Flat head problem..HELP

My boys just “ learned†how to take a nap, spiting up less and gaining weight properly and then there is something else I should worry about.
At the beginning the doctor told us my son has the Flat head problem, due to sleeping only on one side. We tried to make him turn right, but nothing helped. Then it was time he needed a special physiotherapy since the flat head was only the beginning of all problems. He can’t move his head properly on both sides and that eventually can lead to moving problems with the whole body. We started the special gymnastic at home (he screams so bad…I feel terrible for doing that to him.) Then came the other big shock – his brother need the same gymnastic. Plus they both cannot lift their heads up while on tummy (they are 4 moths now).
Everyone says it is because they didn’t have enough place in my belly to move. (My sons were born at 35W+2, but they were each 6lbs so were really big and that made it for them even tighter). I don’t know what to do, the doctor said it is normal for twins, but I still think it is my fault. Maybe I was not doing the good gymnastic for them, maybe I did eat a lot of food while pregnant and they got too big, or just I am being a bad mom.
The pediatrician said they both are not moving the way they should for their age and it could take us months to get everything better.
Does anyone have/had the same problem like me. Please tell me what should I do…how to make the things right…HELP ………

 

My boys just “ learned†how to take a nap, spiting up less and gaining weight properly and then there is something else I should worry about.
At the beginning the doctor told us my son has the Flat head problem, due to sleeping only on one side. We tried to make him turn right, but nothing helped. Then it was time he needed a special physiotherapy since the flat head was only the beginning of all problems. He can’t move his head properly on both sides and that eventually can lead to moving problems with the whole body. We started the special gymnastic at home (he screams so bad…I feel terrible for doing that to him.) Then came the other big shock – his brother need the same gymnastic. Plus they both cannot lift their heads up while on tummy (they are 4 moths now).
Everyone says it is because they didn’t have enough place in my belly to move. (My sons were born at 35W+2, but they were each 6lbs so were really big and that made it for them even tighter). I don’t know what to do, the doctor said it is normal for twins, but I still think it is my fault. Maybe I was not doing the good gymnastic for them, maybe I did eat a lot of food while pregnant and they got too big, or just I am being a bad mom.
The pediatrician said they both are not moving the way they should for their age and it could take us months to get everything better.
Does anyone have/had the same problem like me. Please tell me what should I do…how to make the things right…HELP ………

 

Dont blame yourself, you didnt do anything wrong. Its very hard to force a baby to do anything. All you can do is still continue to try to do the gymnastics with them as much as you can, with time they will hopefully get used to it. What about physical therapy, do you have one in your area that your doctor can refer you to ? So someone who works with babies all the time could try some other things?
Just please dont blame yourself...its nothing you did or didnt do that causes this type of thing

 

Sounds like you might be dealing with torticollis and plagiocephaly. I am not sure what you mean by gymnastic but like Cassie, physical therapy came to my mind. With the right exercises tort can usually be corrected with diligent therapy.

My son had plagiocephaly, flattening of the head. I wrote about our story here. If you have a few minutes to check out my story you might find some helpful information.

I usually tell anyone who is concerned to seek out an appointment with a specialist. This way if there is no reason for concern you can have peace of mind that you checked it out and if there is reason for concern then that can be addressed with the specialist.

 

I’ve read your story. Sounds very much like us. Christo was the one staying head down for months under his brother.
What I call gymnastic is actually a physical therapy, but it seems to not working the way I wanted. He cries a lot and he’s moving a lot so I am not sure I am doing it right. We are supposed to do it 4 times a day at home, but you can imagine how hard it is with two babies. Did your son had any problems turning his head on the other side and lifting it up, or it was only flat?
I saw the pictures and I am afraid Christo’s head is much worse. But the doctor didn’t mention anything about helmet. Well, we live in Germany, here the doctors are so different….. they always say that everything is okay, but I don’t agree …
I hope we will have some improvement, because every time I look at them I think how could that happen and what could I possibly do from here to make it better….L

 

Hi. My daughter has the same problem. She was in the same position throughout the whole pregnancy. We have been working with and occupational therapist. She does something called deep muscle release- I think. It could be called soemthing else. This is something only a trained professional can do. But it has made such a difference. AT 4 months she was unable to lift her head and after the first session with the ot she was able to lift her head right up. I will look on the interent and see if I can find the rigth name for the therapy. If not you can try mentioning it to your ped and see if they know what I'm talking about.

Her head is still flat at 5 months, but it is slowly getting better and she now chooses to turn her head both ways.

Take care.

 

I can't find the actual name of the therapy. Sorry. She is coming on the 31st again, so I will ask her what it is called.

 

Thank you all for your help and support.It is so much better to know that there are people who know what you're going through.

 

Kaeden was born with a misshapen head due to his positioning in the womb, it started to get flat on one side. I was told by their doctor you have until 9 months to correct the flatness to an acceptable level or a helmet may be required to reshape the head. At 7 months Kaeden's haead is no longer flat Its not completely perfectly round, but not flat
Somethings I did are this:

Moved his mobile to different places around the crib so he was encouraged to look a different way when in his crib
Put him to nap/or bed in different positions such as putting him with his head at the opposite end of the crib then switching the next day.
Allowing naps in the swing and bouncy chair as less pressure is applied to the head, he had a tendency to look one way so we used rolled up receiving blankets (he was like 7 weeks) to force him to look the other way and apply pressure to the non-flat side.
I bottle fed from 7 weeks on, so I fed him in an upright postition with my head supporting the back of his neck (no pressure on his head)
If nursing, it was recommended to me to change postions (from cradle hold, to football hold etc) at each feeding
LOTS of supervised Tummy Time, many times throughout the day, gets them off their head completely and promotes head control, leg strength etc.
Depending on the age of your babies, an Exersaucer would be beneficial for the flat head as well as moving arms, legs etc. I recommend Fisher Price Intellitainer. Can be used form 3 months+

HTH

 

Hi, I am an Occupational Therapist, specializing in Peds, my twins are 4 months old. It is sounding like a trotocolis problem and the reason they might not be able to lift thier heads is because their trunks are weak. You try getting a script from your doc for Occupational or Physical Therapy. Also as far as lifting thier heads, increase thier tummy time and it will eventually come also trying lying them on thier sides and playing with toys. You can also lay on your back on incline and place the baby on your tummy. Hope this helps.

Susie

 

quote:
Did your son had any problems turning his head on the other side and lifting it up, or it was only flat?
No, Kyle had no neck issues, just the flattening. It sounds like you are getting some great advice!

 

Both of mine had a right side muscular shortness with a slight tilt. One was worse than the other. This is a problem they are born with -- you did nothing wrong. And yes, it is much more common in twins due to the restricted growth space.

We noticed the problem in ours at 2 months and began aggressively treating it. Mine hated the stretching exercises as well. They would really pitch a fit. It's a lot of stimulation -- babies that age often hate massage too. If you can get in to see a physical therapist, they may be able to show you exercises they tolerate better.

Torticollis was very frustrating to deal with. We were told to put things they would like to see on the other side to encourage them to turn. This never worked. They would prefer to look at a blank wall and be comfortable than to turn. Rolled up blankets didn't work for us either because they were very strong and would move off of the blankets. The exercises did help.

The neck problems corrected completely over time with treatment but the flatness required helmeting to correct. We started the helmet process at 6 months (they had them on at 7) and they wore helmets 23/7 until they would no longer leave them on (14 months). We were not able to attain full correction but the difference was worth the effort.

I would NOT wait to correct the flatness because the problem will get worse since they are still sleeping on the flat spot and the correction is much quicker when they are younger and having more frequent growth spurts.