Baby Flat Head Prevention Advice

Tummy Time 

Tummy time is an excellent physical activity for newborn, and must be done when baby is awake. During this exercise it is important that you are always with your baby.

Normal musculoskeletal development. Being in prone provides baby opportunity to work out the upper body muscles thereby develops balance of flexion and extension needed for normal musculoskeletal development.

Learning and discovery. Looking around from a new perspective encourages baby learning and discovery of the world.

Self-exploration. Being in prone baby is exposed to a lot of tactile sensory input to the face, mouth and other body parts thus stimulate learning and self-exploration.

Crawling. Tummy time also encourages baby to practice reaching and pivoting, skills that are the precursor for crawling.

 

Benefit of tummy time:

• strengthen neck, back, shoulders and hip muscles and help develop baby’s motor skills
• reduce time where baby’s head in on a firm surface, which is very beneficial for the recovery of the head’s flat spot 

Motor skills are accelerated by this exercise and baby will learn to:

• turn around faster
• reach for toys in a more active way
• crawl earlier (achieve motor skill earlier or on time)

Psychological effects 

Self confidence

When baby learns to make his body do new things, he feels a sense of accomplishment and gains more confidence to try new skills as he grows and his coordination improves.

Start early. Introduce tummy time within the first few days of life and continued thereafter. Place your newborn belly-down on your chest or across your lap for a few minutes is a good start to get him accustomed to the position. 

• Think comfort. Lay your little one down on a flat, clean surface, such as a blanket or play mat on the floor. If she squirms or cries, try some extra padding. Roll up a small receiving blanket and tuck it under her chest, at the nipple level with arms forward of the roll, to help shift the weight posteriorly. This small adjustment can make big difference for baby's tolerance for tummy time. 
  
  
• Add a little extra time. Put baby on his tummy after each diaper change. Add a little extra time each day. Short periods of quality tummy time are more beneficial than leaving baby in prone for longer time while crying.
  
  
• Go head to head. Lie down on the floor and get face-to-face with your infant. Make goofy noises and expressions, or sing songs. You might feel silly, but your infant will be less likely to fight being on his belly.
   
• Give her distractions. Hold a mirror in front of your baby to capture her attention. Or place brightly colored stuffed animals just within her reach. There are also plenty of tummy-time toys that can keep your baby from getting bored.
   
• Get others in on the act. Encourage friends, relatives, and your child's caregivers to get down on the floor for short periods of tummy time with him as well.
   

Sleeping Position

Reduce and redistribute the pressure evenly by rotating the head positions when lying on the back to sleep

To prevent constant pressure acting on any particular side of the soft skull, rotate the head positions when sleeping on the back. This helps to reduce and redistribute the pressure

Baby should be placed to sleep on their backs for the prevention of SIDS. Supine sleeping (back to sleep) is 6 times safer then prone sleeping (on tummy).

Baby spends a lot of time sleeping. To evenly distribute the pressure on baby’s skull, you can change baby’s head position when laying him down to sleep as below:

• Put your baby at opposite ends of the crib each night to encourage baby to face to both directions. 

• Place brightly-colored crib safe toys next to his crib to attract his/her attention and help him/her turn his/her head in a different direction each night

• if your baby prefers to fall asleep while facing you, then change your position each night so his/her head does not rest on the same side.

Alternating Sides When Handling Baby

Handling baby equally from both sides facilitates and stimulates active cervical (neck) rotation in both directions.

This is important to prevent asymmetry neck muscles tightness and preferred head position (also known as positional preference) which often lead to deformational plagiocephaly (flat head syndrome).

Handle your baby equally from both sides when nursing, bottle feeding, changing and dressing.

Minimize the use of car seat, bouncy chair, baby carriage and swing

Extended use of all these devices, letting our babies to sleep on them can contribute to flat head syndrome because these devices have hard and rigid flat surface.

It is wise to limit the use of these devices to when only necessary. The baby car seat should be left in the car and used only when baby is travelling in the car.

When babies are using these devices, care should be given to support the head adequately to prevent it from repeatedly falling to one side.

Instead of spending time on these devices we should hug and cuddle our babies more in the upright position for instance the front carrier. This can help to promote stronger bonding too.

Use Mimos Pillow to Protect Baby’s Head

MIMOSPILLOW is a tri-dimensional polyester pillow which designed specially by doctors, neurosurgeon and physiotherapist to reduce the pressure under the head.

This allows the head to grow normally and round out to its natural shape. It is very effective when used before 6 months of age. It is recommended to use the pillow for prevention from the very first day of life.

Why Mimos Pillow is Very Effective?

MIMOSPILLOW support baby’s soft skull during sleeping or when baby is laying on a hard or flat surface such as mattress or in a stroller. The pillow adapts to any head shape and therefore is not necessary to counter-rotate or reposition the head as usually recommended by doctors before the existence of MIMOSPILLOW.

As long as the head rests on the pillow cavity, the pressure spots are eliminated and the head can be round out.

MIMOSPILLOW redistributes the weight of baby’s head onto a bigger surface area therefore it will avoid constant high pressure spot that produce skull flattening over time.

MIMOSPILLOW is the only medical pillow with safety certification from established certification body in the world;

• Airflow Safety - Anti Suffocation TUV Certification

• European Safety Certification EN71-1 “Safe for children 0-3years”

• Textile Safety Certification - Okotex Class 100 Safe for Babies

• CE Mark Certification

MIMOSPILLOW the only medical baby pillow recommended by more than 1000 pediatric doctor, physiotherapist, neurosurgeon and midwife around the world

The Right Size of Pillow for The Right Age Baby

MIMOS PILLOW comes in 4 different sizes for every stage of baby’s growth: neck length and head size.

Newborn baby can start using S size until baby can turn to the side between 3-5 month old. You can still keep using S pillow till age 10 month or go to the next size M for baby to sleep at night and use S in a stroller.

The pillow can be used as itself or with a special cover made of 100%breathable cotton fabric for safety reason don’t use any other fabric to cover the pillow. The pillow is machine washable. Please read the washing instructions on the label.

 

To download Catalogue about Mimos Pillow and Flat Head on Baby
Click here to download Catalogue Front Page

Click here to download Catalogue Back Page

 

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