Sleep curve mattresses

foreversomeday

I would imagine it can help, but it doesn't sound essential and IMO it's not worth the money.

To reduce flat head syndrome for free, swap which end of the cot the child sleeps at each night (so if they always look into the room, their head will alternate) or place them to sleep with their head to the left one night, to the right the next night.

Minimise the time they spend on their backs during the day - let them have lots of "tummy time" or carry them upright in a sling. They only need to be on their backs when they are asleep, or in a car seat or pram, it is important for them to be on their tummies or upright the rest of the time to help them develop their muscles as well as preventing flat head syndrome.

A small number of babies will still get flat head syndrome after this, like the lady who posted above, and in that case it needs looking at by a doctor, but if this was the case it would be unlikely that having a special mattress would have helped in the first place.

HTH.

nesssie1702

My mum, who's was a midwife has recently remarked at the number of babies that she sees now that have flat heads. She said that when she was bringing us up (there are 4 of us in the family) that she used to alternate what side we used to sleep on and would place a rolled up blanket at our backs to prevent us rolling - none of us have flat heads.....

MS_2008

Although expensive, I have bought a sleepcurve mattress for my 2nd baby after my first child suffered with plagiocephaly. He didn't spend a lot of time in a car seat either but he was premature so had a softer skull.

He didn't liike tummy time at all and could only be on his tummy for extrememly short periods of time.

we bought the sleepcurve cot mattress and it definitely helped to prevent his flat head from getting worse.

Tim_Deegan

MS_2008 wrote: »

we bought the sleepcurve cot mattress and it definitely helped to prevent his flat head from getting worse.

The trouble is that you have no way of knowing if it would have been worse without the mattress.

They are playing on parents fears by charging a lot of money for what is just a mattress with a cut out.

ST1972

I would definitely recommend the mattresses, they are designed by Philip Owen who is paediatric cranial osteopath. The mattress for a moses basket only costs £50 and so is a good start for your baby even if you then decide not to buy the cot topper.

We bought one for our little girl and she has a perfect head and has slept well on it. The mattress also has special airflow channels to help keep baby cool.

Anyone interested should look at the sleepcurve website to help them decide whether to buy one or not.

benood

OP - do you have a flat head? Did you have one of these matresses as a baby? I hazard a guess the answers are no and no!

[Deleted User]

I have 2 children, my son had a flat head noticeable until about 8-9 months, then popped back out, by 1 year not noticeable. He didn't like tummy time. My daughter never had a flat head but did like tummy time. My HV also said some children are more suseptible than others as their skull tissues are softer than others.

I;d say its a personal thing and its probably quite rare that flat head goes onto be a serious problem. Best thing is talk to the HV first.

gravitytolls

We have 8 children ~ standard mattresses, and latter babes co sleep ~ no flat heads.

However, I lay little ones on their sides, simply because they sleep better that way.

Tim_Deegan

How have we managed until someone took a bit of cheap reflex foam and then cut a V shaped wedge out of it?????

The whole thing is a sales gimmick that uses parents fears to overcharge for what is just a reflex foam mattress with a cut out.

There have been a few people on here saying that it worked for their child because their child didn't get a flat head........but how do they know if their child would have developed a flat head with a normal mattress? Statistics say that the chances are that their children wouldn't have flat heads anyway.

I am in the bed industry, so I know just how full of sales gimmicks the trade is. And now unfortunately these sales gimmicks have spread to what is probably the easiest market to persuade, because we all want what is best for our children.

One thing that we don't really know about is this: Because the baby's head is sitting in a cut out, then this means that the head is sitting lower than it would be normally. This could tilt the head back. How about some research to find out if this is good or bad.

aliasojo

nesssie1702 wrote: »

My mum, who's was a midwife has recently remarked at the number of babies that she sees now that have flat heads. She said that when she was bringing us up (there are 4 of us in the family) that she used to alternate what side we used to sleep on and would place a rolled up blanket at our backs to prevent us rolling - none of us have flat heads.....

Isn't this the point? The advice years ago was to have babies sleeping on their sides. Nowadays, we're told to have them on their backs. It's not surprising that there seems to be an increase in flat heads.

There are always sales gimmicks that's true, but how can you automatically dismiss new ideas as simply being another gimmick?