What to do if your baby always tilts his head when sleeping

Any details on the baby will attract the attention of parents and will be magnified. This is a relatively normal psychology. After all, the cost of raising a child is too high nowadays. Some children like to sleep with their heads tilted, which makes many families worried and they are very concerned about the solution. So, what should we do if our baby always sleeps with his head tilted? Let’s take a closer look at the solution below.

The shape of the baby's head has nothing to do with the pillow, but with the baby's sleeping position. The skull of a newborn baby has not yet fully ossified, and there is still growth space between the bone fragments. The baby's head has considerable plasticity until the fontanelle closes when the baby is about 15 months old.

Therefore, mothers should be careful not to let the baby get used to only one sleeping position. Otherwise, the bone fragments in a certain part of the baby's head will inevitably be affected in their growth shape due to the long-term pressure of the entire head weight, making it easy for the head to become crooked when sleeping. Therefore, mothers should change the baby's sleeping position every 2 to 3 hours. It is best to alternate between lying flat and lying on the side to ensure the normal development of the baby's head and a beautiful head shape.

Why can head shape be shaped?

Even if the baby is born naturally in the correct fetal position and head position, the newborn's head shape will be more or less deformed due to the squeezing of the birth canal, and it is usually more pointed. Chen Zhicheng, a pediatric neonatologist at Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, said: "This may also be a gift from the Creator. The baby's head is composed of multiple skull bones, and the sutures of the newborn have not yet closed. So while it is deformed due to pressure when passing through the birth canal, it also means that it can be restored or reshaped after birth."

The best head shaping method

"Sleeping position is the best way to correct it. Usually, no external force is used to correct it, because the baby has the instinct to restore a good head shape naturally. Parents just need to help change various sleeping positions frequently."

It is understood that long-term back sleeping will cause the back of the head to be flat, long-term stomach sleeping will cause the face to be long and the forehead to be convex; long-term sleeping on the same side will cause the head to be crooked. Therefore, whether the baby's head shape is beautiful or not depends entirely on the baby's own sleeping habits and whether the parents are attentive or neglectful.

【Master the golden shaping period】

The golden period for shaping the baby's head is between 4 and 6 months old. "Usually, after 10 to 12 months of age, the head shape will be completely fixed. Parents should take care of the first 4 months and change the sleeping position of the baby frequently to change the head shape. If it still cannot be improved, you can take the baby to the hospital for consultation with a doctor and consider using a 'head shape correction cap/correction helmet' to help correct it."

Correction of severe head deformation

"If the baby is delivered by vacuum extraction or forceps, you must pay special attention to the following two conditions: one is 'subscalp edema', which subsides quickly, about 1 to 2 days; the other is 'subscalp hematoma', which is a clear 'growing horn', which may be more severely deformed and take one to two weeks to three months to slowly recover."

The above is an introduction on what to do if your baby always tilts his head when sleeping. I hope it will be helpful to parents. It is not a very serious problem for a child to sleep with his head tilted, but sometimes it may be a manifestation of some disease. The key is to judge based on other manifestations of the child. If you are not sure, you should go to a regular hospital for diagnosis and treatment in time, so that the problem can be better solved.