Flat head syndrome/cranial bands

[Taffy01]

My son has been diagnosed with Torticollis which is preventing him turning his head to one side, consequently he always sleeps on the same side so is developing a flat side of head - everyone says this will right itself, but it is beginning to show on his face, one side of his forehead seems to stick out a bit... anyway, I have read about these cranial helments to help correct head shape - has anyone experienced similar symptoms and Im keen to hear anyones views/experiences on these helmets.....

I have no professional knowledge but I thought that generally the medical people think that the helmets are unnecessary and "flat head" sorts itself out without intervention. What does your paediatrician say?

If it wasn't required by your pedia then it isn't necessary.

Is he having treatment for the torticollis? I think this is the most important thing.

My DD had the same thing and her face was very wonky with one side of her head sticking out, now at 2.4 you can't notice anything.

I do understand why people get helmets as you have to decide whether you can live with just waiting to see what happens, and take the risk in case it doesn't straighten out.

I know of a little boy who I used to see regularly, his head was so misshapen I would be worried for him, but now it is so much better.

I do not want to get flamed by helmet choosers though, as I can understand why people get them!!

How old is he?

he is 14 weeks

At this stage it can be caught and rectified by positioning I think, you must get a referral to a physio to sort out the torticollis too, or have you got one?

My second ds has a really odd shaped head, it looks like he has been whacked with a frying pan on one side

We had him to the hospital and they said they are seeing loads of this now since the ideas changed to laying a baby on his/her back to prevent SIDS.

Now his hair has come in you can't really notice.

A friend of a friend bought a helmet for their son but they had to order it from Holland because the hospital in this country wouldn't recommend it. It did work though.

TBH I wouldn't really mess with it unless it is really bad or the hospital recommends it though. HTH

My DD had a very flat head at the back and slightly to one side simply due to sleeping well and always in the same position from a very early age. Paed said it would even out with time and that babies' skulls are not fixed until about 18 months. I figured hair would cover the rest. She is now 14 months and it is hardly noticeable so I think he was pretty much spot on
Sadly may have been helped by the fact that she has become a VERY restless sleeper the last few months.

Well firstly the torticollis needs to be resolved with physio before you can get any improvement. Repositioning even helmet treatment won't be effective if the tort remains.

Repositioning can be very effective and sometimes these things will remedy in their own time, but it may depend on the severity of the flatness. Sometimes though the head does not round out with time and remains noticeable. Cranial bands can be very very effective and generally speaking the earlier they are used the more effective they are and the less time the child needs to wear it.

It's a difficult choice and only you can decide what route you want to take. You are very unlikely to get a recomendation from your GP or an NHS Pead for a helmet, most will tell you it isn't necessary and the NHS certainly won't fund it.

There are a few private clinics in the uk that specialise in cranial bands, you can expect to pay around £2000 for the treatment.

Hard choice but in you shoes I would resolve the tort, be very vigilant with repositioning and see where you are in a month.

Dd has this. She wasn't diagnosed until 12 weeks. She would constantly face right when she was alseep & had a severe flat spot on her right side. Her forehead was uneven, she had a bulge on the left above her ear & her ears were uneven. The tight muscle was on her right, so prevented her from looking left effectively.

Firstly, as ConnorTraceptive pointed out, you need to remedy the Torticollis.

Once it had been brought to my attention I started turning her head while she slept, at first she looked up, very awkwardly but after a week or so she looked more comfortable. Then the physio we saw recc exercises.

I was told to hold her chest to chest facing my right & hold her head firmly for 10 seconds. I had to do this 3x a day for a month. This stretched the left side muscles, she hated it for a couple of days, screaming etc & I felt so cruel. But I noticed improvement very quickly. She was turning her head in her sleep within days! She now had a straighter forehead, no bulge above her ear (although her hair is kind of 'stuck' in that curve now! But it is good, as it shows me how she has improved).

While her plates were moving around her fontenel shrank & grew again & she had a pronounced indent on the left side of her forehead, which has now gone. So it may seem like it is getting worse before it gets better.

The paed said no to a helmet as they come with their own issues (sorry, can't remember what he said)

Now at 8 months she has improved alot! She still has a flat spot, but it is not at all noticable to an outsider. If it doesn't improve anymore she will be OK, and it won't notice under her hair.

So, I hope you are treating the torticollis! As it won't go on it's own. Lots of tummy time, don't leave your ds in car seats for prolonged periods, try to encourage positioning to the other side while sleeping.

Oh & I would advise that you seek profesisonal advice before you try the exercises I did with dd.

