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Have a question for Dr. Bill or Martha?
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Dr. Bill and Martha Answer:
I took my 3-month-old daughter for her well-baby check-up yesterday and the pediatrician told me her head was flattening on one side due to sleeping on her back with her head turned. How often is this seen in infants and should I be worried? I am trying to get her to sleep on the other side by propping her up, but this does not always work. Thanks! Answer: In recent years, there has been a "Back-to-Sleep" campaign advising parents to switch from the traditional tummy-sleeping position to placing their babies to sleep on their backs. The reason for this change in sleeping position is the statistical finding that SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) occurs less frequently in infants who are placed to sleep on their backs. For this reason, we pediatricians have been seeing a "epidemic" of flattened heads. The good news is that in most babies this is a harmless, cosmetic feature. Yet, as your pediatrician advises, it would be wise to frequently change the placement of her head against the mattress so that the pressure and the consequent flattening is not always on the same place on her head. Frequently change the position in which you put her to sleep. Since babies have a preference for turning their heads to one side or the other, each night alternate the head and feet location when you put her down to sleep. (One night her head is at the head of the crib and the other night at the foot.) This is especially important if one side of the crib is against the wall and the other is opened, since babies will habitually turn their head to the open side. By rotating positions, she will automatically turn her head right and left toward the open side that has more visual attractions. Or, place an attractive pattern, such as black and white figures, on one rail of the crib one night and the other rail of the crib the other, which encourages her to turn her head side to side. As your infant’s head control improves and she begins moving around the crib on her own, you will notice her head take on a more rounded shape.
Don’t worry that this head flattening – known as positional head molding
– has caused any harm. Studies have shown that the blood flow and brain development in the areas of the head that are misshapen are entirely normal. As your child’s doctor
suggested, it is important not to ignore the early signs of head flattening, since left uncorrected by these simple sleep-position changes, the misshaping of the head can progress to
the extent that some children are required to wear a helmet or headband that molds their head back into position. |
