Along with our pediatrician; we have been monitoring and repositioning the way my son sleeps since we noticed the flat spot. I feel like the repositioning of his head at night was helping, but now that he's more active at night I never know for sure how long he stays on the side that I put him on.
I've put a call into the ped. today to get his opinion on what I need to do next... but I was wondering if anyone else has had to deal with this. I am not overly anxious about it, but at the same time, I don't want to wait too long to do something about it (therapy wise). I've heard that it's a lot harder to correct after 10 months of age.
My son is spending most of his awake time, playing on the floor (on his tummy) or in the bouncer... so he's not putting pressure on the flat spot, and I am waking up several times every night to make sure he's still on the side that I want him to be on. I feel like I'm doing all that I can do to help this spot correct itself. But I just don't want to wait too long. I have seen some improvement since we noticed it, but like I said before, I just don't want to wait too long. Please let me know if you've dealt with this and if you have any advise. Thanks so much!
Don't have this problem with my son but my friend did with her daughter and she started putting her on her tummy to sleep and the flat spot got better.
Definitely see a neurosurgeon (go past your ped today- do not wait a day since this is very time sensitive. The window closes very shortly.) There are all sorts of degrees of plagiocephaly. His measurements might be very minor. In which case the doctor will just recommend positioning. If moderate, he will recommend the helmet. My son's was moderate. If untreated, his ears would have been assymetrical in position by a very small amount, but enough, he stated, that he would not be able to wear a standard bike, football, hockey helmet. Plus, boys do not typically have as big of hairstyles as girls, so it's a lot harder to hide. I was lucky the insurance (Blue Cross PPO) covered it. A lot of insurance co's don't. He wore it for a few months until about 10 or 11 months (when the bones stop growing/forming) There was adequate improvement, even though it could have been MUCH better if we would have started him a month or two earlier. We didn't have time to accomplish as much before the window for improvement closed. The helmet was no big deal. They get used to wearing it and it's a soft foam and you can pick designs, etc.
Hi L. I know how you feel all to well my little girl is behind cause of her heart she has had 2 heart surgeries and was on her head for a while she sleep on her left side and even if we moved her head she still turned it back that way and she did not sit till the first of last month and she is now 22months old she also did not and still don't really like to be on her tummy for a while manly cause she has had open heart surgery but anyways were i was going with this is that the left side of her head was completely flat no joke i was like OMG my kid has a flat head and i would cry about it but when she was 12-15months old she started getting on her tummy more and moving more and her head started shaping up but i can still feel where her head was flat you cant really tell by looking at her now thank god but I say keep up with what your doing and don't worry about it to much cause my little girls head looks a lot better now take care and God bless!!
My son (one & only) has the same problem at 6 months (it's really bad) and being a first time mommy i'm very concerned. His pedi send us to the helmet (doc band) guy & he said my son really need it as his head is deformed (it turn my stomuch upsite down hearing the word). It has to be done before it's to late (before 1 years old to get the most benefit due to grow sprout at 9 months old). I also been told that the insurance company will not cover the helmet cost (around $2500) no matter how i try to persue the matter - we have PPO with United Healthcare.
Before making the commitment, i make an appointment with a specialist/surgeon on baby plagiocephaly in Texas Children Hospital - Dr. Luerssen when he is 7 months. By that time i also seen some improvement on his head. TCH has a helmet guy in the premises too and he send us to see them first to get the measurement before see us for consultation. He told me that altough the helmet will help, most of the time it will be corrected by itself once the baby start roll over and sleep on their tummy (around 7/8 months) and have more tummy time. I also bought a baby noggin pillow from Babis R Us & used it for his car seat.
Combination of more tummy time (day), his sleeping on his tummy by himself (night) and baby noggin helps my son. I must admit that for 6 months after seeing Dr. Luerssen is really hard on me. I'm scared that i screw up my son apperance & his self esteem later in life by not providing him the helmet but i trust Dr. Luerssen more than the helmet sales person. On his 1st birthday, there is about 5% plagiocephaly but you didn't notice because he have more hair now. Now he is 19 months and i didn't see anything at all nor there is anything wrong with his development.
