Head control and infant plagiocephaly: towards prevention

Abstract

The thesis investigated infant head control development for a new approach to prevention of deformational plagiocephaly associated with infants sleeping in supine (Back-to-Sleep) and reduced rates of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Standard prevention advice is counter positioning and prone play or tummy time but has limited evidence. Reports of delayed development associated with plagiocephaly led to examination of infant head control as there had been no previous studies for this within a dynamical systems framework. The objective was to explore infant plagiocephaly aetiology and prevention strategies in relation to head control development in infants and develop more effective prev..