Flat head/physio after traumatic birth

[Luhou]

Hi all.

Wondering if anybody can share experiences or offer any advice.

My daughter is now 3months old and has developed a flat head on one side. Doctor has said this usually corrects itself but I can't help but worry about it. During her birth her head was turned and they had to perform a manual turn, followed by forceps. Since then she has a strong preference for turning to one side which has lead to this flat spot. Has anybody else had a manual turn/forceps and found this to be the case? And did you have any treatment e.g. physio etc to improve it?

Thanks!

I got one of those pillows at 6 weeks with a whole in it, from about 4-5 months he was happy staying on his tummy most of the time during the day. The flat head did go away and it corrected itself but even during naps I made sure he was either lying on his side or on that pillow.

Thank you for your comment. My LO has head nest but she is super wriggly and often moved out of it by the morning. I am obviously keen to follow SIDs advice too. Did your child grow out of there preference for one side eventually? Xx

Hi Luhou, I have a 6 month old daughter who had a right sided head turn preference, she was also a forceps delivery and had positional talipes. We have had physiotherapy sessions where they teach you how to gently encourage your baby to look to their least favourite side, putting them in their cot so they have to look to the less favoured side to look out to the room, and holding them so they have to look at you towards their least favourite side. I hope this makes sense! My daughter now has a perfect head and has no trouble looking either way.

Hi Fortheloveofzog,

Thanks for your reply! That is really interesting. Did you go for these sessions privately and how many did you need?

Out of interest and if you don't mind me asking did you attempt/manage to breast feed? I wanted to breast feed my daughter but she just didn't get the idea, so I expressed for the first 6 weeks (couldn't keep it up after that!) But have been reading online and people saying that they struggled to BF following positional talipes as baby was uncomfortable holding there head.

Thanks so much!

I was referred to physio from the health visitors after they noticed she would only look to the right, I hadn't thought anything of it before! We've had two online sessions and will be having face to face next month where she'll hopefully be discharged.

Ah breastfeeding! I managed 3 weeks but unfortunately it did not work out for us, I hadn't realised that there was a link with talipes,I find that quite interesting cause I had a lot of self blame and feeling of failure after moving to bottle. We had trouble initially with it though, after the birth we were in hospital for 3 days and she didn't latch properly until the morning of the third day. It does make me wonder if there is a link there though, she would often look uncomfortable and I tried every hold possible!

I would suggest ringing your health visitors and seeing if they can refer you for physio, they were really quick in getting in touch, and they really put your mind at ease cause I know I panicked initially!

Xx

Thanks so much for your advise. I am deffinetely actively trying to make sure she looks the other way. Hoping that once she starts to sit up it will improve. I will ring my HV.

Oh that's intersting, sounds like we had very simillar sittuation. I also had lots of guilt for switching to bottle and that's why I tried expressing but, just couldn't keep it up.

Thanks so much!

@Luhou

Thank you for your comment. My LO has head nest but she is super wriggly and often moved out of it by the morning. I am obviously keen to follow SIDs advice too. Did your child grow out of there preference for one side eventually? Xx

Mine was awake every 2-3h anyway and had never moved out of it. From 5 months, he rolled over and slept on his tummy.

I agree, follow SIDS advice but at the same time, use common sense as I know when my child is at risk of suffocation. I'm always confused as to why it would be called SIDS if you actually know your child suffocated, the reason would be suffocation rather than sudden infant death syndrome? Might be wrong here though.

Sorry to hear you are/were up every 2-3hrs! I am very fortunate that my daughter sleeps 10hrs most nights.

I totally agree with using common sense. I am just a worrier! And in the day when I am watching her you can use more common sense, but at night I like to know I have put her down 100% sids safe. :)

Your lucky girl!!! Mine did start sleeping through at 14 months and I get it, if mine had slept through that early on I might have felt the same as you don't feel like you're in control at all.

Cheesebubble, you poor thing! I can't imagine not sleeping for that long. I am very fortunate!

@Luhou you forget!! Second on the way now, 3 more months - can't wait!! Xx

Aww amazing, best or luck! I am sure my next one will be an awful sleeper, I can't be that lucky!