4 Ways to See If Your Baby's Flat Head is a Problem

Here are four things to look for in your baby to see if their flat head needs some extra help.

1. Is their head getting flat at all?

The fancy word for getting a flat head is called plagiocephaly. Usually, in one of these back corners, you start to get a flat spot. That's the beginning stage.

2. Look at their ears.

If you look at your baby from the head down and look at both of their ears on both sides, they should be level. If one of their ears is starting to shift forward, that is the second stage of plagiocephaly, and it means it's starting to get a little bit more severe.

3. Look at their forehead.

When plagiocephaly progresses, on the side that their head is flat on, sometimes their forehead can start to bulge and push forward. So if you look at your baby's head and notice that one of these spots on their forehead is starting to bulge forward, it's a sign that the plagiocephaly is starting to advance.

4. Look at their eyes.

Their eyes should be perfectly level and even. Sometimes, when plagiocephaly advances too far, the eye on the affected side starts to drop down. So if you look at their eyes from straight ahead, they should be perfectly level. If you see the eyes are not perfectly level, that's a sign that plagiocephaly is on a more advanced stage and definitely needs help.

Seeking Help

It can be okay to have a little flat spot back here; it's not super serious. But once that starts to progress to:

• The ears becoming unlevel

• The forehead starting to bulge forward

• The eyes becoming unlevel

That's a sign that they should get help.

Pediatric chiropractors are trained to evaluate heads and make sure that the cranial bones are moving really nicely. Over time, that means we can avoid helmets and we can avoid extra measures that can be expensive, time-consuming, and can place a lot of stress on your baby’s developing spine and nervous system.