FLAT HEAD

[Mumofgirl1]

I posted here a few weeks ago about my little one having a flat head I have actively repo'd her both throughout the day and night increased tummy time. Bought both the babymoov love nest pillow and the lilla kiddos pillow in the hope of correcting it. No matter what o do it just seems to get worse and worse my heart is breaking cause I feel I've let her down I'm a FTM and I feel it's taken all the joy away from
Being a mum. I just don't know what to do anymore she's never in containers and always on my knee now. But even that isn't helping I was hoping not to have to use the helmet being in the UK we would have to pay privately for this. She's 9wks old now
The flat bit has gone from just being on the side to the back of her head. She has a cheek that's slightly bigger then the other when I look at her I just want to cry I feel like I've Ruinned her life.

If attach pictures but I don't know how to do it.

I posted my experience previously here when my ds was a baby, have just found it so will cut and paste:

our ds had a torticollis, a neck stiffness, and developed a very pronounced flat side, it's called plagiocephaly, it caused some facial asymmetry too as the skull at the forehead was pushed forward on that side causing a bulging eye. it was most prominent at 8-12 weeks but the torticollis resolved with physiotherapy and we were fastidious about not lettibg him rest his head on that side.....rolled up towel against his head at night....never left him in a car seat whilst not driving and had a rolled up muslin to keep his head straight in it. ..used sling instead of pram for carrying him and constant tummy time. the flattening is probably 90% improved now, he's 16m, and there is no facial asymmetry. we looked into a helmet but it only relieves the pressure of lying on the flat spot, it doesn't remould the skull into a normal shape, so our diligent repositioning did the same job and as the torticollis resolved he stopped favouring that side. I would recommend you make every effort to encourage dd to not keep lying on the flat spot. the nhs don't take plagiocephaly seriously, we saw a private consultant who did and I am glad we acted quickly to avoid any worsening. ds still has opthalmic follow up as the bulge caused a squint which has thankfully resolved. sorry im not painting a very pleasant picture. ...he's a stunner actually. ..just went through a difficult time a wee one!!

Just an update to that, he's 30 months old now and it's not visible to anyone except dh and I. He's also just been discharged from opthalmic follow up, confirmed perfect eyesight.

Update today, he is 6 and you cannot tell there was ever an issue, honestly, keep repositioning, encourage tummy time and get health visitor to check for torticollis. Good luck.

My daughter had her ears out of line and everything as her head was so flat at one side. One side of her face looked really odd. I started giving her supervised naps during the day and lying her on the other side when she was about 12 weeks old. I was so upset, I couldn't sleep for worrying about it. She's now almost two and I swear you would never tell. She's perfect! When I started repositioning and using pillows etc, I noticed a difference within a few weeks. As her head continues to grow, you'll see the difference. It will start evening out if you avoid that side. She's so young that her head is still growing at a quick pace and can easily be molded into the correct position! Don't stress too much honestly. I hate how much time I wasted worrying about it.

@Hohofortherobbers thank-you that fills me with hope. Did you use any special pillows. We're waiting to see the physio for tort but had a letter this morning saying there is a wait for appointments I'm going to get my hv to chase it up Monday. I have been repositioning and trying to encourage her not to go on the flat side.

Has your son still got the bulge on his forehead now or did that resolve with time?

@CP2701 when supervised I let her sleep on the opposite side to the flat side to try and relieve the pressure off the flat side but I just feel it isn't helping, I'm worried the other side will go aswell if she lays on that side all the time. What pillow did you use? We have the lilla kiddos pillow that I put her on throughout the day for supervised naps but I don't think it's helping much.

We didn't use a pillow at all, just propped his head up a rolled up muslin wedged against side of his head. The forehead bulge, ear misalignment and bulging eye disappeared within a few months, there was a small residual head flattening at 11months, that was when we visited the cranio facial surgeon who completely reassured us no intervention with helmets was necessary. I took photos from above his head at monthly intervals, then traced around them to show his head shape and ear alignment, we showed these to the surgeon who could see the huge improvement over a year. I'm sure I have attached them to a previous thread here somewhere, I'll try and find them, they show the improvement really well. Your dd is not going to be deformed, please don't worry. But I remember, that's easier said than done.

My goodness, this all reminds me just how frantic I was. I'm so sorry, I really do know how you are feeling and I really want to reassure you

Drat I just attached the pics but they aren't there

Taking pictures made me feel so much better too as the progress was obvious and I needed to see it!

@Hohofortherobbers Thank-you it's so hard not to worry you read so much conflicting advice. How much tummy time would you say's best. She hates tummy time but my HV said that could be due to the problems with her neck. I'm getting about 15 - 20minutes in a day with her in separate intervals she won't tolerate any longer then 5minutes at a time. My GP said to not take her out of tummy time the minute she cry's (that kills me) because when there upset the head goes in the correct lifting position if I've explained that properly.

