Does plagiocephaly truly get better by itself?

[flyingbeet]

I have a three month old with what I would describe as moderate plagiocephaly. One side of her forehead is slightly protruding. I have started to do lots of tummy time and repositioning as she favours her right side. But I have a fear that it won't get better by itself. Does anyone have any experience with plagiocephaly. Was a helmet required or did it get better on its own?

My nephew had it as a baby no treatment given and at 17 his head looks perfectly normal

Cousins baby had this. He had a traumatic, forceps delivery after a 3 day labour! He was over 9lbs and she is a very petite, size 6! They didn't know if his plagiocephaly was birth trauma or not. They were advised not to have a helmet and told it would resolve itself. He is 12 now and its still very noticeable and wonky.

An osteopath that specialises in babies would be worth a visit, incase her muscles are tighter on one side and pulling at her neck.

Both mine had this as newborns and it sorted itself out with time and plus their hair grew over it too so you'd not likely notice it anyway.

My son had the flattest head I've ever seen when he was a baby and toddler. I was obsessed with worrying over it and looking at every single baby I ever saw to see what shape their head was. He's 13 now and his head is absolutely perfect.

@Hannahandlucy @LegoHouse274 When you mention your babies having it, did one side of their forehead protrude too? My daughter may be able to cover the flat spot at the back of head with her hair but I don't know if she can hide the forehead. So I'm wondering does that get better

It depends on the cause. Some will, some won't. We had a helmet for our DD. Right decision. We knew we couldn't face her if we took a chance and it was wrong. It would have had consequences for her. We know, for her it wouldn't have righted itself.

My son had a helmet, I'm glad as I couldn't live with the guilt had it not corrected naturally.

If her forehead has started to protrude/become misshapen then I don’t think that’s going to get better by itself. My friend’s child had the same
issue around 3 months old and her son ended up having to wear a Boston band for a few months until just before he turned one. So expensive but worth every penny because it evened out his head and realigned his forehead. His face and head are perfect now. Have you taken your little one to see a specialist?

I have twins who had starbands. They’re now 20. Nothing obvious to the naked eye but neither has a typical head shape. They both have issues with bicycle helmets. They need a bigger helmet to accommodate. But this surprises people because it really isn’t obvious at all.

One twin I would get calls in primary school after head bumps. When staff were looking for bumps, they saw it - protruding forehead on one side.

Both are absolutely gorgeous young people (certainly didn’t get that from me!). I’m glad we treated it. I’m not sure they would have had the improvement they did without it. I’m a primary school teacher & have seen untreated children with still quite obvious plagiocephaly. More than my two (& theirs was dramatic at 4-5 months).

No protruding forehead but just a very very flat head. Lots of scaremongering going on here, think about it when was the last time you saw an adult with a flat head? Or a protruding forehead. There's a reason why the NHS don't recommend helmets, no evidence to suggest they work. Their little heads will round out eventually.

Not true. My daughter's head would not have rounded its self. Some might and people get lucky but those that don't do the helmet are taking a chance.

My son had a helmet and no regrets here. I would say you can still see a slight asymmetry and I wonder if it would have corrected if we started earlier, but he’s still a handsome 15 year old - ultimately glad we did it!

I don’t think people are “scaremongering”, just being factual and explaining their experiences. The ability to self correct without intervention depends on the severity of the issue. I have seen not only children, but adults with issues that did not self-correct. I suppose since a friend’s child had to wear a Boston band I have just become more aware when looking at others. Only a specialist can decide if it is in the best interest of OP’s child to wear a Boston band.

@Hannahandlucy Their little heads will round out eventually.

They don't always though! Its not scaremongering, its people, like myself, providing 1st hand knowledge. As I said upthread, my cousins son is 12 now with very obvious wonky, protruding forehead on one side. They were advised against a helmet and deeply regret not getting a 2nd opinion.

A work colleague has an absolutely, flat back of the head. His 'party trick' is balancing pints of beer on it! It looks rather odd, but I can't imagine how flat and obvious it will be if his hair ever goes and becomes bald or gets a shorter cut!

Tbh her head shape from the back doesn't look too bad. It's just the forehead that has started to protrude and her face from the front looks asymmetrical. Im going to try and wait till she is about 5-6 months old. We have an appointment then too. I'll get the doctors opinion on it and then have to decide if we need to get a helmet. I just was hoping there will be many people who struggled with the protruding forehead and it got better on its own but I guess not

If the child needs glasses there can be an issue and also with jaw pain.

Thanks for sharing the picture, OP. To be fair her head is not as severe as my friend’s son. The flattening is definitely not as obvious. There are things you can do while you wait to see the doctor - tummy time, repositioning her head when she has naps so that she is not leaning on the flattened side etc.

Have you taken pictures of the top of the heads of adults in your life? Are they all symmetrical?

My back of my son’s head extremely flat as a baby. From the side It looked like it went down at a right angle! He hated being on his tummy. I remember being extremely worried but couldn’t afford to get the helmets. When he was a bit older I used a pillow recommended for it. He’s 18 now with a normal shaped head!

My son had a very obvious side bulge (see pic!) and I took him to a chiropractor when he was 4 months old. Within a couple of months he was looking much better. He's 6 now and you wouldn't notice but I wouldn't have risked leaving it to see if it fixed itself.

My daughter had a noticeable flat patch on the back of her head and has been going to the osteopath since she was 6 weeks old. She's 20 months and under her mop of hair you wouldn't notice anyway but she's definitely rounded out lovely compared to earlier side profiles of her head. If there's a cranial osteopath near you, I'd give it a go! They're very gentle (both mine have fallen asleep during appointments) and if it doesn't make a noticeable improvement then you've not really lost anything

My DS had congenital muscular torticollis, which meant he had extreme plagiocephaly. Basically at 6 months, he had a cheese shaped head. I went to our local Hospital , Alder Hey, armed with the Star band/ Helmet research for our first treatment consultation. They absolutely refused to go there, it was based on Star Bands own reviews, no peer reviews, no trials, no proper research. So we went with the Alder Hey team. He had a sterno-mastoid release and physio. His medical files show his progress from 6m to 30m (when he was discharged). He's 19 now, has NO plagiocephaly and hasn't since treatment. From what we were told, heads round out on their own.

@HalfWayDown At what age did you start using a pillow. Both my mother in law and mother used those head shaping pillows since we were born. I know it's really dangerous and can increase the chance of SIDS so I had to explain that to them which they both didn't really understand and now I've got a baby with an uneven head shape. So I hope I'm not blamed

@TeddyBeans Thank you for sharing pictures too! What did the chiropractor do to help fix your babies head?

She manipulated the bone plates and released any tension there. It's all very gentle! Babies are very tolerant of it but it can feel a bit weird for them. My daughter especially would act like she was being tickled and tilt her head down to try and squish his fingers to get him to stop 😂

I can’t remember exactly but it was before the recommended age, which I think was 12 months at the time. I only put him on it during supervised naps and when he was in his bouncer etc. He hated being upright or off his back, later turned out he’s autistic so that may have been why. I was concerned about using it but monitored it very closely. He was over the recommended age before I used it overnight and I used it until he was about 2. It got slightly less noticeable as the years went on and now looks like a completely normal head.