What does it mean when your baby has baldness on his pillow?

Baldness on the back of the head is a common problem in children. It is mainly because when the baby is young, he or she spends most of his or her time lying down, which causes friction and sweating at the point where the head and the pillow touch, and the hair is wiped off, resulting in symptoms. However, it may also be caused by nutritional deficiencies.

1. Objective reasons

(1) Babies spend most of their time lying in bed. The area where their heads touch the pillows tends to get hot and sweaty, causing itchy skin on their heads. Babies cannot scratch with their hands or express their itchiness with words, so they usually shake their heads left and right to deal with the itchiness on the back of their heads caused by sweating. After frequent friction, the hair on the back of the head will be worn off and cause baldness on the back of the head.

(2) The baby is accustomed to sleeping on his side. Babies often like to tilt their heads to the right, so the hair on the right side is obviously less than that on the left. Therefore, if babies often sleep on one side, unilateral baldness is likely to occur.

(3) The baby’s pillow is too hard and does not allow sweat to escape. Infants and young children sleep a lot and spend half of the 24 hours a day in bed, which naturally increases the friction between the back of the head and the pillow. If the baby's pillow is hard, it is not easy for sweat to penetrate, which makes the baby more likely to develop baldness on the pillow.

2. Physiological reasons

(1) The mother’s nutritional intake during pregnancy is insufficient

For example, insufficient iron intake may cause the pregnant mother to suffer from iron deficiency anemia, which will directly lead to iron deficiency in the baby. Or, after the baby is born, the mother does not supplement the baby with functional iron in time. Iron deficiency will affect the baby's sleep and the development of the baby's brain. Babies sleep restlessly at night, and the back of their heads are constantly rubbing against the pillow. Over time, the hair on the back of their heads becomes sparse, and pillow baldness is formed.

(2) The baby is calcium deficient or has rickets

When the baby is deficient in calcium, he will sweat easily and his head will become itchy. The baby will not scratch and cannot express in words to ask the parents for help to scratch the itch, so the baby usually "deals" with the itching on the back of the head due to sweating by shaking the head left and right.

(3) It is caused by physiological excessive sweating and frequent friction between the head and the pillow.

During infancy, especially before the age of 1, babies grow fast and have a relatively active metabolism. When playing, their sympathetic nerves are in an excited state. When falling asleep, the body enters basal metabolism, but the baby's autonomic nervous function is not yet fully developed, and can only gradually transition from high metabolism to basal metabolism. A large amount of heat in the body will be released in the form of sweating, which also makes it easy to sweat.