Baby’s Flat Head Comes on Quickly
It was always in the back of our mind and we even tried to do what we could to prevent it, but our 2+ month old still wound up with a bit of flat head syndrome - Plagiocephaly. From birth, we tried to alternate how we faced her head so that each side would be equally exposed to the surface of her crib, car seat, bouncer, etc. Unfortunately, the flat head came on so quickly (2-3 weeks) that we didn’t even fully realize it until it was there and we’ve spent the past 1+ months trying to correct it.
It seems that our baby’s crib was faced in such a way that she always wound up looking in the direction of the door or light no matter how we originally faced her head. We put her in the crib and alternated her head to the left or right, but when we went back in later on, her head was always facing to the right. By 3 weeks there was a nice flat spot on the back of the right side of her head. Since then, we’ve switched the way we place her in the crib and put a small rolled-up burp cloth or blanket under her right side so that she’s been facing left for over a month. The lopsidedness has gotten better, but now the back of her head is pretty much flat all over. Hopefully that will round-out a little more over time.
Had we known, or realized, that a baby’s flat head could develop so quickly, we would have kept a closer eye on the situation and tried to prevent it sooner. There are ways to help combat or prevent flat head syndrome, but you need to do them right from the start. Firstly, alternate how you place your baby in the crib. Not just how the head faces, but how the whole body is placed. If your baby likes to look at a toy, window, light, etc., make sure they’re positioned to look at it on the left side one day, and on the right the next day. There are also baby positioning beds available from many manufacturers that claim to prevent flat head syndrome. It’s probably too late for us to use them now, and our rolled burp cloth seems to be working, but if we knew about these products from the beginning, perhaps we would have purchased one. If you do notice the beginnings of a flat head, be sure to get the advice of your pediatrician as well. Either way, be vigilant and pay attention since a flat head comes on very quickly.