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SALT LAKE CITY — While putting a baby to bed on his or her back is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, and having your infant sleep in a car seat can be prescribed for some medical issues, the prevalence of both practices is contributing to another problem: flat head syndrome.
Plagiocephaly, the official name for flat head syndrome, is a condition in which a baby's head develops a flat spot or becomes misshapen. The most common form of the condition is positional plagiocephaly, which occurs when a baby's head develops a flat spot due to pressure on that area.
Babies are vulnerable to plagiocephaly because their skulls are soft and pliable when they're born, making delivery possible. After birth, the baby's brain needs room to grow, so it remains important for the bones of the skull to be soft and movable. Those bones will become more solid at roughly 1 year of age.
... lay her down with her head at a different end of the crib for naps and each night. If her crib is against a wall, she should naturally turn her head to look out into the room.
–BabyCenter.com
In recent years, there's been a higher occurrence of flat head syndrome because of the instruction to lay a baby on his or her back to sleep. While doing so is an important safety measure believed to help prevent sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), there needs to be changing of the baby's head position often.
"Alternate the direction your baby's head is facing when you put her to sleep," BabyCenter.com states. "To encourage this, lay her down with her head at a different end of the crib for naps and each night. If her crib is against a wall, she should naturally turn her head to look out into the room."
Another practice that contributes to flat head syndrome is parents allowing their baby to sleep or sit for extended amounts of time in his or her car seat or swing. The problem is baby's heads are heavy, and an infant has not yet developed the strength to control the muscles that would move his or her head.
"Subsequently, the head often comes to rest in a corner of the car seat or swing, where it is restricted along two planes. The resulting deformity is a squaring of the parietal-occipital region (the back of the head) and compensatory growth on the (opposite) side, resulting in asymmetrical head height," according to a study published by the American Academy of Orthotists and Prosthetics.
If your baby does start to show signs of plagiocephaly, here's what the BabyCenter Medical Advisory Board suggests you do:
- First, understand everyone's skull is a bit asymmetrical. And in many cases, a flat spot on a baby's head will round out on its own around 6 months of age, as the baby starts crawling and sitting up.
- Second, if you notice flattening of your baby's head at any time, don't wait – talk with her doctor about it right away. A baby's skull becomes less soft and pliable as they grow.
- Third, if you do need to take steps to correct the condition, the younger your baby is, the easier it will be to reshape the skull. Your baby's doctor may refer you to a specialist, such as a pediatric plastic surgeon or neurosurgeon for diagnosis and treatment.
Remember, treatment can be very expensive, and some insurances do not cover it. So the best solution is prevention, and early intervention is the answer.
Suzanne Carlile, "Nurse Suzy," has been a nurse since 1982. Her main focus is critical care and nursing education. She holds a master's degree in nursing, is a Certified Emergency Nurse, and a member of NNSDO Intermountain West Chapter.
