Flat head!

B

bekyboo44

Registered User
Hi,

One side of our baby's head is rather flat- something the midwife says happens when babies are always put to sleep on their backs. She said it was nothing to worry about and his hair would soon cover it. However she did reccomend going to see a cranial specialist/masseuse who could manipulate it back to its proper shape.

Has anyone done this with their baby? We have had someone reccomended to us, does anyone have reccomendations for someone they have used?

Thks.
 
when i had my son, someone recommended that i not put him flat on his back, rather, slightly on his side, propped up with a bolster or something similar. this way we could change his position throughout the night, sometimes flat on his back, sometimes on his left side and sometimes on his right. for us, we never had a problem with "flat head".

we did have friends that adopted a boy here in HK and when they brought him home found that his head was quite misshapen because the people in the orphanage didn't have time to change sleeping postions for the children. they took him for cranial massage. it seemed to help quite a lot. however, once he got to a certain age, they found it very difficult to continue doing it.

he's now almost 2 years old and looks to have a perfectly normal shaped head.

good luck beky!
 
We used Caroline at the Body Group. She is a cranial oesteopath.

We have used a cranial oesteopath with all three of our kids. The first two because they were born with the aid of a ventouse and therefore we wanted to make sure there were no after effects from this. The third we decided to do it again, just because the other two had had it. With our first child it had an immediate calming affect on him, as I said he was ventouse and I think that it might have eased the pressure from the delivery somehow.

Having said all that I know that babies heads will return to a normal shape after such a delivery of there own accord, we just wanted to give nature a helping hand and with our first it really helped with his sleeping.

I can recommend Caroline, if this is the route that you wish to take. She is a very peaceful person and I often came out of the sessions very calm and relaxed as well. I can't find her card just now, but her company is called The Body Group and it's at 10 Pottinger Street in Central.

Jools
 
Same problem

Hi, I have the same problem. I was just wondering at what age must the baby be in order for the massage to work? My baby is now over 4 months. Could you also let us know Caroline's charges?:thanks
 
Hi Jools,

Thanks for the reccomendation. Going to speak to a ped. first and then may give cranial osteopath a go.

Thks for advice Cara- am a little too worried about sids to put my baby to sleep anyway apart from on his back, but he obviously favours leaning to one side, so might see if I can encourage him to lean the other way a bit. When he was born his head was fine!
 
when i say on his side, ii don't mean on his side like we would lie, rather just slightly propped so that he's not perfectly flat. that way there are 3 positions and each position will take some of the pressure. everyone naturally favours one side, this just helps the baby to even it all out eliminating the "flat head".

good luck!
 
If one side of his head is flat it could be because he wants to look outwards at you or what-ever is in the room. This happened to my daughter.

Change his bedding so that the pillow is at the other end and he turns his head the other way more.

My daughter's head evened out after a month or so.
 
i took a small hand towel and roleld it up then fastened it together with elastic bands. that way he wasn't propped up so much that he ws rolling over and it also meant that there wasn't anything "left over" for him to suffocate on.
 
Thks for advice, maybe will try in daytime first when he's on his playmat!

Hope everything goes ok with remainder of your pregnancy and birth of your little one. :)
 
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Hi,
The two of mine that Caroline has worked on were both new borns. She can work on any age including adults. In terms of children, it's easier to work with babies rather than toddlers as they are prepared to keep still for longer.

I can't remember how much she costs though I do know it wasn't cheap. We got a referral from our paediatrician both times and then the medical insurance company picked up the bill. It's worth a try.

Jools
 
The traditional Indian baby massage shapes baby's head. We did this for D for the first few months. I used an Indian masseuse in TST. Will PM you her # if you're interested.

Also, like Cara I used a sleep positioner so D could sleep on his side. You can get it at Toys R Us/Wing On. Also if you're nursing, I would also put D down in the direction of the last breast he fed on, so I would remember which side to feed from at the next feed, that way he slept on both sides equally and fed from both breasts.
 

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Thks Rani- and a great tip about the sleeping directions!

The cranial ostepath that we were referred to costs the following,
$750 for first session (50mins)
$600 for further sessions (30 mins)

Jools- how many sessions did you go for?

Hoping our insurance will pay!
 
With Caroline it really does depend pn how much work she has to do, so for each child it was different for the two of mine who she worked on. My daughter as I said was a ventouse delivery so she needed more work. I can't remember how many sessions she had, but I think my son had 7 or 8 sessions. I also liked that fact that when she had finished she signed them off and contacted the paediatrician to explain the treatment, so everyone is informed.

I do know that each session with Caroline is an hour. Be aware that you won't always see Caroline as she also has other people working there all of which are very good; though I think you can request just to see her if you want to.

Jools
 
my daughter is 11 months old now and her head is slightly flat- what should I do? is it too late to do anything a/b it now?
 
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