To Lisa Crowe, her little boy, James, is perfect.

However, when he was three months old he developed a condition which meant he needed a little help.

James was born with a cephalhematoma – a pocket of blood in his head.

Mrs Crowe said: “It was about the size of a tennis ball. It was harmless and the midwife said not to worry, as it would go away and it wouldn’t be an issue.

“However, he used to lay on that side. Then I started to notice at three months, his head was really flat.

“At about four months, his head was flat at the back. It was a bit like a parallelogram.”

However, the NHS regards James’s condition, commonly known as “flat head syndrome”, as merely cosmetic and will do nothing to remedy the condition.

That was why Mrs Crowe and her husband,Mark, chose to spend £2,000 on a special helmet, designed to gently re-shape his head.

They are also working to raise awareness of the condition in the hopes of helping others.

A number of factors are thought to contribute to flat head syndrome, including the fact James was a heavy sleeper, and grew very quickly after being born three weeks prematurely.

Doctors suggested Mrs Crowe was advised by doctors to put James on his tummy when he was playing to help.

She said: “They said there was nothing the NHS will do, as it was a cosmetic issue only.

“While it is cosmetic – it is quite a big cosmetic issue.

“You would put hats on him and his head would look strange.”

Mrs Crowe set about researching on the internet to see if there was anything she could do.

James’s condition is properly known as braciocephaly, in the case of flatness across the back of the head, or plagiocephaly, the head appearing lopsided.

She ordered a £60 head support cushion and put it in James’s play mat and pram whenever there was someone to watch over him.

Meanwhile Mr and Mrs Crowe, who has have a three-year-old daughter, Isla, took James for privately- funded cranial osteopathy sessions and also took him to the London Orthotic Consultancy’s head clinic in Romford.

Mrs Crowe said: “There was no guarantee it would get better if we left it, so we had to go for the helmet.

"You can only do this until they are about 18 months old.

"After that, it is too late.”

The helmet was custom-made for James, who now wears it 22 hours a day.

James, now a year old, started to wear it three months ago and the Crowes have been told he is now about four weeks away from not needing it anymore.

Mrs Crowe, 32, from Highwoods, Colchester, said: “I just want to warn parents to be careful. I didn't realise a new baby’s skull was the thickness of a credit card.”

She suggested parents who had a baby with the condition and did not know what to do should probably try get help from the London Orthotic Consultancy head clinic first.

She added: “Try to avoid the need for a helmet in the first place, by repositioning your baby, the baby on their stomach when playing, when possible.”

  • If you think your baby might have flat head syndrome, the London Orthotics Consultancy offers a service called the Free Flat Head diagnosis. Parents can fill in the official, confidential online form to email pictures of their baby’s head here. A fully qualified orthotist will respond within 24 hours with a free clinical opinion. If there is any concern about the baby’s head shape, the orthotist can make the parent aware of this and invite them to attend a free initial consultation.