Babies with flat heads increasing in Canada

Carriers that go from the car to the stroller were a brilliant development in baby-care, but they may be having a very undesired effect.

Flat or misshapen heads are becoming alarmingly common in Canadian babies.  In the east-coast provinces, medical experts attribute the increase to babies spending too much time on their backs.

In an interview with CBC, social worker Maura Donovan, who works in the IWK Health Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, said “about half the families in our program have a child with a flat spot or head-turning preference.  At least half.”

The trend was measured first in the western city of Calgary, when a recent pioneering study found 46 per cent of the babies heads in Canada are misshapen.

Plagiocephaly is the medical term for the condition that can be easily remedied.  Krista Sweet, a physiotherapist, told CBC there can be several causes but the most prevalent, is babies spending too much time in the same position.

“Especially if you rest your head back against something that’s fairly solid, so, car seats that are used for something besides just being in a car, or too much time in a bouncy chair.”

It is imperative that babies sleep on their backs to prevent sudden infant death syndrome or SIDS.  “But when they’re awake, and you’re in the room and monitoring what they’re doing and playing with them, it’s really important to get them on their belly”, Sweet advised.  “Not just for their head shape, but also for their overall development.”