For many years the aetiology of neonatal occipital alopecia (NOA) has been reported to be friction. We have made a retrospective check to see if the incidence of NOA has increased since the new paediatric tendencies of putting children back to sleep in the safest way have been used (APP guidelines). The results of this study in 301 neonates demonstrated that it has not. The aetiology of this phenomenon is the physiological shedding of hair in the first weeks of life. The pillow, which is often blamed, only aids this shedding. Parents should be informed that there is no relationship between the sleep position and the onset of this problem, to prevent them from changing the position of the sleeping child, which could lead to a fatal outcome.
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