Not always. The standard recommendation from the NHS is that a flat head is just a cosmetic problem and can either recover itself or be hidden by a baby’s hair as the baby grows older. Flattening will stop progressing once your baby is at a certain age and the subsequent head growth may visually improve, however residual flattening and facial asymmetry can persist well into adulthood.
Recent studies published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) suggest that only 25% - 75% of babies with Flat Head Syndrome see their skull recover by itself. 75% of infants in the study continue to have some degree of positional skull deformities at two years of age.
The authors also stated that:
“Skull deformation does not completely resolve in all cases by natural course, and helmet therapy does not seem to have an added value for recovery. Therefore, we emphasise the importance of prevention, early detection, and early treatment with paediatric physiotherapy of skull deformation.”