That’s Not Going to Happen to MY Baby! Part III: The Flat Spot

The Flat Spot is similar to The Bald Spot, only much more serious. I hesitate to make light of it due to the high level of anxiety it was causing me just a few short weeks ago. But, it’s important to talk about so here goes…

When Ben was born, I was shocked (shocked!!) that the nurses put him down in the bassinet on his side. I thought that they must not have heard about the Back to Sleep campaign. Didn’t they know it’s illegal to put babies down on anything other than their backs nowadays?! (OK, now I’m kidding). I didn’t say anything, but when we got home, I dutifully laid him on his back every time he went to sleep. I put him on his tummy when he was awake, but he would only put up with it for 5 minutes or so. I had read that babies often develop a flat spot from laying on their backs for too long.

Well, I thought, that’s not going to happen to MY baby. That only happens to babies who never get picked up. Ha! Little did I know that the nurses in the hospital were changing his position so that pressure didn’t get applied to the same part of baby’s soft skull all the time. Shortly after discovering The Bald Spot (which has completely grown in now, by the way), I discovered The Flat Spot. Ben was about 3 months old- it was right after I went back to work. Let me just tell you, my reaction was not a minor “oh, look, it happened after all… hmm…” kind of reaction. I immediately booked an appointment with the pediatrician. Note that I did not blog about this event, it caused so much anxiety.

One reason I love Ben’s pediatrician is that she is a mommy of little ones herself. There’s nothing like first-hand experience. She told me when her daughter was little, she had a severe flat spot. She said it was much worse than Ben’s- it was very obvious at first glance (his wasn’t, to anyone else but me). Her daughter now has a perfectly rounded head. That was a relief- there’s hope! How do we accomplish this perfectly rounded head? Special pillow? Helmet? Reconstructive surgery? Her advice was to put him on his belly as much as possible and when he IS on his back, have him look to his left. His left?! Why? Well, his flat spot isn’t in the center of his head! It’s slightly to the right. What?!? I hadn’t even noticed, but it wasn’t symmetrical! That was even worse!

We immediately implemented her recommendations, giving Ben as much tummy time as possible. He tolerates it much better now that he is stronger. We did everything possible to keep pressure off the back of his head. However, getting Ben to “look to his left” when lying on his back was extremely difficult, if not impossible. I started putting Ben to sleep on his side. Yes, that’s right. I stopped putting him to sleep on his back at 3 months of age. His lower arm laid straight in front of him and prevented him from rolling onto his belly, and at some point in the night he always rolled onto his back, but usually kept facing the side. I know because I checked on him- a lot.

Now, I am happy to report that The Flat Spot is not nearly as noticeable as it was. It is still there, but it is improving. I have since found out that 3 months is when people usually notice The Flat Spot. I looked for it to happen early on, and when it didn’t happen in the first couple months, I sort of forgot about it. I am 90% sure it will completely correct itself in the next few months. If it doesn’t, well, I’m sure I’ll come to terms with that too.

The Bottom Line: We are thankful for a healthy baby!

And about putting him down on his side- now, even when I do put him down on his back, he always ends up on his belly because he likes to roll over so much!

 

That’s not going to happen to MY baby! Part II: The Bald Spot

A few months ago, when Ben was a newborn, I saw a 4-month old baby out in public.  The back of her head literally looked as if it had been shaved.  At first glance, that is what I thought had happened.  Upon further review, however, I realized that this baby was experiencing something I had read about in the baby books: The Bald Spot.

In case you haven’t read the latest baby books, the bald spot happens when babies rub their fine, delicate hair off by laying in the same position.  My parents told me I had less hair on one side because that was the side I preferred to lay on.

Well, I thought, that’s not going to happen to MY baby!  That only happens to babies whose parents let them lie around all the time and never hold them.  Boy, was I naive!  At about 2.5 months, I was washing Ben’s hair and noticed that there was hardly any hair on the back of his head!  At first, I was mortified that my son was suffering from such neglect!  Then I realized all the opportunities Ben’s fine, delicate hair had to get rubbed off: he sleeps on his back, his head lays against his little chair, and the back of his head rubs against his swing, his carseat, etc. This phenomenon didn’t happen as much in the “old days” when babies slept on their stomachs. Ben gets held plenty.

Luckily, Ben’s bald spot isn’t too noticeable since he has blonde hair.  That little girl’s spot was super-noticeable with her dark hair.  And, it’s not completely bald.  He has some fuzz growing there.  It just doesn’t have the chance to get as long as the rest of his head.

 

That’s not going to happen to MY baby! Part I: The Binky

Ben is only 4 months old (tomorrow!) and already there are several examples of things I swore wouldn’t happen to MY baby… that happened to my baby.

It started when he was about 2 hours old and suddenly a pacifier appeared in his hospital bassinet. I have no idea how or when it got there. I had already “decided” that we would not give our baby a pacifier- we would “meet his needs” rather than “plug him up.” I thought, “if his needs are met, he won’t need a pacifier.” I was a little groggy from the surgery so I didn’t do anything about the offending pacifier. I think I thought it was decoration- how cute! The baby sleeping in the bassinet, all bundled up with his little hat and the pacifier laying there next to him…Awww! Then he cried and a nurse put it in his mouth. The horror! I reached into his bassinet and grabbed it right out of his mouth. “We aren’t going to use a pacifier,” I said to the nurse. “OK,” she said, smiling, with just a touch of sarcasm. I thought for sure that nipple confusion would set in right away and he would never be able to breastfeed again after taking that pacifier.

2 weeks after bringing Ben home from the hospital, I bought my 2nd 2-pack of pacifiers. Only by then we had a nickname for them, thanks to his pediatrician: Binkies. We now have one in the crib, one in the pack and play, one in his little chair, and one in his carseat. Plus the original hospital floats around the house as a spare. It’s not like he sucks on them constantly, but there are times when they really…well…pacify him! And he is still breastfeeds like a champ!

One footnote to this story for any expectant mommies reading this: a couple days after coming home from the hospital, Ben developed a red spot on the tip of his nose that eventually scabbed over. It took a couple days for us to realize the culprit: that little “Soothie” binky from the hospital was too big for him and it was rubbing his nose! So he had a sore nose for a while and I experienced my first “mommy guilt.” You can see it in the picture below.

THEN we tried binkies we had been given as gifts- they were butterfly shaped and didn’t rub his nose, but they were too big and he couldn’t keep them in. So we bought “newborn” binkies at Target and they did the trick (he’s still using them). The binky in the picture at the top is one of the big ones. I don’t have a pic of the newborn ones, but they are a lot plainer than that one. Oh, and he’s gotten big enough now that the Soothie doesn’t rub his nose!