11/08/2025
The physiological benefits of a baby’s head being squeezed through the birth canal are significant and multifaceted. This process, known as molding, helps shape the baby’s head to facilitate a safer and more manageable delivery. The compression aids in expelling amniotic fluid from the baby’s lungs, clearing the airways for the first breath. Additionally, the pressure stimulates the release of stress hormones, which help the baby transition from the intrauterine environment to the external world, enhancing alertness and adaptation to new surroundings.
The molding of the skull during birth also encourages the alignment and overlapping of the cranial bones, allowing the head to conform to the shape of the birth canal. This ability to compress and then gradually return to a more rounded shape is critical for protecting the brain during delivery. Their heads typically reshape themselves within a few days to weeks after delivery.
Tips to round out baby’s head:
* Alternate the direction in which you place baby down to sleep as well as on the changing table so that they’re not always looking in the same direction.
* If baby’s bottle feeding, you may have a preferred side to feed on, depending on if you’re right- or left-handed. But changing sides regularly may encourage baby to turn their head in both directions. Make sure to switch breastfeeding positions occasionally as well
* Avoid leaving your baby for extended periods of time in a container like the car seat, stroller, infant seat, baby swing, baby carrier, or any other place where their head is likely to rest on the same spot for long periods of time
* Have baby spend time in tummy time and side lying, not just on their back
* Baby wearing also promotes a round head
* Alternate where you place baby to play. It’s ok to occasionally put baby in a baby container, but keep it fresh. A baby bouncer will hold their head in a different way than being on the floor. Changing positions will give them new things to look at and ways to explore
