Baby Has a Flat Spot on Her Head

Had the same thing w/my baby. A helmet is what they suggested it. I googled it. Are you kidding me? It was awful. They wanted him to wear it 23 1/2 hrs a day. Well let me tell you we decided to forgo that, repositioned him a lot, he moved back to laying on his head, I held him a lot when I could and he is fine today at the age of 2 1/2. Does he have a slight flat part to the back of his head? Yes.....ever so slight. His brain grew just fine and he s smarter than some 12 year olds so I say forgo it. How many kids had this problem 20 years ago or even 10 years ago that are just fine now? I haven't heard one adult male especially complain that he had a flat part of his head. Good luck ! :)

Does she roll over by herself yet? If not get her more tummy time! Evey time you put her down put on her tummy for a few minutes every hour. This will help and hold more often if possible. Good Luck!

I had the same issue with my daughter. I didn't go the helmet route for various reasons. But the two main reasons being: One because of the cost and the fact that it was purely cosmetic (hence the reason most insurance companies won't pay for it unless it is VERY severe and hindering their brain growth), and two because I just personally didn't want to put her through that, I felt like that would be so uncomfortable to wear a helmet pressing on your scull for 23 hours a day.

Instead I took her to craniosacral therapy, which worked absolute wonders for her. It is so amazing and really really works. You can google it to find out more, it's hard to explain and I won't go into detail here.

I also bought her a Boppy Noggin Nest head support pillow to relieve the pressure on the back of her head (you can find it on Amazon), that she used at bedtime and naptime and in her carseat or anywhere else she had to be on her back. I also think that helped a lot.

She's 2 1/2 now and I can still see a very slight spot on the back of her head, but no one else would ever know it's there and her hair covers it up anyway.

I would get the helmet. She won't need it for very long. It is causing you a lot of stress, not to mention loss of sleep, by trying to reposition her head all the time when she sleeps. At 6 months, babies still sleep more than they are awake, so unless there is an alternative way to keep her from sleeping in this position, get the helmet and correct the problem now.

My son's pediatrician & specialist both said he didn't need a helmet at about 6-7 months of age without even doing any head measurements. The specialist even said that the flattening wouldn't correct its self, but shouldn't be noticeable once he got older. We were like huh?? So were supposed to hope that he's ok later? After my husband demanded that the specialist perform the measurements, he then said that there was enough flattening for a helmet. If your son needs a helmet, the sooner you get one the better chance you'll have at correcting the damage because the growth of the head starts slowing down closer to 1 years old. Also keep in mind that not all insurance companies will pay for a helmet or doc band & the ones that will, require head measurements & photos to make sure that the flattening is severe enough for treatment. So if you haven't already, get a specialist to perform the measurements & tell you whether or not he qualifies for a helmet. Otherwise it could cost you $3K-$4k a helmet.
My 15 month old is in his 2nd helmet right now & has been in 1 for 7 months now. He has 1 month to go & has greatly improved considering how much we took the helmet off. We didn't realize that he was going to need a helmet for this long since his head wasn't growing fast enough & we were required to keep it on him 23 hours a day for the last 7 months so it hasn't been easy. He's only relieved from the helmet for an hour a day to clean the helmet & wash his hair. The other kicker is that we had to get all of his hair cut off to get fitted for the helmet, but we were ok with it. Good Luck!

If a helmet is needed, the sooner the better. My son wore one for six months starting at 6 months and it did help. It did cost $2800 dollars. I would take her to a specialist to see what the measurements are.

My daughter had the same issue. We took her to a plastic surgeon that measures the amount of depression and got information about the helmet. He told us that his own daughters had both had the same issue as an infant and had opted himself not to do the helmet, and they both had barely any indentation as they grew older. He also pointed out that even if there were a bit of a flat spot as they grew older, that especially with girls, (longer hair), you would never notice it. The percentage of depression needs to be very significant to hinder brain growth. We made the same decision due to the amount of time per day she would have to wear it, and how uncomfortable it would probably be. She is now 5 years old and I can't tell at all. Keep up the tummy time and repositioning when you can, and I'm sure it will smooth out over time. They start getting a lot more mobile after 6 months.
Good luck!

I have a 6 month old and she still has a flat spot on the back of her head. My doctor said it is still too early to be concerned and that it is too soon to think about a helmet.