Plagiocephaly- How severe Is this please?

[VS2023]

Hi All,
My baby girl is 25 weeks old now and has developed plagiocephaly. We suspect she has got torticollis too as she keeps her head tilted most of the time. Made couple of GP visits when she was 12 & 20 weeks asking for guidance. And everytime they responded the flat spot would not be noticeable once she starts to sit & move and asked to encourage to turn onto her restricted side. But cannot see any improvement :(
Got an osteopath appointment booked for next week to treat her torticollis.
Looking at these pictures, how severe do you think it is? Should I go for a helmet? I’m a first time mom, underwent a complex delivery. Feeling guilty for letting flat head develop for my Dd.

Can't comment on how bad it is but my child's looked very similar. We were also fobbed off by nhs and told it would improve with positional changes etc. It didn't improve. Child is a bit older now and it has gotten better but we mainly rely on hair to cover it. I still live in hope it will resolve into adulthood, but I wish we had got a helmet. It was Covid times for us so couldn't really see anyone about it properly; but in your shoes I'd look into it.

As above. Can't comment on severity, but there are some Facebook groups where there are loads of people who can advise you. I'd go for the helmet if only so you won't regret not doing so, although we didn't- we did catch it within 8 weeks though (after being fobbed off, like you).

The torricollis is more of a priority than the plagio in my opinion though. Great you've got an osteopath appointment but for us, the only thing that worked on my son was the physio we saw, and daily physio exercises (multiple times a day in fact) for many months. We got an NHS physio referral but private is a possibility too.

Good luck. I remember how stressful it was. If ant consolation, my son's head and neck are now 100% normal!

@Welcometothehumanrace Thanks for the reply. I’m sorry for what you’ve gone through. I can feel the pain.

@surreygirl1987 Thanks for the reply. It’s the less awareness of myself about torticollis and the ignorance from GP and the system whom we rely on has caused a big delay to identify that my Dd has torticollis. I blindly accepted what GP and HV said where I shouldn’t have :(
Dd is going to be six month old. Is it too late? Did it cause any development delays?

I blindly accepted what the midwife and GP said as well - of course we naturally turn to them for advice, so don't feel bad! And I'd never heard of torticollis either. I only found out about it through googling when I was started to panic about my little boy.

It's never too late to address torticollis, but the longer you leave it, the harder it is to sort (and the longer it takes). Yes, my son did have developmental delays BUT he's also hypermobile (and, as we've recently discovered, ADHD and autistic), so can't be put solely down to torticollis. He was a bit lop sided for a bit, and had a weaker side. He dragged a foot when learning to crawl and climb the stairs, and had a hand preference. Eventually though, with lots of exercises and stretches, it went away, and I haven't thought about it for years actually. You'd never know he had it now.

Do take action ASAP- get a second opinion, ask for a NHS physio referral, and get a private physio assessment too if you can afford it, but don't panic or worry too much (easier said than done) as it really is very fixable. And yes, do the helmet too if you can, even if its only so you won't feel any guilt later if you don't!

@surreygirl1987 Thanks heaps for the guidance. We are taking her to osteopath and will try to get NHS physio referral too. Hope and pray it would improve with time.

My sons was like that and with an oesteopath it really increased his range of movement and although his head is slightly flatter at the back age 4 you don’t notice it unless you’re looking for it.
I looked into the helmets but wasn’t convinced by the research at the time and that it was worth the discomfort. I made sure that he was lying on his back for as little time as possible; mostly just sleeping and he started rolling to sleep on his side by 6 months anyway

My DD had similar. Most of the treatment involved lots of encouragement for baby to look in the direction that is restricted by sitting on that side of them while they're lying and hold their body so that they have to turn their head to see you etc. and massage (physio needs to show you how to do this).

DD was 2m when we started working on it and it fully resolved. I feel sure you should be able to make vast improvements even starting at this point.

My ds aged 10 now had torticollis and plagiocephaly after a forceps delivery, we had physio, worked on his position and it improved massively before he was a year old. His head is absolutely fine now. I'm off to try and find my old threads on it. I'll direct you to them. My dh traced outlines of his head which helped show the progress. I recall putting them on my threads. I hope you'll find them reassuring. He has no additional needs and has no long term problems from this difficult part of his early life.

Sorry I don't know how link threads on the app. Perhaps a poster can help me.

If you Google "mumsnet hohofortherobbers flat head" you'll see the thread called flat head from 2020 where I was replying to someone in the same situation. You'll see my pics too.

@Cbljgdpk @GoneIsAnotherSummersDay @Hohofortherobbers Thanks for the reply. It’s quite reassuring.

@Hohofortherobbers I was able to find the old thread. Went through the pictures. Thanks a lot for sharing. It did give some hope and makes me less worry.