PROPERLY SHAPING THE HEAD OF NEWBORN BABY

Ok…all the Pakistani moms know that head shaping is a BIG deal in Pakistan.

 When my first one was born, everyone used to examine my boy’s head, to see how 

well I was shaping it. At times, during the first 6 months, I was sooo exasperated, I 

used to stay up all night re-positioning his head. However, when my girl was born I had 

the hang of it and did with comparative ease, but it was still no piece of cake.

IDEAL HEAD SHAPE:

There are different ideas on what the head shape must be.

In south Punjab(where my in laws belong), mothers aim for a head flattened on the 

back. In my home town and central Punjab a round shapely head is deemed beautiful.In

 northern areas flattened head is the mom's goal.Also there is shaping forehead, nose, 

upper lip, neck, shoulders and the list goes on. 

I was really baffled to hear of all the shaping I had to do of the baby who, I think ,was 

already worked on enough before birth.

 

I had a cesarean birth and I used to feed my baby in side lying pose. The result was 

flattened head on right side and round on left. I was so worried. Then after consulting 

my mom and many aunties I started to put a clip board under his head when he was 

asleep.

He use to move his head a lot even in sleep. I managed this by putting two pillows, one 

on his side , but joined above his head, so that his head was sort of pinned between the 

pillows. Half the time I made his head rest on the left side, which was relatively 

poorly shaped and bulging. The other half he was lying facing upwards, head straight.

I did this until he was 6 month old…the usual age around which fontanel(the pulsing 

boneless patch on your baby’s head) closed. There was still some flattening on right in 

relation to left but with passage of time this problem was smoothed out in growth. 

Today, mashallah he has a perfectly round head.

medically speaking, round head is the best.no flattening at all

With my girl, I was extra vigilant and made her lie straight all the time of waking 

hours, ever since she was one day old. 

Also I used to put a hard surface below her head covered by blanket to prevent her soft 

head. Believe me her head was perfect in shape in just 7 days. 

All I had to do then was to take care that she spent major part of her time lying straight 

It was easier because newborns don’t move much. They don’t even move their heads 

much.

TECHNIQUES THAT WORK:

I have learned that while shaping head what works the most is:

1-Making baby lie on her back since day 1 on the round pillow,as shown in the photo 

 below.Try to not to  let her rotate her head, or it will cause unshapely unsymmetrical 

flattening of head.

2-If feeding in side-lying pose, change sides with every feed so that pressure 

application is equal on both sides.

side lying pose (via google images)

3- When, and if you can, try feeding sitting cross legged with baby in your lap, head 

lying on your thigh and a hand on her forehead to apply gentle pressure on forehead as 

well  to maintain straight pose of head.

4-If you feel head is bulging from back, make a hard pillow for baby where she cant 

move her head. Pillows like the one below are very helpful. use them from day one.I 

use to place a clip board beneath this pillow to give the required pressure from below.
 

KEEP IN MIND:

All this effort is done to shape the head so that there are not asymmetrical or flattened 

sides,and no alien like  bulging of upper part of head.

A WORD OF ADVICE:

Experienced mothers and grandparents always advice the new moms on how to bring 

up the baby etc.They narrate different housewives' myths and superstitions and want to 

you to practice them too..I know that being an educated mother, its hard to believe and 

act upon myths but always remember that these myths have been in practice for more 

than a century, and even if you don’t think they are effective they are not harmful 

either. 

So, at least  listen to moms and grannies and then decide, because if your baby ends up 

with a badly shaped head he/she will be stuck with it for the rest of his/her life, just 

because his/her mother didn't believe the customs which have  worked for generations 

before us.