Flat head and worried....

My b/g twins are 3 1/2 months old and my ds is developing some flat head. I noticed it about 3-4 weeks ago and kept asking dh what he thought of it but of course he said oh, don't worry about it, it's not that bad. Well, I ended up taking him in to see the ped last week and he said it's not bad at all and that he has seen much worse and that a helmet is not neccesary....phew! But he said it was all positioning and that I should have him sleep on his other side. Well I tried that and he keeps sleeping flat on his head or to the right side which is the more flatter side. I've tried sleep positioners and sticking a rolled up towel behind his little head and he still manages to get back to that old position. I'm starting to worry now b/c on his right side it's a tad flatter than the left and I just don't want it to get worse and I don't want his head to be permanantly flat like this. Will it be???? So worried! My dd on the other hand has very slight, slight flat head but she is willing to sleep on her side with no problem so not too concerned about her.

I feel guilty for this even happening to them but I don't have a bazillion hands to hold them all day so they do spend a lot of time in their bouncy seats while I play with them or if I need a break. Is anyone else going through this?? Need to some reassurance here.

Thanks!

 

i was just about to write a post about this. DD is also getting a flat head, I have tried everything to get her to sleep on her side. DS has a perfect head and prefers to sleep on his side. I am worried she'll need a helmet to correct it in future, sometimes she wont sleep until she wriggles into her fave position.
This is one time I am really glad I have twins, because DS's head is fine I know it's not TOTALLY my fault.
I am just going to keep trying to get her to sleep on her side and see how we go.......
good luck.

 

I have an ABSOLUTE PARANOIA about this.. Like-- soo bad that people KNOW I have it.. I am a preschool teacher and I see it ALL THE TIME!!

I have 15 week old twins and I'm soo crazy about this that I put them on their stomachs 1/2 the time!! No choice. Can't have the flat head going on. My mom put all of her 6 kids on their stomachs and we're all here!! I'm not telling you to do this cuz I would never do that but it is what I do. And putting them on their side NEVER works cuz they flip onto their backs. I have been very lucky in the respect that my kids ALWAYS turn their heads from side to side to sleep when they are on their backs but OMG I know what you mean!!!

I hope that you come to a solution soon. Once the head is flat- it doesn't round back out. Good that you're realizing it now

 

Lots and lots of tummy time!! If you do have to put them on their backs, use a rolled up blanket to prop them so that they are not able to lay on the flat spot. Both babies had flat spots at their 4 month appt, and we were able to correct it with positioning.

 

As soon as mine started rolling over, they wanted to sleep on their tummies. I also started putting them on their tummies for naps around 3 months. I was comfortable with that and if you're not, please keep them on their back. After about two months of thingtummy sleeping things started to round back out. Try to give them as much tummy time during the day and at night I would at least try to put him in the sleep positioner on the opposite side of the flat spot.

 

You've gotten great advice from the others...I just had to add that, while it's hard, don't blame yourself! You're a wonderful mom and doing all the right things to try to correct DS's flat spots. One of my sons had plagiocephaly and needed DOC Band therapy. He's out of the helmet now and looks fantastic, but it took me a while and a lot of research to realize it wasn't my fault. Twins, especially preemies, are more prone to flat heads because of two reasons: 1. How they were squished and positioned in the womb and 2. Being born prematurely, their skulls are softer and more prone to flatness.
Anyway...just my experience. Please don't blame yourself!

 

QUOTE(ivfbound078 @ Jan 15 2008, 06:20 AM) [snapback]572944[/snapback]
Once the head is flat- it doesn't round back out. Good that you're realizing it now


I completely disagree with this, it's not true. First, my pediatrician told me that my DD head would even out some and it's almost completely better now at 4.5 months. She had a flat spot due to where she was in the womb and her neck having problems from that. I worked with her and did the stretches and a reasonable amount of tummy time and her spot has rounded out and is almost completely gone. I think if I were the original poster and I read what you wrote it would freak me out so I wanted to clear it up. It can get better, often does and did for us.

Stretching is important. Also, I would get up in the middle of the night and turn her head while she slept. Swings tend to be a big cause as well.

Don't worry too much and DON'T feel guilty for goodness sake.

