thanks. I think I will order one too.

2.red.heads · June 2016

I feel like both of my twin boys are getting flat spots too.

I'm wondering what the Dr. will think about it. As they get older they are more willing to do tummy time but I have definitely been lacking. I'm just so busy with 4 kids (2 babies). Still, I need to try harder. When my son was a baby (9 years ago) he developed a flat spot and we had to get an MRI done! It was not fun because we couldn't let him eat after a certain time the night before so that when we gave him a bottle at the test he would fall fast asleep for the test (and stay still). Everything ended up being fine though. No helmet was necessary and his head seemed perfect a few months later.

tripledaggerWed95976 · July 2016

Just wanted to update! Went to the doctor and he doesn't need a helmet yet!! We need to basically just keep trying to force his head to the side he doesn't like. The doctor did say if it gets worse he will need a helmet. But it was good news to hear we're not at that point yet!

That1didntcount · July 2016

Good news @tripledaggerWed95976 !!

wsgjmw1 · July 2016

DS had his 2 mo appt yesterday and pedi told us his head was considerably flat. She told us to ramp up the tummy time and lessen the time DS spends on his back. I honestly thought I was doing A LOT of tummy time, but guess not!

dshannah · July 2016

Has anyone tried the Tortle? (https://www.babyflathead.org/tortle-repositioning-beanie-review/)

I just bought one and it should arrive in a few days: DS is starting to get a small flat spot on the back of his head and this was so affordable I just went ahead and bought it. Certainly cheaper than a helmet! But not for use overnight, unless supervised, they say, so if the Dr recommends it I might also get a pillow...

Lusitano8 · July 2016

Also back from the 2 month. LO has a flat spot on the side he favors sleeping on. Ordered the cloud lamb pillow off amazon hoping to adjust it so he faces the other direction more. We turned the changing table and bassinet around to encourage him to look the other way.

and_peggy · July 2016

LO definitely favors a side and the doctor noticed but didn't say anything about a helmet. At what point does that actually happen?

tripledaggerWed95976 · July 2016

aehogan90 said:

LO definitely favors a side and the doctor noticed but didn't say anything about a helmet. At what point does that actually happen?

My doc said if there's still a flat spot at 5 months that's when we need to discuss a helmet

and_peggy · July 2016

tripledaggerWed95976 said:

aehogan90 said:

LO definitely favors a side and the doctor noticed but didn't say anything about a helmet. At what point does that actually happen?

My doc said if there's still a flat spot at 5 months that's when we need to discuss a helmet

Thanks for the info. Good to know.

Lusitano8 · July 2016

tripledaggerWed95976 said:

aehogan90 said:

LO definitely favors a side and the doctor noticed but didn't say anything about a helmet. At what point does that actually happen?

My doc said if there's still a flat spot at 5 months that's when we need to discuss a helmet

Mine said they would check at the 4 month appointment. But to work on evening out the sides now because the helmets are miserable!

KidShrink · July 2016

Our doctor alsotold us to do everything we can now before the 4 months appointment. He's got the Mimos pillow (which is great btw), and we see a chiropractor. We're also going to be making an appointment with an osteopath. In our case, it's a 'primary' flat spot in that it was there from the get go because he got stuck in my hips. Apparently that's a bit harder to change. We're hoping that as his head gets steadier, we can do even more tummy time but also put him in his bumbo seat.

Flat head

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