The dangers of sleeping with a flat head

Everything is for the children. This sentence has been regarded as the motto of parents in any era. The mother's diet is selected for the baby's health when the baby is still in the mother's belly. During pregnancy, the mother's food, clothing, housing and transportation should be determined according to the baby's development. This is reflected most vividly after the baby is born. Parents have heard about something that is good for the baby for a long time and want to try it. Sleeping with a flat head is one of them. This custom is even more popular in rural areas. However, some of the hearsay has no scientific basis, is detrimental to the development of the baby, and may affect health.

First of all, newborns have a back of the head during the gestation process. This is a basic feature given to every new life by nature. However, the idea that newborns are subjectively transformed by their relatives as soon as they are born is itself anti-natural.

Secondly, the process of "sleeping with a flat head" must be forced, thus depriving the newborn of the experience of comfortable sleep. It should be noted that every newborn will find its own unique comfortable position about 5 to 6 days after birth. The process of "sleeping with a flat head" will inevitably interfere with the newborn's need to seek a comfortable position. For a new life that can only express dissatisfaction with crying, any compulsory measures are unnatural and may backfire.

Thirdly, compulsory measures will make the newborn irritable. In addition to crying, the newborn will also struggle to change position, which cannot ensure that the baby can sleep with his head flat on the back... Observing the instinctive posture of a new mother holding her baby can explain what is the most comfortable for the newborn: one arm supports the head and neck with the head slightly tilted back, and the other hand protects the back and holds up the body weight. The newborn can turn its head freely in the mother's arms because there is no pressure on the headrest and there is no resistance to the rotation.

When placing a newborn on a flat bed, every careful new mother will find that the newborn's neck is folded back when the newborn's head touches the bed. After the newborn's body is completely on the bed, the angle of the neck is more forward than when the mother is holding the newborn. This shows that the flat bed has narrowed the newborn's airway. If you put something under the newborn's head pillow, it will only increase the degree of narrowing of the airway. Therefore, using a pillow for a newborn in advance is an unnatural method and may increase other risks.

If a newborn baby is often placed on his back to sleep within the first three months after birth, his occipital bone will be flattened like a board, as if the back of his head had been cut off. If a baby is allowed to lie on his side alternately, or vertically, for a long time, his head will become long and narrow. Therefore, there is no profound knowledge in protecting the normal development of the baby's head shape. As long as parents pay attention to the baby's sleeping position, and alternate between left and right sleeping positions within three or two days, the baby's head shape will develop normally.