Working to Clear a Flat Head

Kintarō Hattori

Our little lady is heading onto 14 weeks old and most definitely has a preference in her cot and in your arms to lie with her head to the left. She's developed a flat spot which we want to try and eliminate as best we can. We had her at Temple Street on Wednesday and the physiotherapist gave us a list of exercises we can try to encourage her to move her head to the right. Naturally we'll look to use these as much as we can but my partner came across this and I was wondering what you folks thought. Naturally I'm concerned with having her sleep on a pillow but seemingly it's breathable:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0057MWIG0

One of the therapists suggestion was to install some sort of gentle flashing light off to her right side. I was thinking perhaps of getting an LED light strip and cutting it to a small size and fitting it to the insider top of her cot:



These can be cut to use just a few leds, dimmed and set to a gentle fade.

Opinions on both?

Foweva Awone

Lots of tummy time, and sling rather than buggy would be my two main bits of advice!

Dunno about that LED thing, an interesting colourful toy (regularly swapped for another one) would work as well I'd imagine. Just amn't sure the lights would be great for her eyes when so young ... I'm no expert though!

Foweva Awone

By the way my son had a similar problem, to quite a substantial degree, it rounded out perfectly in the end though!

Oh and that pillow is a ridiculous price! And I'd be concerned it could damage baby's neck, they are meant to be lying flat, it may help with the flat head but give her a bent neck ... if that makes sense!!

Kintarō Hattori

Foweva Awone wrote: »

By the way my son had a similar problem, to quite a substantial degree, it rounded out perfectly in the end though!

Oh and that pillow is a ridiculous price! And I'd be concerned it could damage baby's neck, they are meant to be lying flat, it may help with the flat head but give her a bent neck ... if that makes sense!!

To be fair to her, my partner is being brilliant and giving lots of tummy time and time in her little chair as well as keeping her active on her back/side on the sofa. I hear your concerns though.

How did you manage at night time? Did you let your son rest his head whatever way he wanted or did you do things to encourage him to look the other way?

We don't have a sling but do have one of these, though we haven't yet used it. Would it be as good?

jlm29

That is a sling, and a good, ergonomic brand, so you can use that away! I don't know about the led lights - I think babies at that age can see black and white better actually, so printing out some black and white pictures and showing them on the side she doesn't look at as much might be beneficial.
Can you put her upside down in her cot? That way she has to turn her head the opposite way to see what she always sees.

Kintarō Hattori

jlm29 wrote: »

That is a sling, and a good, ergonomic brand, so you can use that away! I don't know about the led lights - I think babies at that age can see black and white better actually, so printing out some black and white pictures and showing them on the side she doesn't look at as much might be beneficial.
Can you put her upside down in her cot? That way she has to turn her head the opposite way to see what she always sees.

I think my partner may have tried that but she reverted back to looking to her left.... the swine!

otwb1

we used to put ours down on their sides and then turn them onto their backs. that way their heads stayed on the sides that we wanted (for a while anyway!).

cbyrd

Actively turn her head to the right, at this age a black and white geometric design on paper is sufficient.
Turn her on her right side with a towel/blanket roll behind her back to support her. They use this technique in special care and long term hospital stays where babies can't be lifted out of Cots too often.

shesty

Does she have a stiff neck OP....can't remember the name of the condition ....torticullus or something.

Kintarō Hattori

shesty wrote: »

Does she have a stiff neck OP....can't remember the name of the condition ....torticullus or something.

We were just with the physio on Wednesday and that was ruled out. She's just developed a very strong preference for the left, looking left, sucking on her left thumb etc.

shesty

Ah right, I had it myself as a baby and my first born was checked for it at 12 weeks, she had a preference for looking right.I used to make sure i held her different sides for feeds etc, laid her at different ends of the changing table etc (it was beside a wall, so i changed her so she would have to look left), and just tried to get her to follow toys all around her as i held them .The physio's exercise should help lots though.I am left handed and I was handling her to suit that so I had to think about how I was doing things a bit!

sillysocks

Clevamama do a baby pillow that's way cheaper than the one above. Although none of mine stayed on it for very long as they'd just wriggle down the cot and off it!

Kintarō Hattori

sillysocks wrote: »

Clevamama do a baby pillow that's way cheaper than the one above. Although none of mine stayed on it for very long as they'd just wriggle down the cot and off it!

We bought a babymoov in the end from Boots. It's a similar principle to the Mimos one but a hell of a lot cheaper. So far it seems to be working well in that when she's in it, she's lying with her head straight, rather than off to the left. I'm hoping this combined with having her look to the right when she's awake does the trick.

http://www.boots.ie/baby-child/nursery-furniture/baby-bedding/babymoov-lovenest-original-smokey-pillow-10206107

Beanybabog

My daughter had this problem and it fixed itself. She loves tummy time and started rolling very early which helped, as she wasn't constantly on her back and was looking left and right by herself. I wouldn't worry too much, in my local mothers group lots had it and all rounded out

fits

One of my twins has it and it's not from lying on his back because he doesn't sleep on his back since ten weeks or so. It's from his position in utero. It affects his face as well where one jawbone protrudes more than the other and one eye is more recessed. I think it will rectify eventually. He is very mobile now at nine months so there's not really much else to be done.