Flat Head - Oak Park,IL

My son had torticollis as well, and his head was uneven for a while. I think as a mom you notice it much more than others! I also took him to a physical therapist for neck massages. I would suggest that anytime you can turn his head do so... I would go in his room after he fell asleep and move it, or if i fed him a bottle I would make sure to lay the correct side of his head on my arm. He's 2 now and it's still noticeable to me, but everyone else thinks i'm crazy. Good luck!

I agree with the earlier post that he may have torticolis. Helping him look and lay the other way does help. However, if his head is too flat, it will not round out. My sons head was flat from the get go and just got worse. He even rolled over early and didn't spend a lot of time on his back. I took him to Childrnen's plastic surgery division and they said "Oh, he's a boy and it will round out." Foolishly, I believed them. I finally took him to Cranial Technologies where they acually measured his head. He was a decent ways away from the norm of a typical head. That was what I needed to know. He wore a DOC band for almost 4 months. It was no big deal. He didn't mind it at all. His head is markedly better and now normal. Had I started sooner, it would have been much rounder. I would investigate.

Good luck!

A.,

My son got this when he was 3 months old. He had flat head on the left side. I took him to my pediatrician and she said that it was plagiosephaly (this is probably spelled wrong. She then recommended me to a specialist in Downers Grove. When we saw the specialist, he said that it was not that bad and did NOT need a helmet to form it back to normal. It is said that the shape can go back to normal on it's own, but if you are concerned like me I wanted as many opinions as I could get. My son is now 18 months old and he looks completely normal. He went thru 1 year of physical therapy. The therapist worked with different neck exercises. The best thing to do during the day until you make your decision of going to the doctor or not is to give your baby lots of tummy time even if the baby does not like it. Let me know what you decide to do. If you have any other questions please e-mail me ____@____.com

Hi A.!
My son also had a flat spot on his head at that age. He had a torticoulous(Sp?) which caused the neck muscles on his one side to be tight so he favored the other side. Thsi caused the flat spot. We had to do neck stretches to help him turn the other way. You may want to look into that(?) We also had a consult at Children's Memorial to be sure there weren't any further problems.(He was fine). The doctor said the "flatness" gets worst around 6 months and then will slowly get better. My niece has a helmet to help her problem--but we decided against that.

Just be sure to keep him upright as much as possible in an exersaucer or jumperoo--that helps too!

If you have any more questions let me know!
Good Luck and Don't worry!
L.

My son had the worst flat head. Since he was in the hosptial for 13 months he spent a lot of time on his back. His Ped said that their heads reshape themselves up to 18 months old. She advised us to get the helmet but we decided to wait and see. We followed his physical therapist advice by making sure he slept on the correct side, we would move him if he wasn't. We would also put his toys on the correct side to get him to look that way more often. When he did start sitting up and refusing the move to that side our therapist said that now that he is up and moving that will still correct itself. Being elevated and moving I guess helped.

John now has a pretty nice shaped head. No more flat head and no helmet.

This shouldn't be too much of a problem if he really doesn't like to be on his back anymore (presumably this is because he likes to sit up or be on his stomach? Basically, the less you can have him laying with his head turned the better. Try carrying him in a sling instead of in his carseat or stroller, put him in a jumper, on the floor, or in an exersaucer instead of in a bouncy recliner, etc. As long as you don't exacerbate this it should resolve itself.

It's hard to keep them on one side vs the other especially when they are mobile. Try your best and if you don't see any improvement (or your pediatrician) doesn't at the 9 month... ask about potential next steps. It may be visiting a craniologist (sp?) for helmet. My neice had a helmut for a while and did really well with it. Good luck!

You've gotten lots of good advice already, but I would add, from experience, that you should NOT trust your pediatrician, but should see a specialist for an opinion, while he's still young enough to correct the problem (before a year is best.) Chances are this will correct itself, but as we learned, it does not always.

Hi A.,

Your friends and Pediatrician are both right. Encourage your son to look to the right but he will correct this problem with time. As he begins to crawl and become more mobile he will be just fine. Try not to worry.

M. M
Family Physician
www.scmeeks.executivemarketinggrp.com

my son had a simular problem... on his left side of course.. i had to take towls and roll them up to prop him on the right side.. i was really worried because i had plagiocephaly when i was a baby and had to have surgery.. and my daughter had bilateral craniosyntosis.. and had to have surgery.. so when we took her for her check up the dr at childrens looked at him also and told me to do the towl thing.. and his head is perfect now!!.. but nothing will make u feel 100% better unless u have him checked out..

My nephew had a similar problem and his doctor had him fitted for a helmet type cast on his head. He wore it for several months and his head was just fine afterwards. While he wore it, we all signed it and drew pictures all over it to make it look better and to make it a fun thing for him. I have also heard that sometimes they do correct themselves depending on how serious it is. I would just talk to the doctor again and see what he/she recommends. In the end I am sure it will work out just fine. Good luck!

My son is now two and a half and his head is still a bit flat in the back. I thought it would go away and obviously it didnt. I tried my best to put him on his sides and not his back but I guess it was too late. My nephew has one of his sides and its more obvious than if it was on the back. We tried telling my sister about it but she insisted that it would go away on its own and it hasnt. I'd look into it before its too late.

My first son was born with a flat head in the back. He had the chubbiest cheeks. From the side he looked funny because his face was so fat and his head was so flat.
We tried everything from more tummy time to toys on the sides of the crib, etc.. The doctor had suggested that we put him in a helmet to keep him off the back of his head. He would have had to wear it for 23 hrs a day. We decided against that and today my little guy is 2 and a half and still has a flat head. His hair helps, no one would notice if I did not say anything.
He has all his fingers and toes so a flat head was not so bad.

I have twins and my son had the same problem. We tried making adjustments like your ped suggested but the problem was his sleeping position, which he spent so much time in and could not be changed. He ultimately ended up wearing a head shaping helmet for about three months (6-8 months old) and that completely solved the problem. This was first recommended by the pediatrician and then also encouraged by a physical therapist. It was a heart wrenching decision to make but honestly, my son adjusted to the helmet within 2 days and when he started crawling and learning to walk, it was a great buffer! I'd be willing to talk with you more about this if you're interested. Just let me know.

My son had torticollis and had to have the helmet. It does nto bother them in the least! Of course you will feel awful!! It's what moms do best. Definitely get him checked out at Cranial Technologies in Downers Grove. If they feel he needs a DOC band then he does!! One thing they told us was that once a child reaches a certain age which is around 18 months then the DOC band will do no good. Some feel it is just cosmetic and and you should leave it alone but depending on the severity of it it may impact brain growth. Obviously this is for the extreme cases and it does not sound as if your son is that bad but why take chances. Also make sure your pediatrician writes a referral and you follow all protocols for your insurance since some insurances still consider this to be strictly cosmetic. Mine covered it but make sure you jump through all their hoops. Good Luck!