AIBU to get a helmet fitted for my six month old

[WWYD00]

My beautiful baby boy has positional plagiocephaly. He is six months old. He is just coming to the end of the "perfect" age to get a helmet fitted. His flat spot has been assessed and it is Severe 1. So bad but not horrific.

Treatment is for six months roughly and he will need to wear a helmet for 22/23 hours a day for that period of time. It is a lot of work and a lot of money (£2.5k) but I have the finances to do this for him and the time to dedicate to it. He only has until he is 16 months to have it treated. It will not go away on it's own it will just be less noticeable with his hair and as his head gets bigger. His face shouldn't get any more deformed. It is marginally deformed now but without looking for it you probably wouldn't notice it.

As the back to sleep campaign is only from the 1990s it is hard to find adults with positional plagiocephaly but research seems to suggest whilst there is no brain growth issues there could be developmental issues. This concerns me as I worry he is a late developer anyway. I also worry about the mental aspect of looking different. I was bullied in school, I wouldn't say I am attractive and I would hate my little boy to be on the receiving end of this. Children and adults can be very cruel. Whilst I will get looks and questions about his helmet for six months I would hope my family will understand and most of my friends most likely will. Also during a pandemic who is he likely to see anyway there are no groups etc to go to so no one (strangers I mean) to question me.

So AIBU to get one? Would you/have you done the same. Or have you left it and regret it. To me the money and the timeframe is nothing to a lifetime of people being arseholes towards him.

I have a flat head. I hate it.

Do it.

Hi New.

Can I ask what pillow you got for your DD1

The child at my son's playgroup who used to wear one has it because his mum has a flat head and she struggled at school etc and is conscious of it. Now I know this as, over time I heard her talk about the helmet to many people. Eventually when I'd seen him without it once I said that it's obviously an expert who'd noticed as I couldn't and something about how I'm sure she would, being mum. She told me she noticed because of her flat spot and my jaw dropped. Honestly I never noticed. She explained how it affects some of the features of her face. Again, so within the scope of average I hadn't known/ thought about it. Her son is now without it and at primary school. A couple of adults might remember but none of the children do. She obviously felt it worth the money.

By the way. Saying about mum noticing was me talking with her, she is a very attentive mum! Nor was I making it seem unusual. It sounds weird out of context, honestly it was a mutual conversation about our children's unique features!

ds slept only flat on his back anaturally until he was quite old, well beyond babyhood.

I realised when he was about 6 months old that his head was realy really flat. Literally flat across from behind his ears.

We were livign and workign overseas, so I never saw anyone or got a diagnosis etc, so I honestly can't say if his flatness was clinically significant.

he is now 18. Looks normal.
Once he started crawling/walking so he wasn't lying so much, it improved a lot, and by the time he was in school, and had lots of hair, honestly you couldn't tell.

he has a buzz cut up the bakc at the moment and his head looks normal.

trouble is, for every parent like me who says their kid was fine, there will be another who's child wasn't fine, anecdotes aren't what you need, you need medical advice.

@GruffaIo

As you can afford it, I think there are only two issues. 1. Will you regret it if you don't do it? 2. Will you stop if your baby doesn't tolerate it or it appears to cause them too much discomfort?

My son has quite a large flat area on the back of his head, much of which was caused by grinding due to severe reflux, which is much better now he's almost 2. He also seems to have permanently damaged the hair follicles in that area - the regrowth after being rubbed bare is rougher and courser than elsewhere. We haven't seen discussion of that anywhere, so we're hoping that improves over time. His hair does help conceal the flatness, but my DH is worried that the 'different' hair will itself be a cause for bullying. We had more non-cosmetic, medical issues to worry about when he was younger, so didn't do anything about his flat section beyond exercises and sleeping positions (which were also of some limited help with his reflux). If the appearance of his head had been the only issue, we might well have done what you're considering.

My son rubbed all the hair off the back when he was ab1, he was hospitalised and spent a fair bit of time on pain meds so flat.
When it got some length to it, they're was a Def patch that's right and frizzy but I've found as it's grown and cut and grown it's got better. There's still a patch that gets a bit sticky uppy but he wears it just long enough for a pony tail which helps

He's 5 now

That’s great news OP

I just wanted to respond to people who’ve said “you never see adults with flat heads!” but I think, actually, there are lots of adults with all sorts of flat head issues but people don’t question it in the same way you would with an infant or toddler.

I have a very strange head shape thanks to premature birth a loooong time ago. Only recently did I realise it had a name - dolichocephaly. I’m pretty sure that no one gawps at me in the street, but it’s noticeable enough!

Good update @WWYD00

Can I ask where you had the treatment? Only asking because my friend is a clinician who runs a long-standing clinic for this in the North and I wonder if you saw her!

See a physio first. Try to get a referral through your gp. They are quite good at dealing with it and can advise on further treatment that might be required.

My child's osteopath is not at all woo.

I love a good update.

@SingingSands I'm down south. The company who did the helmet is LOC band but I saw someone outside of London.

@JayAlfredPrufrock thanks. Me too which is why I came back.

@Mumofgirl1 I know you didn't ask me but the pillow I have is a German one Theraline Baby Pillow

[quote WWYD00]@SingingSands I'm down south. The company who did the helmet is LOC band but I saw someone outside of London.

@JayAlfredPrufrock thanks. Me too which is why I came back.

@Mumofgirl1 I know you didn't ask me but the pillow I have is a German one Theraline Baby Pillow[/quote]
Has it help with any flattening? My lo looks like she is getting some flatting on one side I’m going to have this check by the GP as she was a suction baby so I’m wondering if she has problems with her neck muscle but would like to get a pillow to be used when supervised.

@WWYD00

Pillow
Has it help with any flattening? My lo looks like she is getting some flatting on one side I’m going to have this check by the GP as she was a suction baby so I’m wondering if she has problems with her neck muscle but would like to get a pillow to be used when supervised.

My child had flattened head from birth trauma. Very misshapen. Paediatrician told me 'lots of adults go round with funny shaped heads under their hair' and that helmets were big in the US as a bit of an industry. Crucially they monitored my child's development and we never went down the helmet route. All fine now and hair hides it. You can tell by looking from the top but that's all. May not be as serious as your situation so apologies if irrelevant... Good luck whatever you do.

I’m non expert but a very good friend of mine’s son had this and wore a helmet. It worked completely and didn’t seem to cause him any distress.

@Mumofgirl1 I didn't use it for very long only for pram etc and then went for the helmet so I can't really answer. It did help my nephew though who was suction born (my DS was forceps). Depending on the age of your baby get to an osteo. Be warned a GP will most likely say it will go back to normal, which it might but osteos can do wonderful work for neck tension and that will help with flattening.

@WWYD00 she is 6wks so still
Young I’m hoping she’s young enough for this Rectify with reposition etc.she tends to favour one side which makes some suspect neck muscle problems. I’m a first time mumm so all this is very new to me and like all mums want to do what’s best for her.

@Mumofgirl1 I'll pm you in a little bit.

@GhostCurry

PS not the point of the thread at all but I find this “ the helmet was decorated with dad's favorite American football team“ really distasteful!

Why?

Have you ever seen an adult with an unusually flat head?

One son with an off centre flat head. Cranial osteopathy did not help. No development issues, never goes shorter than a number 8. Uses large adult cycle.helmet which was ordered online.

@jimmyhill

No, because most adults slept on belly when babies.

Flat heads are happening now more due to the back to back campaign so babies are sleeping on the back putting pressure on their head all night and day sleeps.

@OverTheRainbow88

The first babies whose parents were advised to put them "back to sleep" turn 30 this year so I'll ask my question again