Flat head syndrome. Please reassure me

[Beamae]

My husband noticed today that one of our 17 week old girls has a misshapen head. Flattish on the one side and her ears when you look from above are in completely different positions with one further forward and further down that the other. I've been looking online and there is differing advice, saying if we start repositioning before 6 months it should be effective. Others saying repositioning is only effective from birth. I feel terrible. So guilty for not noticing earlier. How could I not have seen it? It's so obvious when you look from above but I just haven't seen it. She doesn't favour any side in particular, sleeps on either, plays on either. She doesn't have that much tummy time because of her reflux but is never in one position for long. I have a particularly laid back GP who so far has refused to treat her for tongue tie, refused to test her for allergies despite her terrible reflux and congestion. I'm worried that he is going to dismiss this too and say she'll grow out of it, but I don't feel like I can take that risk. Has anyone else had a child who has had this level of flat head syndrome who has had success with repositioning from a similar age? Or does it sound like it has to be a helmet? And who do I go to if the GP wont' help me? Do I need a specialist to oversee repositioning?

We noticed that our DS had a misshapen head when he was about 10 weeks old. Like you said, it was flattened on one side, and from above his head looked decidedly wonky! His head also seemed to bulge out on the opposite side at the front. I took him to see the HV who was as disinterested as you fear your GP might be - she dismissed it and told me his hair would grow over it!

We did a bit of research and bought him a Lila Kuddis pillow which is basically a pillow which supports their head when they're lying down so that pressure isn't put on the flat bit IFYWIM. We also took him to the cranial osteopath and he had a few sessions with her.

I'm not sure exactly how much use the pillow did (though my DS seemed to quite like it!) but I'm fairly sure that the cranial osteopathy made a big difference. My DS had a clear preference for sleeping with his head to one side and we couldn't reposition him to turn his head to the other side. After the CO, he could turn his head much more freely, which in itself probably helped to alleviate the problem. We had about 3 or 4 sessions and you could see the improvement after the first couple of sessions.

As far as I know, the helmets are very expensive (2 grand sort of prices) and for really serious cases. It might be worth investigating other alternatives first? If your GP is not interested in helping, do you have a useful HV (not like ours!)? Or look up your local Cranial Osteopath?

I completely understand your concern with your DDs head shape. I think that as it's a cosmetic condition, it's not really taken that seriously. Our CO said that it is becoming more prevalent due to babies being put to bed on their backs. Happily, DS has just turned 1 and you really wouldn't know that there had ever been a problem.

Good luck!

My ds had a very flat head on one side as a baby that the hospital described as significant and wanted to refer him fir the helmet thing. However we decided to leave it for a bit rather than put him through all that ( he was having other issues too).
He is now 3.8 with a perfectly round head so I'm glad we left it.

Thank you both. It's fantastic that you got good results. I'm so worried that if I try the pillow (which I will buy) and osteo or just leave it that I will run out of time to fix it.

Lots of threads on this so have a look for some experiences & advice on old threads.

Briefly (sorry, it's really late!), from my experience, do not allow your GP to be laidback on this, it is time sensitive. Get a referral for to see a occupational therapist for repositioning advice & possibly a physiotherapist to check for torticollis.

Sounds like your DD is a twin? Plagiocephaly can be present in multiples due to overcrowding as it were. This means that the flatheadness can be there from birth and not necessarily due to torticollis or too much time in one position (although it can be worsened by too much time in one position IYKWIM).

If you are noticing asymmetry in her ears, then she needs to be looked at by someone with more experience in plagiocephaly than a GP so push hard for a referral.

Don't be afraid of starband (helmet) therapy. My DS has just finished an 8 month period wearing one & he had no problems adjusting to it at all. Many children only have them for 2 or 3 months & have great results. The end result for DS was pretty good but I can't help feeling the result would have been better if we had got him into it earlier ie I had pushed the GP for a referral sooner rather than allowing him to tell me that everything would be fine.