There is nothing anecdotal about the phenomenon. It even takes on the appearance of an epidemic. Between 1995 and 2010, the percentage of children with flattening of the back of the head increased from 5% to 30%. It’s a lot. Especially when we know that these deformations are mostly avoidable. Those ” positional plagiocephaly Are in fact secondary to a bad position of the baby in the mother’s womb or, what is by far the most frequent, after birth.
At issue: lsleeping on the back. While this rule makes it possible to greatly reduce the risk of sudden death, it is not without consequences for the heads of our children. Quite simply because, as regretted by the pediatrician Thierry Marck, pediatrician and founder of the site www.bebesante.fr, “We forget to include anti-flat head prevention advice, in particular by telling parents that they regularly change the support side of their baby’s skull.” Easy to understand: the head of a newborn baby is extremely malleable and, by dint of always resting on the same part, it will flatten.
Not just aesthetic repercussions
Cranial deformities require medical advice. First, because they can hide a more serious pathology. Secondly, because they do not only have an aesthetic impact. It is now established that, if left untreated, severe positional plagiocephaly can cause problems with eyesight, teeth, ear (balance, otitis), back (scoliosis), as well as disorders of the fine motor skills or concentration having an impact on the first years of schooling.
Prevent with simple gestures
Better to adopt them as soon as they leave the maternity ward. By making the child sleep with the head turned to the left, then to the right (either every other day or every other breastfeed, for example). You can help her by turning her head yourself from time to time, by changing the direction of her cradle or by reversing her sleeping position in bed, by alternating the stimuli (light, mobile, etc. ).
It is also recommended to place it on your stomach, watching it, 10 to 15 minutes several times a day, to limit the use of the cozy when traveling, not to hesitate to wear it against you (baby wrap, front baby carrier). Also beware of certain childcare accessories, such as back baby wedges or “cocooning” mattresses, which keep the baby’s head always in the same position. These instructions are all the more important since once the deformation is installed, it does not disappear spontaneously.
Intervene as early as possible
“The improvement in positional plagiocephaly is linked to the early treatment,” explains Dr Marck. The ideal? Intervene before the 2 months of the child by removing the support which generated the deformation. All you have to do is make him sleep on his non-flattened side, thanks to a lateralization cushion, and put him on his stomach as often as possible when he is awake.
A visit to the physiotherapist or osteopath can be judicious, especially in torticollis partner, to release neck tension. “The earlier the positional treatment is started, the faster the recovery”, insists David Dessauge, osteopath specializing in pediatric osteopathy and perinatal, deputy director of Ostéobio, a school of osteopathy which has been studying the subject for five years with the CHRU de Montpellier.
“After five months,” confirms Dr. Marck, “cranial ossification is well advanced and recovery is uncertain. Wearing a helmet, day and night for two to three months, is often the only solution to recover from severe deformity. A restrictive and expensive treatment, Medicare not reimbursing it or very little.