Do you change your newborn’s sleeping position every night? If not, it may lead to him developing flat spots on baby head or a flat head.
In some cases, the baby’s head becomes flat from one side and normally, developed from the other. It is a kind of cranial asymmetry known as Plagiocephaly. There are three kinds of cranial asymmetry.
Plagiocephaly, in which the child’s head is asymmetrical at the sides. One side is flatter than the other.
Brachycephaly, in which the back of the head is flat. Scaphocephaly, in which the head of the child is long and narrow.
Why Should this happen?
A newborn baby’s skull is very soft and it is still developing. The bones can easily be affected by pressure. When a baby sleeps in one position for very long, a lot of pressure is being applied to that particular area of the skull, causing it to flatten. As a result, you baby may develop a flat head.
Does this condition get all right on its own?
In no way does a flat head affect brain development. In addition, very often, as the child grow up, his skull regains its regular shape and this condition resolves itself, but this is not always the case, so it is not advisable to take a risk. After all, prevention is better than cure.
Prevention
A flat head occurs when a child sleeps in the same position, with the head turned in the same direction every night. To avoid this, you should turn you baby around every other night. Your baby will most probably want to face the room and not the well. So, if your baby is placed at the head of the crib one night and at the foot the other, he will sleep on his left or right side accordingly. This is called ‘counter positioning’.
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