My baby has Plagiocephaly/flat head syndrome

[Abbey94]

Hello,

Has anyones little one had plagiocephaly/flat head syndrome and has this improved or disappeared over time?

My little girl is 5 months old. From around 2 months old I noticed she has a right sided head turn preference and struggled to turn her head to the left - I mentioned this to both my HV and GP. I advised I was encouraging her to look and turn her head left to which they said I was doing the right thing.

At a subsequent, unrelated GP visit; the GP noticed that my daughter has a flat head on the right. I told her that she always sleeps on her right, and reiterated the difficulties turning left. She then sent me lots of info on plagiocephaly which made me quite worried as the GP must be concerned.

I have increased the amount of tummy time we do and am always encouraging her to look left. I'm even up half the night readjusting her head so she sleeps on her left, but she always turns back to the right. Neither my GP or HV mentioned torticollis but I think she has this and is the cause of the flat head

I feel like I'm doing everything I can. I know I need to be patient to see a difference but I'm starting to worry that it'll never go away and she'll have this flat head on one side forever.

Does anyone have any similar experiences or success stories to share?

My daughter had this, it caused me so much stress. She also struggled to turn her head one way. The doctor showed me to roll her onto that side and then hold her head gently while rolling her body back over so her head was just facing that way. After a few times, she seemed to be able to do it much easier.

I bought a special pillow and used it whenever she was lying on her play mat or having supervised naps. I really think the cushion helped her! I started to notice a difference very quickly. When she began sitting more, this also helped.

At one point her head was honestly really bad. One of her ears was much higher up than the other, her face looked strange at one side. Her forehead stuck out at one side. It all kind of rectified itself and within a month or so using the pillow and turning her, it was unnoticeable. She's 4 now and perfect ☺

Thank you so much for your reply. That's really reassuring. Yes, my daughters ears and forehead have also moved/changed as a result of this. I will try the rolling and see how we go. Do you remember what the pillow was called that you bought?

My baby had the exact same thing. I was beside myself and it actually brought on quite bad PND.

Just try and keep baby off flat side of the head as much as possible. Buy a MIMOS pillow when baby is on back but don't use overnight when unsupervised.

My girl's forehead was pushed out because of flattening at back. I was honestly really bad. You wouldn't even notice it now, and she's just coming up to 3! The head almost auto corrects with time. I no longer thing about it.

There are helmet companies that I used for objectively measuring the asymmetry and to see if what I was doing made any difference. TiM is a good one to try. My girl's was mild plagiocephaly according to their reading and they said they wouldn't treat him. Some aren't so honest though so if you go down that route, I would remain cautious.

Good luck! X

Do you have a Facebook account? If so, I recommend asking to join the Noggin Doctor's Plagiocephaly and Torticollis Discussion Board. It is run by a paediatric craniofacial plastic surgeon and he answers anyone questions about their baby's heads. He is incredibly knowledgeable.

Don't use the Mimos pillow. Pillows are associated with a 2.5 fold increase in the risk of SIDS.
She definitely has torticollis, so she needs Physiotherapy.

Hi, I can see your post is a few months old. I was just wondering how your baby‘s flat head is now and if you’ve seen an improvement? My baby is 4 months old and also has a flat head at the side which has caused his ears to be slightly uneven.

@Stephflowers your baby is young enough for the Perfect Noggin if he is not rolling back to belly. Have a look, or join the Facebook group.

@Stephflowers
There has been a slight improvement over the past 3 months since I first posted here. Her head is slightly rounder however the flatness and facial asymmetry are there and noticeable to me, despite others saying they don't notice it.

I decided to buy a second hand perfect noggin as mentioned by another poster (they seem to haunt all the plagiocephaly boards suggesting the perfect noggin so i was skeptical however after looking into it, it works wonders for lots of people... if you start young enough) My daughter was quite late getting it so was only in it for 6 weeks until she started rolling. I didn't see any improvement in her head shape while she was using it however it stopped me from obsessing over it and trying to reposition her at night, as I know that it wouldn't get any worse when she was sleeping in it due to the contouring. So that was great to stop me driving myself crazy as it was all I could think about! Also it's sleep safe unlike many of the pillows on sale.

