Chinese parents are going to extremes to ensure their babies don’t have flat heads — by buying “miracle equipment,” including helmets, to correct the infants’ head shape.
The current fad apparently stems from a belief that a round head is more beautiful. Because babies have soft bones, parents are using a variety of “head-shape correction” products like pillows, helmets and mats to mold their heads into a round shape, the South China Morning Post reported Friday.
One mother wrote a post on a Chinese social media site titled: “I took my baby to head-shape correction, despite my family’s protests.”
Since the infant loves to sleep on her back, the mom explained, her head looked “flat and stretched out.”
Unable to get the infant to sleep on her side, the mom then took the tot to a local clinic when she was just 7 months old for custom-made “head correction gear.”
The girl’s noggin was wrapped in plaster, then a mold was created to “guide” the growth of her skull.
“I think wearing a head helmet has the same function as wearing braces, which is to correct a body part and make it more beautiful,” the mom wrote, adding, “I have a flat head, and I know how painful it is for women who are chasing beauty. I don’t want my kid to grow up and regret this part of herself.”