@CP2701 I've just downloaded one of those pic apps where you can have pics side by side I'm not sure why I didn't think of this before would help to track the progress.

Just tried again, don't know why pics aren't working. My ds hated tummy time too but persevere, get down on floor too and move toys in front of her so she has some distraction. It will get easier as her neck strength improves. We did it at every nappy change and it became his routine

Pic at 3 months

Traced pic at 6 months, showing ear misalignment

Traced pic at 11 months showing improvement in ears and head shape

@Hohofortherobbers wow you can really see the difference well done. Do you think the physio helped with this also.

That's what my hv said once her neck starts getting better tummy time will get easier. I never thought of doing tummy time at nappy change that's a good idea. I will defiantly put that in our routine.

You can totally see the improvement can't you! The traced pic at 6 months is the same angle as the pic below, ie nose is in the same place, we just didn't add it in. But the shape was almost normal by then and the bulge at the front had certainly disappeared before then. The physio for the torticollis meant his neck had limited movement, until then it was locked towards the left so he constantly held his head that way. The physio loosened his neck up very quickly, within a month, but he would still prefer to turn left as that's how his head would naturally roll, due to the shape of it!! That's when our fastidious repositioning was important.

I had a baby born sling which you could tighten one side of the head support to the max and let the other side out, this was good as it meant his head was against my chest turned all the way to the right, (left was his preference). It's intense for a while but as soon as they can roll and develop neck strength they do the job for you.

@Hohofortherobbers you really can the change is amazing. I hope I can get DD's looking as good as that. I don't have a sling but I'm looking at purchasing one so I can baby wear her around the house instead of carrying her. I'll have a look at the sling you mentioned.

My phone autocorrected, it's baby bjorn here is website but lots of stockists, try and get one from ebay, its where we sold ours.
www.babybjorn.co.uk/baby-carriers/?gclid=CjwKCAiA_Kz-BRAJEiwAhJNY78azrdgR_mHe4IBnNC_pljw26gXuGRVdcbOMl9w8iXPZIaTQOGA3KBoC6VoQAvD_BwE

We had this. We had a great specialist. It is absolutely correctable, you have caught it early.

Exercises and stretches to correct the torticullis. You have to be obsessive about this. As you're waiting for physio here are a few of ours. Get baby to look to the non favored side basically all the time if you can. Gently stretch their head to the weak side. Sit ups strenthen the neck. Also tilt baby from side to side while playing, holding a few seconds in tilted position. Stretch each arm above the head, close to the ear.

Exercises stop it getting worse but to reshape the head we were told you have to get pressure on to the other side. Don't worry about over correcting. Get baby to sleep on that side with the towel and try to get them to lie on that side to play.

DD is 10 months now, we started therapy around 6 weeks I think and you can't now tell she had a problem.

When my baby was lying down, the doctor at the hospital showed me to basically turn her whole body to the side she doesn't favour, and then move her body back round but leave her head facing that way. It seemed easier for her than just trying to turn her head that way (her neck was very stiff).

Hello. Your baby is young you still have time to sort this. Facebook group plagiocephaly support/advice UK is really helpful x

I could have written this myself! I'm a FTM and my little boy has plagio. Can't believe it's happened as I have never left him in his bouncer or on the playmat long, it's basically been caused by him looking right in his sleep. I feel bloody horrendous about it.

His ears are misaligned and he has protruding forehead on one side. The back isn't so bad, I only spotted it from a photo from him looking down at about 12 weeks.

Have seen a paediatrician who said it should improve over time and to do repositioning, but the forehead might not so we will have to get used to it. Have bought a pillow and been to a helmet company too and they have said they can help but to persevere with repositioning and go back next month which I will do.

It's killed the joy from my motherhood experience, I'm constantly worried that my baby is permanently deformed. Think it's given me PND actually.

Hope you aren't feeling too bad about it all x

@FingersXssd83 honestly my daughter was the exact same, her ears were horrendously misaligned and she had a forehead bulge. She also turned right all the time! The pillow massively helped and when she had naps I supervised her and lay her on her left. It honestly rectified itself so quickly! I wish I'd never wasted so much time but I was mortified about the whole thing, I felt like she was going to be deformed and she's completely perfect! When they start sitting more, it also helps a whole lot!

Thanks for letting me know @CP2701 Did you use the pillow at night? We haven't done this due to SIDS risk.

His forehead is so bad, I honestly don't think it'll resolve. Have done intensive repositioning, pretty much stayed awake for 2 weeks moving his head at night and it's made little difference in over a month.

It's so distressing. We waited a long time for our baby and now for this to happen despite looking after him the best way I knew, is ruining our precious time together.

It's also very frustrating that weren't warned that this could happen when we told HV and midwife about him sleeping on his right. Guess there's no point looking back now though :/

Anyway, have tried to attach an image so you can see what he looks like x