Flat Heads

Ok..... I am seriously starting to freak out! I really feel like my girls are getting flat head really bad. They BOTH favor sleeping with there heads turned to the right. I have been trying to turn them to the left or turn them completely over onto there bellies. But I don't know if its a little too late. And plus, sometimes it doesn't always work. They either wake up facing the wrong side, or they wake up when I try to turn them over. UUGH!!! I don't want them to have crazy heads! There heads were so perfectly round in the beginning! I ruined their poor little heads!!!!

what can I do? Am I overreacting here? How do I know when they need helmets? they are 4 months old right now.

 

There should be a plagiocephaly (flat head) sticky.

Many women have dealt with this. I'm sure they will be happy to help you out.

Talk to your Ped about helmets now. The sooner, the better, I have heard.

 

If you are worried, you need to speak to your ped. The sooner the better, as sometimes just simple repositioning can correct the flatness. However, you said that they prefer the right, so that tells me that there could be some torticollis going on as well, which, I believe, may require some PT/stretching exercises.

 

Definitely address it at their 4 month appt. HERE is an article from the First Year Handbook with some links. I agree with Becky in that if they are favoring one side, there can be some muscle issues that could use some stretching and PT can help.

 

I definitely will bring it up to the dr. on Sat. at the 4 mo. appt. thanks Ladies!
and I will take a look at the article.

 

awe, I just looked the helmets. my poor girls. We'll see what the doctor says. I know in my heart that they need the therapy and the helmets. Especially my Anabel. She has it worse.

 

You have lots of time yet for their heads to reshape. My boys both had very flat heads from only a few months old. We were seeing PT and OT already and we did some work positioning them to different sides and at times I had to prop them to stay on their LT sides. It took many months but they are way better now. If you are able to get the pressure off their bad sides and also once they start spending time sitting up and more tummy time it will help to. My physio said that they don't like to do helmets right away because their heads are still growing and are pliable enough to change with positioning. at 11 months my boys's heads are very good now and they don't need to be positioned any more and we didn't need to go the helmet route. If you catch it early enough you can correct it with positioning most of the time. Talk to your pedi about positioning and perhaps torticollis? One of my twins had it and we did chiropractor and massage for a few months and now he is perfect. Best of luck

 

Don't freak out! Breathe. There is still time for it to possibly work out on it's own (with aggressive repositioning). Both of my babies had torticollis and favored turning their heads to the left and therefore got flat on the left. PT helped with head rotation. Our cranial guy said he preferred to wait until babies are closer to six months before using a helmet. They tracked their head measurements for several weeks. My little girl got better on its own, our boy did not so he has now been wearing a helmet for 3 weeks.

Do your babies rotate their heads to the left at all? Do they turn all the way like they do the right? Just some things to look for. My pedi thought, just because they didn't have a head tilt and could briefly turn the other way, that they didn't have torticollis. After going to PT, they said that wasn't true. Babies can have tort without the tilt. On the advice from the other ladies on here who have been through the same thing, I pushed for PT and I'm SO glad I did! It helped immensely.

In the meantime...lots and lots of tummy time! We also used the Bumbos a lot. Anything to get them off their heads. Also, I know it is hard not to freak out and worry. Just know that there are many of us on here who have gone through this and we are here for you! :grouphug: Good luck and keep us posted!

 

Our son had a flat head until he was several months old, and it gradually started to reshape like his ped said it would. He is fine now.

 

You did not ruin your babies' heads!! It's you being safe and putting them on their backs that leads to the flat heads. You've got plenty of time for repositioning to work, they usually don't even think about helmets until 6 months. (And if your insurance is going to pay for them, they generally want you to demonstrate that you tried repositioning first.) Here's another page to read about positioning.

 

Hi, I have a baby with torticollis and plagiocephaly who's in a helmet. My recommendation is to see your ped and ask for a PT referral to evaluate whether your LOs have torticollis. I started PT at 3.5 months and by 6 months saw lots of improvement, but there was still a flat spot and crooked ears so we decided to helmet. We did get insurance to cover the helmet, but like PP said it was because we had been in PT and that alone wasn't fixing it. Repositioning didn't work for us until we treated the torticollis, then DS finally responded to the repositioning techniques. Good luck, keep us posted!

