So, why do babies wear helmets? Why do babies occasionally wear helmets when they can’t ride bikes or participate in contact sports? Helmet treatment is probably what they’re doing. This is a treatment for newborns with abnormally shaped heads.
For a baby, there are soft patches and ridges in their skull where their cranial bones haven’t yet formed together.
A helmet allows the infant to be born with a soft skull. It allows for a baby’s brain development and brain growth during the first several years of life. The skull’s bones fuse over time.
Newborns can have oddly shaped heads because of their delicate skulls. They may need the use of a helmet to adjust their head’s shape and prevent health problems in the future.
In this article, we’ll learn more about this.
So, without further ado, let’s get to the heart of the issue we’ve discussed!
Why Do Babies Wear Helmets?
Babies wear helmets mostly for better skull development and to prevent head syndromes.
As parents, we spend much time getting to know our children, even their very small bodies. In particular, our child’s head, as we cradle them to feed them or while we gently stroke their hair as they sleep. Therefore, it is natural for us to worry about whether or not the flat place on their skull is normal and whether or not it will go away if we feel it.
Plagiocephaly is the medical term for flattening a baby’s head, affecting around 47 percent of newborns. In addition, some of them will need therapy to assist in correcting it. It helps the baby’s head shape.
If you are worried about your child’s health, you should address the problem with the attending physician who cares for them. For example, suppose they believe that treatment may be beneficial. In that case, they will suggest infant helmet therapy, also known as cranial orthosis, to gently modify your baby’s skull’s shape to be more like a round shape.
And another reason that could form a baby’s head differently is that it can happen when the plates of the baby’s skull fuse too quickly. This condition, known as craniosynostosis, may call for various treatments, including the use of a helmet, to assist with the formation of the head.
Why Do Down Syndrome Babies Wear Helmets?
Most newborns have a condition known as a down syndrome, and wearing helmets may help restore the shape of babies’ skulls. Even if your kid does not have down syndrome, it is critical to ensure enough protection for their head and mouth at a young age.
Infants born with down syndrome have a physical appearance that is easily recognizable. If you look closely, you’ll find that their faces and the backs of their skulls have a somewhat smooth surface. Most kids with flathead or down syndrome do not need extensive helmet treatment since their condition will recover within 5 years.
However, since some parents are worried about the form of their children’s heads, they quickly explore helmet treatment for their children. Down syndrome, often referred to as positional plagiocephaly, is a disorder that manifests itself in infants when they have a strong preference for sleeping on just one side.
This is the primary reason why many infants, even those who do not have down syndrome, need to wear head protection. In a purely technical sense, the helmet will cause the flat surface to curve outward. Because newborns’ skulls are still softening and growing, doctors recommend that they wear the helmet used to correct the form of the head. In addition, they can cure the head with baby helmet therapy.
How to Fix Baby’s Flat Head Without a Helmet?
A flat head syndrome will alter a baby’s skull shape making a flat spot on their skull. Hence, parents should always put babies to sleep on their backs to limit the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). It is best for newborns to sleep without swings, car seats, bouncing chairs, and other gadgets. This ensures that they may freely move their heads and is also the safest option.
What measures may be taken by parents when they find out that sleeping or lying posture is the cause of flat head syndrome? They can alleviate this by using simple techniques, such as changing the position in which your baby sleeps, holding your infant often, and offering a lot of “tummy time.” Alternatively, give these hints a shot:
Make Them Spend Some Time on Their Stomach
Your infant should be allowed to spend a significant amount of time throughout the day lying on their tummy while awake. Tummy time helps in a variety of ways:
- It assists in the proper development of the back of the head
- Increases a baby’s learning and exploration of the world
- Assists infants in strengthening the muscles in their necks
- Teaches them how to push themselves up on their arms.
- Crawling and sitting up different sets of muscles, helping them strengthen those muscles.
Shift your infant about in the crib and adopt a variety of postures.
Think About How You Put Your Child to Sleep in the Crib
Most right-handed parents hold their babies in their left arms as they carry them and lay them down with their heads to the left. The newborn has to turn to the right to get a view of what’s going on outside while in this posture. Place your child in their crib so that it will actively urge them to move their head to the not-flattened side.
Increase the Amount of Time You Hold Your Infant
It would be best if you tried to limit the amount of time your kid spends laying on their back or with their head supported by a level surface (such as in car seats, strollers, swings, bouncy seats, and play yards).
For example, suppose your infant has slept off while riding in a car seat. In that case, you should remove your child from the vehicle as soon as you arrive at your destination rather than allowing your child to continue dozing off in the seat. If you pick up and hold your infant often, you may relieve some of the pressure that these things place on their head.
While your infant is sleeping, try different positions for their head. For example, when your infant sleeps on their back, you should alternate the direction the head is facing (from left to right, then right to the left). Place your child on the mattress so that the rounded side of the head is touching the mattress and the flattened side looks up. This will ensure that they sleep in the most comfortable position possible.
Regardless of how often your infant moves about throughout the night, you must take this step. For example, if you want to keep your infant in the same position, you shouldn’t use wedge cushions or other gadgets.
Most infants diagnosed with the flat head syndrome also have torticollis to some degree. Therefore, a home fitness regimen and physical therapy are often components of the treatment. In addition, you can learn activities to perform with your infant, including stretching from a physical therapist who can teach you such exercises.
The majority of maneuvers need you to extend your neck to the side that is opposite the tilt. After some time has passed, the muscles in the neck will have grown longer, and the neck will have naturally straightened itself out. Although they are straightforward, you must carry out the exercises with precision.
Final Words – Why Do Babies Wear Helmets?
Infants’ skulls are more shapeable than adults, making it easier for them to pass through the birth canal. This suppleness also makes it possible for significant brain development to occur in the earliest years of life.
The time infants spend sleeping in certain postures may cause an abnormal head shape. However, these forms may occasionally be permanent if the condition is not corrected.
In certain instances, infants are born with a hereditary abnormal skull shape due to the skull bones fusing at an abnormally early age, stunting the brain’s development.
Helmet therapy is a kind of treatment that helps to restructure a baby’s head. This procedure is particularly helpful when physical therapy and often altering a baby’s posture has not been successful. Baby helmets are also cute to see.
This was a complete guide on why babies wear helmets.
