Advice needed - changed sleeping position to correct flat-ish head

[Emmy]

Hi Everyone,

Long time turker, infrequent poster here but in some need of some advice.

Will (12 weeks old) is a relatively good sleeper and in fact has already moved to sleeping in a grobag (he was 10lb 10oz at birth and is still a big boy that easily breaks out of muslins), and occaisionally sleeping unwrapped. However, since birth he has favoured sleeping with his head turned to his left and as a result has slight flattening on that side.

Our MCHN early on recommended doing tummy time to address this plus having him on his right side when playing (both of which we do lots of). He seems able to move his head in both directions yet when he sleeps still favours the left side. We even moved his toys from one side of the cot to the other with no luck. We suspect he prefers sleeping to the left because the door to his room is on that side and we mostly approach his cot from that side IYKWIM. We spoke to his paedetrician at 6 weeks and were advised to not be too concerned.

Now this week I have had 2 other MCHN's (my normal one is away so saw a diff one when I did a weight check this week plus our mothers group is still run by a MCHN) comment on his head. As a result I feel like I haven't done enough to address the problem (which in itself is a separate issue ).

One of them suggested that we place him to sleep at the other end of his cot - that is his feet are now at the head of the cot. This does seem to make him lie with his head to the right, which further supports our theory about where the door to his room is etc.

The problem we are having is he doesn't seem happy lying in that direction. He is a lot more grizzly than normal, needs the dummy and his music on more etc. He also "scoots" himslf around the cot, regardless if he is in his grobag or is he just placed in the cot with a sheet over him.

Admittidly I have only started placing him in the new direction since yesterday afternoon, however was wondering has anyone tried this before, did they have any success with it and should I persevere?

Sorry about the rambling mess - hopefully it makes sense to someone!

Cheers
Em

[~Belinda~]

Hi Em,

Like you, our Paed has advised us that Madeleine has a moderate flat head, she prefers her right side. She loves her bouncer through the day so when I have her in there, I put a rolled up towel on one side so she goes to the left. The rolled up towel has worked wonders. The Paed suggested this.

Madeleine sleeps in bed with us, she won't go in her cot at all at this time. A few weeks back, I propped her up on the right side with a towel at night when she slept and she started putting her head to the left side. Now she tends to sleep on her left which is better.

We will know at the next Paed appointment (4 months) whether it's had any impact but for now, I'm not worrying too much. Did they bring all these things to our attention when we were all babies years ago????

Good luck.

[Olive]

same problem here too! sophie prefers her right side, still does and has a mild flat spot, we did go to a paed chiro to have her checked out and yes did ahve neck issues, we also place a rolled towel in vot, but moustly used a heat pack, not heated obviously, and slightly under her tp gently push her the face the pthr side,

HTH

[Emmy]

Thanks Bindy and AJP that does help! Will try lying him with a towel to encourage sleeping to his other side plus we do know he may need to see a physio if the problem doesn't resolve itself.

Our main conern at the moment is that he does actually move his head to both sides quite easily, and lying him at the other end of his cot does now see him lie with his head to the right (rather than the left which is causing the flattening), but that he is really unsettled and scoots himself around his cot and thus he isn't getting any sleep!

[Emmy]

One other question - does anyone know how long it takes for bubs head to attain a "normal" shape when you do all the various exercises etc?

[~Belinda~]

Yeah I want to know this too! I looked last night at the back of Madeleine's head and she still has a slight flat spot, I hope it goes away! My DP's friend at work said that his son had to wear a crash helmet for 6 months....has anyone else experienced this because that really worries me so much!

[Olive]

emmy, DD head has never fully recovered, but certainly not bad enough to wear the helmet! sophie couldnt turn both ways hence why we went to the chiro, id get onto it sooner rather than later!

[~Belinda~]

Madeleine has been favouring the other side now so not sleeping on the flat side anymore, thank goodness. We'll see how she goes. Yes AJP, I thought the "helmet" was a bit extreme but I just didn't know whether anyone else had experienced it!

[Emmy]

Hi Bindy and AJP,

Will is sleeping on both sides of his head, so he seems to well and truly have full movement of his head (I'd like to avoid the helmet as well if poss!!)

Just need to wait for the flat spot to "unflatten"!