Do newborn stocking caps help skull shape?
It's common to put stocking caps on newborns. For both of my boys, born in different hospitals with different methodologies, they were given stocking caps immediately after birth.
I know that the caps are for temperature control and keeping the baby warm. However, we've heard from our mothers (when our first was born) that the caps have another purpose.
The pressure exerted on a baby's scalp during delivery can cause temporary deformities of the skull, since the skull bones are not fused. This malleability is necessary for babies to fit through the birth canal. However, it often leaves newborn heads looking decidedly more lumpy than usual.
Back to the caps: Our mothers (and others) claim that the pressure from the hat can speed up the process by which the skull's shape normalize. I'm skeptical, because I'm not sure the pressure applied by a standard cap would be even or consistent enough to be effective.
So, can newborn stocking caps speed up the process by which newborn skulls assume their normal shape?
Note, I'm not referring to the cases where children receive specialized helmets for flat or bulging skulls.
Aside: If anyone wants to edit this to include the medical or technical words for the conditions and processes I'm referring to, please do!
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Based on commentary from friends of ours who are midwives and community nurses, there are two key information points here:
To answer your specific question: No, those caps are just to keep the baby's head warm. They do not offer significant pressure to reshape the skull
Trying to do this is unneeded, aside from exceptional cases that the hospital would identify and provide assistance for
Babies heads are supposed to deform, and the soft skull allows this to happen and reform. You shouldn't worry about it.
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