Sleep curve mattresses

shineshine

Heard on the radio that sleep curve mattresses are essential for babies to prevent flat head syndrome. Is it a must have? Has anyone used it before? Please advise.

Thanks.

pennypitstop_2

Hi shineshine
I personally have never heard of the matresses, but I bet they're expensive!

Flat head 'syndrome' as far as I know is just caused by baby having a soft scull and since babies spend so much time lying on their backs, the back of the head looks a bit squashed down! It's why you see so many babies with a little bald patch on the backs of their heads, too! It doesn't do any damage, is temporary, isn't uncomfortable for them and isn;t noticeable to anyone but the mother, in all probability! I have never heard anything different, please correct me if I'm wrong or there is a rare syndrome which is more serious.

As for the matresses, these certainly weren;t around until very recently. Cot matresses are expensiove to start with but you must get a new one for a new baby... the best ones IMHO are the the ones that allow for air circulation - they have the little holes in! Some have waterproof covers which can be very handy too (milky sick is very wet and gets everywhere!). Get one that fits the cot perfectly too.. little fingers could get stuck between the matress and cot side.

The advert on the radio could just have been a sad marketing ploy by a company who want to charge ridiculous prices for a cot matress, playing on the fears of parents. Maybe there's a real reason why a sleep curve matress is better, I wouldn't go out and buy one just because of the claim it avoids giving babies flat heads though!!!!

Ellie2758

dont believe it. the skull problem is caused by babies sitting in hard car seats for too long - not lying on soft mattresses.

newMS

essential for the sales targets..............

TokochickUK

Ellie2758 wrote:

dont believe it. the skull problem is caused by babies sitting in hard car seats for too long - not lying on soft mattresses.

Sorry... B*lls
my first son is 2 1/2 and his head is mishapen we had two appointments with specialist but as we are not in an area that only 2 nhs units provide helmets for we would have to pay £2000 privately and we were fobbed off at every which way being told it was normal when it was far from it. his head shape is like a square box that is being flattened to one side due to him having weak muscles down the right hand side of his neck. ds2 however is 1 1/2 and has no such issue due to me being able to alternate his head position on left and right. To long in the car seat is poop, its due to the back to sleep position in aid of reducing SIDS.
you dont need the mattress but it can help, babies r us do them if you wanted to have a look.
hth
sus x

Juicy_Tube

http://www.cranialtech.com/MedicalInfo/plagiocauses.html

Flat Head Syndrome can be serious, as you will see in above link.

I agree with above that unnecesary use of car seats and using them to transport baby for prolonged usage cannot be any good. It makes me cringe when I see LOs curled up in a car seat sleeping on one of these travel type systems as the main mode of transport. Can't be good.

As for OPs question, never heard of the matresses TBH!

MY LO had a slightly mis-shapen/flat head after delivery. I saw a cranial oesteopath which worked a treat.

JT x

I would say don't worry about this, just another marketing ploy.

galaxyone

My son is nearly three. His head was fine when he was born, but by the time he was about 3 months old he had developed quite a noticeable 'flatness' on the left hand side of the back of his head. Everyone noticed it. I spoke to my GP and he said it was fine, that it would correct itself etc. He spent very little time in a car seat and had a top quality mattress. He has loads of hair now and so you can't notice it, but the problem is definitely still there (can feel it) and it worries me that when he wants a really short hair style as he gets older, it will bother him.

Because of all this, my sister (whose baby girl was born last June) bought one of the sleepcurve mattresses for her daughter's moses basket and then cot. She is now 8 months old and has a perfectly shaped head. She has also spent just as much time as my son in a car seat, if not more.

Well it may all be coincidence but I am expecting another baby in July and will DEFINITELY be buying the sleepcurve mattress. Two of my friends' children also developed 'flat-head syndrome' (on normal mattresses) and one is currently seeing a pediatrician because of it.

Hope this helps in some way.

bunty109

TokochickUK wrote:

Sorry... B*lls
my first son is 2 1/2 and his head is mishapen we had two appointments with specialist but as we are not in an area that only 2 nhs units provide helmets for we would have to pay £2000 privately and we were fobbed off at every which way being told it was normal when it was far from it. his head shape is like a square box that is being flattened to one side due to him having weak muscles down the right hand side of his neck. ds2 however is 1 1/2 and has no such issue due to me being able to alternate his head position on left and right. To long in the car seat is poop, its due to the back to sleep position in aid of reducing SIDS.
you dont need the mattress but it can help, babies r us do them if you wanted to have a look.
hth
sus x

My friend has a son who had this and they pushed and pushed to get some treatment for him. Eventually they ended up paying the 2K (fortunately they could afford it) for a helmet and in 20 weeks the problem was resolved.

Recently a mother at a group I go to showed me the same problem on her son's head. She said her GP wanted to refer him but she didn't see anything wrong with it. I've gotten to know her better since she first said this so if the subject crops up again I will definitely suggest she takes the GP up on his offer.

Anyway, I would say yes to the mattress if it is affordable as it seems my friend's son had the problem from the way he slept.

sxgal

My daughter purchased one of these before her daughter was born as we saw them advertised at the Baby show. My grandaughter has a perfectly shaped head and now that she is a year old and in a cot no longer has to have the mattress. Unfortunately my son hadn't the same mattress for his baby and my grandson has a flat spot on the back of his head. My son is now searching for the same mattress to take the pressure away from the flat spot. I would reccommend this type of mattress to any expectant mother as you are always better safe than sorry.

pukkamum

my sister has bought her baby a special pillow to prevent this it goes under the sheet, it was about £15 for the pillow and some cases, it means she can also use it in the moses basket, cot and pram as opposed to a special mattress just for the cot.

Tim_Deegan

As someone who sells beds and mattresses (not cot mattresses yet), I can tell you that the bed industry is full of sales gimmicks, and this sounds like another.

I have never heard of sleep curve mattresses, so I'd be happy to hear from someone who has one. I presume that it spreads the weight out over the back of the skull by either having a depression in the mattress, or by having memory foam in the head area of the mattress. Both of these options would worry me. I would have thought that anything that makes the head slightly lower than the rest of the body could increase the chance of a baby choking on vomit.

My son actually had a very misshapen head when he was born (probably down to being 10lb7.5oz), and actually had a cone shaped head for a few days. The over the next few months the cone shape had gone, but he had a very flat head on the rear right side. We were told that this was mainly due to him being so heavy, and that his weight was squashing one side of his head. However he will be 4 in September, and although it took a long time to go back to shape, his head is now completely normal.