An expensive helmet treatment to preserve the shapes of babies’ heads makes no "meaningful" difference, researchers say today.
About 20% of babies develop a misshapen skull because of being left lying in the same position for long periods.
The problem has become more common since the discovery that leaving babies in other positions increases the risk of cot death, researchers say.
In the Netherlands, as many as 2% of babies are fitted with special helmets to try to prevent this problem.
The treatment is not available on the British NHS – although some parents may pay sums of up to £2,000 for the treatment.
A new study from the Netherlands involved some 84 babies, showing indications of skull deformation. Some had flattening of the back of the head – which causes the front of the skull to bulge – while others had plagiocephaly, where one side of the skull is flattened.
Half of these babies were given the helmets after the age of six months, the researchers reported in the British Medical Journal.
There were improvements in both groups but only a quarter recovered a normal head shape, the researchers found.
Parents reported major side-effects from helmets, including skin irritation, smells, sweating and in some cases pain – as well as feeling they could not cuddle their babies.
Researcher Renske van Wijk, of the University of Twente, Enschede, said: "Based on the effectiveness of helmet therapy, and the high prevalence of side-effects and high costs, we discourage the use of a helmet as a standard treatment for healthy infants with moderate to severe skull deformation."
Helmet therapy in infants with positional skull deformation: randomised controlled trial. BMJ 2 May 2014
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