Why Would You Helmet your Baby…?

Why would you use an orthotic helmet to treat a baby with Flat Head Syndrome, when a SleepCurve Mattress is just as effective?

Flat Head Syndrome – also referred to as Plagiocephaly or Braphycephaly, depending on the way the head is misshapen – is a condition found with some babies, whereby a flattening occurs on the head. This is a result of the baby’s head lying on a flat surface when the bones are still soft enough to deform, resulting in misshapen / misalignment of the soft skull bones.

Up to the age of around 12 months, this can be corrected by completely removing exposure to any flat surface. If all flat surfaces are removed, self-correction will normally occur and a full recovery can result.

An orthotic helmet is often used to help treat Flat Head Syndrome. These are specially fitted for a baby. The helmet simply supports the head and removes exposure to a flat surface.

However, babies normally have to wear these corrective helmets for up to 23 hours per day. They can cause sweating and skin irritation, can be uncomfortable for your baby, obtrusive and very expensive.

A SleepCurve Baby Mattress is a different and highly effective solution for the prevention as well as intervention for misshapen heads or flat head syndrome, compared to the much more-costly, uncomfortable and obtrusive corrective helmets.

The range of SleepCurve mattresses significantly reduces the pressure in any one place on the baby’s head. The mattress has been Clinically Proven to be effective in the treatment and prevention of Flat Head Syndrome, at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.

The clinical study conclusion was using the SleepCurve mattress demonstrated a significant improvement in head shape over the 6 month period and was deemed ‘an effective, low cost, treatment solution for Flat Head Syndrome’.