Our little boy Ben (now two) suffered from positional plagiocephaly, which I noticed when he was about eight weeks old.  I picked him up one day and noticed when looking down on his head from above that the back of his head on the right hand side was flat and angled off.  I now know that, for a number of reasons, our little boy was in a high risk group for developing flat head syndrome. The condition is more common in boys, he was premature (premature babies have softer bones), had a large head in comparison to his body size and low muscle tone.  All these are risk factors for developing a flat head.  It still annoys me that we were given no information about flat head syndrome by my midwife, the hospital, or even the prenatal sessions that my husband and I attended.

When I realised my son had developed a flattened area I was overwhelmed with guilt. I had stumbled across some information on flat head syndrome on the internet when I was pregnant and had intended to purchase a flat head pillow.  However our little boy arrived four weeks early.  We didn't have any nappies or clothes for him let alone a flat head pillow and after the birth I hadn't got round to ordering one.  I had asked one of the midwifes at the hospital if I should purchase a pillow, she said she had never heard of flat head syndrome and a flat head pillow wasn't necessary.  I followed her advice and later regretted it.

I was so worried that the flattening would be permanent, I immediately purchased two flat head pillows (one to keep in the pram and one for around the house) and read everything I could find on flat head syndrome and thankfully, with a combination of practical techniques and products, our son's head rounded out by the time he was six months' old.  I was so proud and relieved when his consultant physiotherapist commented (without me mentioning anything about his head shape) what a beautifully round head he has and that it was a credit to me, especially as he had a positional preference and always lay with his head tilted to the same side.

Some people may claim that my son's flattening would have naturally corrected itself without my intervention.  May be, but may be not, and I was not prepared to take that risk. There is nothing wrong in giving nature a helping hand and, for me, it helped enormously just knowing that I was doing something positive and proactive to help my child's headshape.

I am not a medical professional.  I have created this website to share with you the information I have learned about baby flat head syndrome and the practical tips and products which I used to correct my son's head flattening.  Where I have recommended products, I have done so only for products which I either have used, or would use, on my own child.

I hope you find it helpful.