head shape

My dd's head shape didn't grow properly for the first 4 months. We noticed that and brought it up to her doc.her doc said just wait till 6 months check up. We have been adjusted her sleep position to the opposite side. At 6 month check up, doc thought it got better and she said she'd not recommend the helmet until 2-3 yrs old. My DD didn't have a lot of tymmy time because he hated it and she got bad reflux so we didn't let me..but now since she moves around by rolling, she loves on her tummy.she sits and is on exersaucer, jumperoo, on bumbo seat a lot. But still her head shape isn't growing back to normal yet. I think I want her to see specialist but I don't know what the med term for their title. Do/did you have this problem? Sorry for so many questions.thanks

 

I am surprised the pedi wants to wait until 2 or 3. I know several who used helmets at 8 or 9 mos old in my twins club. I will let someone answer with experience but don't be sorry for asking so many questions. That is what you are supposed to do.

 

I'm really surprised your ped wants you to wait until 2-3 years. E has a flat head and we're scheduled to meet with a specialist this Tuesday at almost 5 months. Everything that I have read says that the earlier you start treatment, the better the results. We were referred to a pediatric neurosurgeon. I'm not sure why neurosurgeon vs neurology since treatment doesn't involve surgery.

 

We were also recommended to a pediatric neural surgeon. Sam's head started to get flat around 3months - and same thing as you - he didn't like being on his tummy and spent a lot of time on his back. So, his head didn't get better and we got a helmet around 6 months old. He wore it for 2 months and his head got a little better - but the summer got very hot and it was hard to keep it on him since he was sweating a lot. If we kept it on, it might have gotten even better. I think if you wait till later when their soft spot closes, then she will have to wear it for a longer period of time, whereas when the soft spot is open, it may only be a few months. That is how I understand it.

 

My oldest son saw a neurologist when we had "issues" with his head, LOL. He actually was evalutated for premature fusion of the plates. He was fine. But what we actually do to help was see a chiropractor who specialized in babies. The plates in his head were adjusted for many months. Now his head is by no means perfect, but it did help tremendously. And his ears were at different levels. It was pretty bad. I guess they just didn't suggest helmets 10 years ago, like they do now.

 

I work with orthopedic surgeons and from my understanding it's better to "deal" with this earlier rather than later. DS had a funky shaped head at first too and I went to see one of the orthopods about this and he said to give it time and we could re-assess it after 6 months. Having said that, he also said that wearing those helmets is ridiculous b/c to really get any effect you'd need to wear it 23 hours a day and for 6 months at least and even then he said it's effects are not great and why put your kid through that.

We made a HUGE effort to engage our son in various activities to get him to look the other way, we did stretches and even had him sleep with a toy whale proping his head in the right direction. We also got the boppy nest, a cushion that I learned about on this website. It really helped with both of their flat heads A LOT.

Good luck

 

Smiley7, can you share a link to the boppy nest? I try to get E to sleep with his head facing the other way, but he always ends up turning it to the side he favors in the middle of the night.

 

We have the same problem too.every nite I have to turn her head over at least 5x.

I will contact the specialist today to ask for an appoinment.

I think the reason our pedi wants to delay it because she's sure it will fix itself when she sits up, is on her tummy, crawls more often.she said she saw many kids like her and they didn't need helmets. Our pedi is one of the best and famous in the city. I don't know should I listen to her and wait. What if it won't fix itself and its too late to fix it??

 

Yea, as Smiley said, with a helmet, the child has to wear it about 22 out of 24 hrs a day. It's tough - Sam was okay with it, but i missed seeing him without the helmet. And, it does usually take at LEAST 3 months to see progress. The child's head has to grow in order for the shape to change. That's why it's best when they are young, because their head is growing AND they have that soft spot open.

You may just want to get the pedi neural surgeon opinion - they'll tell you if your child's features have become lopsided or uneven, or if it looks like their might be hearing issues. Sam didn't have any of that - but because he is an ID twin, we knew that he would notice that something was wrong with the shape of his head since his brother's is fine.

 

I don't think she has hearing problem. But her right ear is placed a bit closer to her face than her left one is. Her forehead is not even. So I'm worried. We talked about it twice to her pedi.she didn't seem worried. We can tell it gets better since her head is off the ground a lot.but still...
Nobody notices that.but we are parents so of course we do.but all our friends, ralatives don't even see it

 

We had our appt with the ped neurosurgeon today and he didn't recommend the helmet. He said that since you can't see it from the front and its not that severe (and I think its pretty noticeable), so a helmet wasn't needed. E does have a mild case of torticollis, so he referred us to a PT to work on stretching out his neck muscles. That should help with the flatness as well. If you interested, I can try and scan the paper he gave us with tips for helping the flat spot.

 

Yes please!
I contacted one of the best neurogolist in our town today. He is willing to see her only if her pedi recommends. And our pedi doesn't seem to take it seriously. They will have the second flu shot on 19th. I will ask for the referral. I won't leave the office without one. I should have been tough about it at 6 months check up. Thank you!

 

One of our twins got torticollis too and the children physical therapist showed me the excercises mentioned at:

http://www.plagiocephalyawareness.com/how-to-avoid-it-torticollis.htm

Our twins are 20 weeks now, so we are still working on this.