Baby Head Flat On Side From Sleeping

Premature babies are especially prone to torticollis.

Baby head flat on side from sleeping.

Torticollis occurs when a tight or shortened muscle on one side of the neck causes the chin to tilt to the other side. Flat head syndrome or plagiocephaly as the condition is medically known occurs when a flat spot develops on the back or side of a baby s head. Sids is when an otherwise healthy baby under the age of 1 dies suddenly and unexpectedly and for no apparent reason while sleeping. Wrapping your baby like a burrito may help them sleep more.

Swaddle your baby until they can roll over. A baby s skull is very soft and the bones can be affected by pressure. Babies also have weak neck muscles and usually turn their heads to one side when placed on their back. The condition can cause the baby s head to look.

Flat head syndrome is also called positional plagiocephaly pu zi shu nul play jee oh sef uh lee. Some babies develop flat spots on one side or the other because they stare out in the same direction all the time. This can help if your baby tends to tilt his head to one side or the other while sleeping to look toward a window for instance. It s linked to a baby sleeping exclusively on his back as well as spending a lot of time lying in a rocker car seat or swing.

What causes flat head syndrome. As distressing as this can be to a new parent a flat head is treatable and doesn t mean your baby is in pain or will have any developmental delays. Don t put your baby to sleep on his stomach to avoid plagiocephaly because tummy sleeping puts him at risk for sids. Flat head syndrome usually happens when a baby sleeps with the head turned to the same side during first months of life.

Babies with torticollis can also develop a flat spot on their skull because they often sleep with their head turned to one side. Changing the view by repositioning within the crib also increases visual stimulation. In fact the increasing number of flat head babies is a sign that parents are keeping their little ones safe. Positional plagiocephaly happens most often to infants who are good sleepers who sleep through the night babies with an unusually large head and babies who are born prematurely and have weak muscle tone.