My advise is to get a second unbias opinion from a surgeon before making a decision. FYI, your son has to wear the helmet 23.5 hours a day for 6 to 10 months. Meanwhile, his friends and people around you will stare at your son when he has his helmet on & it is not a nice situation nor good for his self esteem.
My friends child had a flat spot and she had to have her child wear a helmet type thing to help reshape her head. Ask the dr. About that so you can rest easy at night. Let the helmet do the work!
Dear L.,
I suggest putting your son to sleep on his tummy. At 7 months, your son, is able to flip and sit up anyway. If you are concerned about SIDS, it is strongly suspected that it is environmentally linked--vinyl wallpaper, vinyl blinds, new carpeting, non-VOC paint, new carpeting, etc. If you don't feel comfortable putting him to sleep on his tummy at night, you certainly can put him to sleep on his tummy during the day (my pedi said I could), but I did nighttime as well because our babies slept in our room for the first 3 months. I believe your son's situation will be resolved soon.
tell your pedi you want to go ahead and fix this problem and not wait anymore. he will tell you what is best for your child.
I suggest seeing a certified orthotist, who can fabricate a cranial remolding helmet that will help shape his head. The helmet will put gentle pressure on the places where growth needs to be limited and leave space for the rest of his head to round out and grow properly. Most pediatricians are not educated enough to identify positional plagiocephaly or will say that it will "correct it self", which sometimes is true but it takes months of therapy and even then, its not always a 100%, especially if a baby has torticollis (when your baby's head is tilted or will not turn their head the other way, which requires physical therapy most times). If your pediatrician will not refer you to an orthotist, see a pediatric neurosurgeon and see if they will refer you and give you a prescription. I do suggest to that you give your baby plenty of tummy time and reposition his head as much as you can for now. Many PTs or even the Early Intervention program in many counties can give you some tummy time exercises to do with your baby.
Helmets are not always covered by medical insurance, so check with you insurance if they cover cranial remolding helmets (it should be under DMEs (durable medical equipment). Out right, most cranial remolding helmets range from $2500 to $3500, depending who you go to.
Cranial remolding helmets can be fabricated in one of two ways; casting method or a scanner. A scanner can offer offer accurate measurements of a baby's skull while casting can be a more traumatic procedure and is not always accurate due to human error. You may want to find out before hand how the orthotist does either or.
There are plenty of resources out there, especially cappskids.org, a website dedicated to information about positional plagiocephaly and craniosynostosis. The website is a great way to connect with other parents who have been through the same thing and can offer support and lots of great information. I do urge you to act in a timely manner because after about 12 months in age, a child's head slows down in growth and the earlier that you start treatment, the faster and more round shaped your baby's head will grow to be.
I do hope that this information will help you. I see plagiocephaly all the time in my office and in most cases, treatment tends to be within the 4-6 months range;sometimes even sooner. If you need more information on cranial remolding helmets and the scanner technology, you can find it at starbandkids.com. Great website, lots of resources and a link to where you can find one near you.
I hope I could be of help to you. I know how positional plagiocephaly affects children when it goes untreated. My husband is a brachycephaly baby himself, but when he was little, the education just wasn't there. I actually had a doctor tell me the other day that this condition does not happen or does not exist, while another told me that it would correct itself over time and there was no need for intervention. My answer was "well could you please tell my husband that, because he has been waiting for his flatten head to fix itself and its been 31 years already".
Good luck L. and I do hope that everything works out for your son. If you need some more information, please don't hesitate to ask me. =)
My son also had a flat spot, but he also had a pinched nerve that wouldn't give him full range of motion. His head would always go back to that original position and it would hurt him to turn it the other way.
We ended up doing therapy for 3 months, which helped some, but the flatness was still very noticable. At 7 months he got a helmet, which he wore for 3 months. His head is now completly normal.
I would advise you to keep working with your pedi and repositioning. If you don't notice too much improvement you may want a second opinion. Definately keep an eye on the situation, make sure his head is growing normally, and don't be afraid to try other options.
Hi L.
I have known some children with this issue- the most severe was a child who had to wear a helment until he was almost two- it was not fun but he has the most perfect head I have ever seen.
good luck and blessings
