Tortle Review

Having a new born baby is wonderful and scary at the same time. There are so many things to take into consideration when you finally have them home and one of them is their head health.

One out of two babies develop a flat head syndrome (or Positional plagiocephaly if you want to get technical) from laying on one side of the head or back for prolonged periods of time. This usually happens at 0-6 months, the stage where the brain is developing rapidly and babies skulls are still quite soft to accommodate growth. Being less mobile at this age with less "tummy time" babies can sometimes develop this problem. Pediatricians believe flat head syndrome is not cosmetic but may also cause problems like developmental delays, binocular vision issues and other life-long problems. 

With our oldest daughter we had no issues with her head but for our middle child, our son we did experience flat head syndrome with him at the beginning. Although his situation was caused at birth, it was still a concern of both his doctor and us. Changing his position frequently and using baby neck and head rests helped treat it. Now, our youngest baby's head is as round as it should be, our doctor checks her head at every check up to ensure she isn't developing a favoured side or back.

I was happy to try out the Tortle with BabyM. Created by pediatrician, neonatologist and mom of four, Dr. Jane, the Tortle can help treat and prevent flat head syndrome in babies. You'd be surprised at how many new mothers are unaware of the dangers of plagiocephaly. Check out this video "I wish I'd known" which talks to moms about their experiences with the malformation and how the Tortle could have helped them. 

It's a simple beanie hat with a side rest. You just place it on baby's head as you would any other hat and position the rest to one side, changing positions every feed so your baby rests on each side evenly. If your baby does develop a flat side you can put the rest on the flat part which will help the head grow the way its supposed to by limiting the baby's ability to rest on that side.  Tortles are machine washable and come in size small, medium and large in various patterns. They also have cute accessories you can buy to fancy it up a bit.  We received a size medium Tortle in pink, which is for babies aged 2 months and up. Our little M's head was a little small for the medium but flipping up the front out of her eyes worked well and she looks so cute in it!

You can purchase a Tortle online at www.tortle.com and part of the proceeds go toward flat head syndrome research. Show some love and like the Tortle Facebook Fan Page and follow hashtag #Tortle on twitter for all kinds of Tortle talk! 

Disclosure: Posted by AME in participation with a MomSelect program. Complimentary product was received for review purposes. Opinions and comments on this blog are otherwise those of the author.