18 month old plagiocephaly and torticollis

[stepmooster]

So I am a bit tearful tonight, as we continue with the physio exercises for my DD's neck and see barely any improvement and I know that if this doesn't work she will need surgery.

Then I wash her hair in the bath and try to straighten her head and notice that when it is straight on her ears are noticeably out of line. She has a flat head and it's not as bad as it was. Her right eye has always been smaller since birth, all these problems occurred in my uterus, but now her ears are out of line.

I know when she becomes a teenager (or even way before then) she is going to notice all this, and I failed to help it get better.

We only heard about the helmets when the paediatrician decided to tell us at 15 months that she needed physio, and not what the GP and HV said that 'it will all sort itself out'. Not that we could ever afford one anyway.

Has anyone been through this? We are paying to see an osteopath who has made it possible for my DD to turn her head to the right, but her tilt is still there. Is there anything else we should be doing?

yes although my DD was a lot younger, floortime helped more than the physio, the osteopath was saw also helped a lot than the physio (although it was important for us to see the physio because she monitored overall development) and she's now 2.10 her ears are probably still a bit out of line and one is still a bit smaller but it is a lot less noticeable.

Are you still under your physio?

Have you seen this charity?

www.headstart4babies.org/

Oh and the tilt went as the muscles on that side got a bit stronger.

Our DD1 had NHS physio from a few weeks old, never seemed to help (floor time was the absolute best thing we did btw) so we got a one off private physio appt and then demanded a new nhs physio.

DD is now walking after she has gotten some movement in her neck, so there is no way we can do more than 30 seconds at a time in stretching her neck. She just fights and fights and screams when we do it.

I am supposed to reposition her head when she sleeps but she just flops over to the other side.

I fear we've got to just hope it works itself out. I feel so bad, I just wish the HV and GP had given me some advice and guidance about this when I first noticed she had a problem at 6 weeks. I just believed them and I never 'googled' it.

It took a whole year for someone to take an interest, and that was only because we had an appointment with the paediatrician for something totally unrelated.

We are still seeing the physio, she says that if the exercises don't work then she might have to have a neck operation.

Will her head straighten out or is probably set for life? The only info I can find is for babies under 12 months.

I don't think the exercises helped us and we gave up on them- i think floortime and just time helped. How many sessions have you had with the osteopath? also, your not in London by any chance are you?

I am in west london, and yes I do think the osteopath is worth the money we are forking out. We've probably had about 7 sessions and I credit her in getting DD to turn her neck and eventually start crawling properly and walking.

Possibly not applicable if your happy with your current osteopath but it might be worth you checking out the london school of osteopathy baby clinic.

I don't think the helmets are for babies over 12 months according to the nhs website I read.

Hi OP I know it's been a long time since your original post, but I just wondered how you all got on in the end? My DD is in the exact same position.

In the same exact boat...please update!