Hi Taffy

My son was diagnosed with tort and severe plagiocephaly. I noticed this when he was about 3 months old and took him for cranial osteopathy which helped the movement in his neck. If you live in London theres a place called the Childrens Osteopathy Centre who are brilliant and where you pay what you can afford.

I did decide to get my son fitted with a helmet because of the severity of his condition. However I'd only recommend this as a last resort as its v expensive and my son became an object of intense curiosity from members of the general public!

The helmet did help in my son's case. I have to say I only went down this route for his sake. I think childrens heads come in all shapes and sizes and thats fine

There is a pretty good website called 'plagio uk' (sorry don't have the link) which will give you loads of advice, tips and information. They also have a parents forum which I found really helpful.

Best of luck

One of our twins had a severe case of plagiocephaly. We got him a helmet from ahead4babi when he was 4 mo old and he didn't mind it a bit, took to his helmet like fish to water. Few months later his severe deformity was gone and now our little one has a perfectly symmetrical head.
We weren't ready to risk his future by waiting it out, hoping that it'll go away. Kids at school can be so cruel
Our other twin had a mild form of it as well, but the consultant didn't think the treatment was needed. He still has the flat patch at the back of his head and I am pretty sure it will not go away.
Getting DT1 the helmet was the best thing we ever did!

ahead4babies, even

My DD wasn't dx with torticollis and after months of the GP saying she was fine I got her an appointment at Harley Street and she wore the helmet for 3 months. Her assymetry went from 1.7cm to 0.3cm in that time and the doctor was amazed she did so well.

Not all sort themselves out without helmets - which are none iunvasive - and if they do, they probably weren't true cases of plagiocephaly.

You have to make a judgement call as you don't have long to make a decision and if you decide to wait and see and things don't improve, then you are stuck.

I'm puzzled by this. You - as far as I know - never see school age children with "flat heads". Presumably this means that they do correct themselves naturally (as I believe all the medical authorities say they do). Doe this mean that the helmet manufacturers ar eyet another unscrupulous bunch preying on parents' natural and understandable anxiety?

We know our DD's head wouldn't have rounded out on its own as she was 9 months and it still hadn't. I have seen children that I suspect have had plagio but not everyone knows about the treatment or can afford it. Our DD's helmet cost £2500 and that was over 4 years ago.

But their heads aren't "set" until 18 months.

I'm not sure what you are getting at.

Our daughter had other problems too and we know we did the right thing having this non invasive, pain free treatment for her.

Though you dont know what her head would have been like if you didnt get a helmet.

Isnt that what Seeker is saying? That these things tend to even out on there own, whether you get a helmet or not?

Our daughter's head was getting worse.

Of course no one will know what she would have been like if we had done nothing, but we feel and are sure it did help and that she wouldn't have the assymetry she has now.

The whole point is you have a small amount of time and if you decide to wait and see and it doesn't round out, what do you do then? You can't do anything and we weren't prepared to take the risk. We knew she might have more pysical problems and this was one we could help her with.

I know several adults with flat heads. Also have friends with Ds with and and my nephew has an odd shaped head that is flat in one area. My friend can't let her Ds have a short boyish haircut because it just looks wrong(her words, not mine)he's nearly 7. My nephew is almost 16 and has grown his hair long, so you don't really notice it now.
Clearly, it does not always rectify itself.

I can understand what you are saying and I imagine that if I had a child with an asymetric head that I would find it hard to resist doing the same thing.

The problem that I have is that the organisations which manufacture and fit these helmets are making a lot of money by selling a treatment of dubious benefit (as I'm not convinced that they give a better result than doing nothing).
I feel these companies deliberately play on the anxieties of parents.

I agree, tigger. Here is a product that as far as I know is not endorsed or recommended by any paediatrician, but which parents are being encouraged to spend £2000 on, and which makes them feel guilty if they don't. For a condition which is self correcting. I question the ethics of this.

Has anyone else suggested a cranial osteopath? DD had big problems with flatness, particularly on one side of her head and was reluctant to turn her neck the other way, even to feed. It was the cranial osteopath who managed to sort it out. Her head isn't particularly flat now. It's loads cheaper than one of those cranial bands. I'm no expert though so don't know if it would definitely help your LO.

I think many cases of plagiocephaly can be self correcting or corrected with physio and repositioning but NOT ALL cases are. There are older children and adults out there with flat heads. Some more significant than others.

Personally I found the helmet companies we investigated very low key and there was no pressure or gentle persuasion to go down the helmet route.