As soon as most parents realize their infants are suffering from flat head syndrome, they collect every sleep wedge and pillow they possibly can find, hoping to prop their little ones into sleeping on another side of their noggins. Well, guess what? Apparently those moms and dads have been wasting their time.
According to a study published this month in the Journal of Craniofacial Surgery, orthotic devices do very little to prevent flat headedness, or deformational plagiocephaly, in young babies. Researchers at the Hasbro Children's Hospital and Brown University note that while the wedges and pillows have FDA approval, that only means they are safe, not that they are effective at correcting or preventing flat heads.
As most of us know, the occurrence of plagiocephaly (sorry, there's that big word again) have increased in the years since the Back to Sleep campaign was instituted. I know a little bit about this myself because my son had a mild case of flatheadedness in his early months. I tried the sleep wedges and pillows, but -- in keeping with this study's results -- they did no good, primarily because he rolled off of them despite my perpetual efforts to jam them underneath his itty bitty body.
In retrospect, I probably spent an inordinate amount of time worrying about the shape of his head. I took the pediatrician's advice and tried to give him plenty of tummy time, do special neck exercises and physically move him in bed. I still have no idea whether any of that had any impact. I just know that eventually, his head rounded itself out.
So if you have a son or daughter with this same condition, it seems the best thing to do is take the doctor's advice, do what you can and not freak out. In more severe cases, some kids wind up wearing helmets for a while to correct the problem. In others, it goes away on its own. The bottom line is there is no magic cure-all. No special cushiony wedge -- or excessive maternal anxiety -- can resolve the situation on its own.
If you want more information about the condition and how you can treat it, check out this page over at kidshealth.org.
Image: babyearth.com
