It feels like just yesterday that I was having my first child. I listened to everything everyone told me — within reason — when I was a first time mom and one of the tips I remember most was to switch my baby’s position in the bassinet after each feed. And, I took this advice very seriously.
I would put Jonah to sleep with his head on one side of the bassinet and then, after the first feed, I put his head at the other side of the bassinet, and all night long I would continue switching! I also always made sure to take him out of the car seat whenever he was awake so that he wasn’t in the same position for too long. I knew that all of this was important to prevent plagiocephaly, also know as flat head syndrome, and it appeared that what I was doing was working. I never had concerns about the shape of his head.
When Addison came along, I figured if I did the same things all would be good! Well, as is true for everything else in parenting, doing the same thing I did for my first child and for my second child didn’t work as I thought it would! I flipped Addison in the middle of the night and I took her out of the car seat when she was awake, just like with Jonah. But, life with two was different and I didn’t have as much time to think about every move I made as I did with my first baby.
By the time Addison was a month-and-a-half old, I started to notice that the back of her head wasn’t looking as round as it should. I became a bit concerned about it, so I reached out for help. I spoke to Dr. Marla Shapiro who explained what plagiocephaly was. Simply put, this is when “the skull can be somewhat uneven or asymmetrical, often based on positioning.” She told me that it was important to make sure my baby’s head did not stay in the same position all of the time as a newborns bones are quite soft and thin. As I asked more questions, I was happy to learn that there would be no effect on the development of the brain and that as she gained improved head control, between the ages of 4 and 6 months, that the shape of her skull would begin to improve.
In the meantime, I knew I had to be proactive before it got worse. I began doing a bit of research and I found the Babymoov Lovenest. The Lovenest is an ergonomical headrest for a well-rounded head. Just like a little pillow, the Lovenest is soft and padded, making it comfortable to place behind Baby’s head. Its unique design guarantees an even distribution of pressure across Baby’s skull, thereby preventing the risk of flat head. While it is not recommend to place in your baby’s crib, I placed the Lovenest behind her head when she was in the car seat, in the stroller, on the playmate and really anywhere else she was stationary. Without the Lovenest, all of the weight rested on the back of her head, changing the shape of her head.
From that point on, I used the Lovenest until Addison was old enough to hold up her own head and I no longer had to worry about the pressure weighing on the back of her head. Until that time came, knowing that I was doing everything I could by using the Lovenest and keeping her off the back of head as often as possible, gave me the peace of mind that I was doing everything right. My advice to any new mom would be to use the Lovenest, right from birth!
The Babymoov Lovenest is available on Amazon.
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