Treating Flat Head Syndrome

If you are wondering if your baby had plagio cephaly/flat head syndrome, or it has been diagnosed, you may have heard that this is due to babies spending more time on their back. Although the modern advised sleeping position reduces incidences of cot death, it alone is not the cause of the recent phenomenon

Babies are born with soft pliable skulls so it does make sense that if they rest in the same positions on a regular basis their head will take the shape of it’s favoured position. This is true, but the only reason the baby has a favoured position is because it unfortunately has little choice of other positions due to a stiff neck problem.

The twisting and turning forces that a baby endures during birth are often concentrated on the neck as it tries to push his/her head out into the world. The baby’s head has an amazing ability to accommodate such forces but the position of the head and the neck at the onset of labour are not always optimal for the best delivery. An extremely quick or long and difficult labour can make it harder for the baby to recover from the strains of delivery.

In short because the baby’s neck finds it easier turning one way to the other, the muscles that turn the head pull more on the favoured side and thus shape it more, leaving the other side comparatively flatter.

Osteopathic treatment can relieve the strain in the neck allowing the baby to turn his/her head in both directions as easily as each other. In the weeks following the treatment the baby strengthens the muscles on the non-favoured side and this shapes the head back to symmetrical.

Flat head syndrome is entirely cosmetic and in no way affects the child’s brain or intellectual development.

Please call us on 01242 221456 if you have any queries.