 

ok, so I went to my Drs. appt and of course she said my girls were totally fine. And that it was nothing to worry about and that it would correct itself. But I was like... but they favor the one side and they always sleep on it. And no matter how many times thru out the night that I switch them, they always end up back on the flat side. So I kept insisting, so she gave me a script to see a specialist. Well... actually I am not sure who... but its to get an evaluation of some sort.
How do I know... how bad is bad??? Well i am calling the guy tomorrow (Monday) and will make an appt. Because, my doctor kept saying that they will be fine, that its just cosmetic...and I was like... YEAH! I know that... and I don't want my daughters to have crazy looking heads. and I am not even a shallow person... but I think it looks pretty bad now... and I DON'T WANT TO GET ANY WORSE!! and my own repositioning attempts are not working. and they HATE being on there bellies.. Its such a struggle for them. and they are 4 1/2 months old!!! But I keep trying.
Well we will see how it goes with the evaluation. this whole this is starting to really stress me ou!!! ugh!

 

Lurking, hope that's OK...I'm pregnant with twins right now!

My ds was born early (early babies are MUCH more suspectible to plagiocephaly), and developed a flat spot by two months of age. My pedi suggested repositioning ideas and basically brushed it off. Each month, it was not getting much better...and he said it would 'round out on its own' and that babies 'hated wearing the corrective helmets'. One visit I had to meet with another doc due to my pedi being out, I brought up my concern of his head shape...and that pedi suggested get an x-ray to make sure that his skull wasn't prematurely fusing (that freaked me out) and suggested we see a cranio-specialist right away.

His soft spots were fine, but we discovered he had moderate to severe plagiocephaly which had begun to contort the symmetry of his face. Luckily, we were still in the time span to get corrective measures. My son was fitted with a helmet and started wearing it right away. And you know what? He could've cared less about the helmet!!!! It was even in the summer, and he did great (though I kept him out of the heat). Looking at my son's head now (it looks fantastic..though he does have some facial asymmetry still...not that noticeable anymore)...I'm so very glad that we had that run-in with the other doc. I'm so glad you are seeing a specialist. Abnormal head shape, though 'cosmetic' can be very hard on kids' self-esteem.

And we did get a lot of questions and 'concerned looks' when we were out and about with his helmet, but it was mostly b/c people thought he had brain surgery, lol!! I used it as a way to share the issue of plagio with others.

This time with twins that will be most likely be early again, I'm looking into infant postioners with memory foam under the head to help! I switched pedi's to the one who gave me such great advice too!

PM if you have any questions about helmet-wearing!

 

Both my girls have left torticollis (favor turning their heads to the right) and are in physiotherapy to correct it. One of my girls has a moderate case of flat head (along with ear asymmetry) and the other one has a very mild case of flat head/ear asymmetry. They are too young to do all of the exercises so we are focusing on positioning and tummy time. I also purchased two Baby Moov Lovenest pillows which help to reshape flat heads. They are much cheaper than helmets but are only appropriate for ages 0-4 months old. I am hoping to avoid helmets altogether and am confident that can be done because we are starting to correct the torticollis and flat head at an early age. Best of luck and try not to worry!

 

Definitely see the specialist. WE began seeing one around 2-3 months adjusted. They will first do a scan to see teh measurements of the sides of his head. We also saw a physical therapsit to rule out torticollis. MY DS had moderate to severe plagio--we tried repositioning for about 2 months--going back one a month to get the scans. But just like you, my DS hated it and just wouldn't move his head the way we wanted--we tried everything. There was no improvement after the 2 months, so we got the helmet at about 4 1/2 montha adjusted. Happy to say that 8 weeks later, htere is a huge improvement!!! It looks like we have about 2 more weeks to go and that shoudl be it. The earlier its caught-the faster it gets better. Soemtime when we had looked at his head, we didn't think it was too bad and most people said they didn't notice. WEll now that it has been fixed, we can definitely see the difference and most people see it too. The scan is great, b/c it gives you measurements each time.

I know someone w/ triplets whose pedi told them not to worry about it, even though the mom thought it was really bad. Well they had to change pedis when the boys were 1 year old and the new pedi immediately sent them and they had to get a helmet right away--it is probably just going to take longer to fix.

Good luck!!

 

Ok... so the past few weeks I saw A LOT of improvement with both my girls. Sop much that I almost felt like I didn't have to go to the Drs. appt. But I still decided to go for peace of mind. So we went to the Dr on Thurs and it went great. I am so glad I went. It totally put my mind at ease. She gave both my girls a very thorough check of there heads/skulls, neck muscles, she did different exercises on them and they are totally fine. She said with all the stuff I am doing with them at home.. that that is exactly what they would do on PT and that with my efforts.. they would be fine and that the time they spend off there backs during the day, should be enough time to let their heads re-shape themselves... even if they continue to sleep on the one side.
So I feel so happy. and like I said.. I see HUGE improvement.
thanks so much for your help.

 

Good job with the home-work! I hope they continue to improve!