 

My older DS had this and his flat spot did even out, although not 100% but only I can tell where his flat spot was. I could not get him to stop sleeping on his right side no matter what I did, but once he became really mobile and could roll around the flat spot started to go away. Try not to worry...it will all even out once your baby moves around more.

 

QUOTE(girls! @ Jan 15 2008, 10:01 AM) [snapback]573149[/snapback]
I completely disagree with this, it's not true. First, my pediatrician told me that my DD head would even out some and it's almost completely better now at 4.5 months. She had a flat spot due to where she was in the womb and her neck having problems from that. I worked with her and did the stretches and a reasonable amount of tummy time and her spot has rounded out and is almost completely gone. I think if I were the original poster and I read what you wrote it would freak me out so I wanted to clear it up. It can get better, often does and did for us.

Stretching is important. Also, I would get up in the middle of the night and turn her head while she slept. Swings tend to be a big cause as well.

Don't worry too much and DON'T feel guilty for goodness sake.


I agree with this!! My Ella had a flat spot and it totally rounded out by 6 months or so. You can't tell at all! Try not to worry but check with your ped to be sure.

 

According to the pediatric neurologist we go to, 40% of plagiocephaly will correct itself with time and positioning. The tricky part is that if you wait too long, there's hardly anything you can do. Hence, my daughter is wearing a helmet since she has always had a flat spot--she was born with it.

You can try to help correct the situation positionally, but you should NOT feel badly if you have to go to the helmet for correction. Twins and preemies are at a much higher risk for plagio than the general baby population.

Good luck!
Alli

 

I just wanted you to know that I am going through this right now with DS. DD has a bald spot, but not flat. DS has a flat spot but not bald. Doesn't make sense to me, but it does indicate that it's nothing I've done. He was a preemie.

I've since learned that most babies prefer to turn their heads to the right and DS's flat spot is on the right. I asked the ped about it at our two month checkup and he said about the same thing that yours did, but didn't even mention repositioning. He said that he'll be rolling and sitting soon so it will all even out.

Well, I'm still worried so I just got a bumbo seat to sit him in and my friend gave me her exersaucer. He can sit in the bumbo seat already and he's only been holding his head up for a couple weeks. I reposition him all the time. I'll lay/sit him in the swing or bouncy seat with a blanket underneath and then when he passes out or just relaxes, I pull the blanket to shift him onto his left hip and it rolls his head. I roll up a blanket and put behind him when he sleeps to keep him on his side. I turn his head all the time when he's on his back. Finally, I put him on his tummy as much as I can stand. Sometimes he hates it and other times it's ok. I'm also very aware of how I hold him and try to hold him in my right arm more so that he doesn't rest on the flat spot.

I hope that you have success with repositioning and things even out. I'm really hoping for the best for us, but I'm preparing for the chance that he may have to wear a band.

 

Thanks everyone! I do have to admit that when I read the post about it not rounding out every again, it REALLY freaked me out, so THANK YOU ladies for clearing that up for me! I did read somewhere online that it usually rounds itself out when they start crawling....I sure hope so!

 

One of my girls had a really flat spot on her head. Early Intervention had me do some things that are not mentioned in above posts.
1. We have a small bean bag about 6 inches long and about 3 inches wide that we propped up on the side of her head so she couldn't turn her head. The weight allowed it not to move or flatten so she had to look the other direction. We used it anytime she slept. A rolled up towel always moved on us.
2. We were to put all toys, her sister, us, etc to the rounded side so she was always wanting to look the other direction.
3. We were to put crib toys on the the rounded side so she would always look in that direction.
4. They also found her muscles were tighter on the rounded side so we had to do exercises to loosen them so it was easier for her to look the other direction.
5. Early Intervention went to the daycare and taught the exercises to certain staff that I trusted to do them and taught them all about the positioning of toys and gave them crib toys to hang on her crib.

Her spot is completely gone. It was truly amazing since it was so flat.

 

We did all of the exercises and repositioning techniques but they weren't rounding out enough to convince me it would self-correct so we did helmets at 6 months. I promise that it's not the end of the world if you end up there. The helmets did help and they continue to improve over time. They no longer sleep on the favored spot any more often than the rest of their heads.