Her neck issues have now resolved - I saw nhs physio who said there wasn't an issue and discharged us but then i paid to see an osteopath who highlighted a few things and after 1 session it was much better and resolved after the 2nd session (and cleared up her reflux which was a bonus) so I'd recommend seeking out someone to help with the neck issue (torticollis) which is causing your little one to favour 1 side.

Because of all of the above, generally, I think about it less. I see it daily and it makes me sad, particularly her forehead bossing (one side protruding) but also her face is generally asymmetrical now - one cheek and eye are slightly bigger than the other side.. however I am seeing subtle changes as she grows so am confident that as her head continues to grow it will round out further and become less noticable as she gets hair etc, i also hope the assymetry becomes less noticable as she grows. So many people online say their little ones had it, and now it is unnoticeable a few years down the line, so I just hope that's the case, though it feels like a long time to wait x

As someone who has gone through this, I would say it will for sure be less noticeable as she grows. My son also had a flat spot. He is nearly 2 now and I can still tell because I obsessed with it, but don’t think anyone else looks at him and thinks “oh that boy has a flat head”. I was borderline getting the helmet but decided not to in the end, and although I can’t say whether I did the right thing or not, I’m at peace with his head shape now. It started improving at around 7 months once he had been sitting up for a bit. The only thing is that the flattening caused his ears to stick out at the top, and still do, so would a helmet have prevented that? Who knows?

However, each case is different and it is difficult to assess without pictures. I definitely think some do need a helmet. I was at a soft play the other day and there was little girl of around 2 and the back of her head was like a cliff edge and she had a very wide face and bulging forehead. I felt awful for her because that is unlikely to correct and did noone warn her mum about it? And, as a person who has obsessed with their baby's flat head, I DO notice adults with flat heads.

See pictures below of my son at 4 months (when I started noticing the flatness), 11 months and now at 22 months old.

Pictures attached! Wouldn't upload with my original post

Hi everyone,

I’m just jumping on here to see if anyone has any updates.

My son had torticolis and suffered from a very flat spot on one side. His ears and forehead looked uneven. We did physio and repositioning and we were told it was mild and it would correct itself over time.

He is now two years and eight months and although his facial & ear asymmetry has got better I still notice it.

Can anyone give me some encouragement about how this changes as children age?

I’m beside myself with worry and kicking myself that I didn’t get a helmet for him :(

Hi, how is it now? Did you see an improvement in these months, my baby is 5 months and I am considering helmet, I was told her asymmetry is moderate at 10mm but my worry is the asymmetrical forehead and ears as the back of the head is getting better. I can see the left side of her skull is raised compared to the right side that rounds better. As other mums here I don’t want to let the window for improvement pass but I am doubtful about the helmet too, it is a business at the end of the day.

Have you noticed more improvement/measured again? I am in a similar situation, baby is 5 months now.

@Abbey94 sorry new here, didn’t know how to reply directly to your post. Have you seen more improvement with the forehead and asymmetry in the past 6 months?

@MumMuminthemake
I've name changed since my OP. My daughter is 14months old now and the asymmetry of her face has definitely improved and is less noticable. The right side of her forehead stuck out a lot but this is barely noticable now (only to me probably). The right/back side of her head is still flatter than the left side but again it has improved and has rounded out a bit and it still has time to round out more. Again, I notice it but members of my family (who knew about my plagiocephaly concerns) have all said recently how her head is round now! It's so hard to just wait but I think time is needed for this one...
At the time of my OP it was ALL I could think about and I was so upset about it but now I don't really think about it and only do when I see her head from the back and notice the (improved) flatness but I really do feel it will continue to improve as she grows