Worried about 6 month old son’s head shape -

[hopingforapeainapod]

I feel guilty about my nearly 6 month old son’s head shape and am worried it’s not going to get better on its own. He had torticollis from birth and would only turn his head to the right, and it took us longer to get it sorted than it should have. I mentioned it to the GP at my 8 week check and he said to leave it and he would learn to turn his head to the left (he didn’t). I went to a cranial osteopath (which didn’t help) and then my health visitor eventually referred us to a physio but it took almost 2 months for an appointment to come through so we went private.

Anyway the exercises have helped him to turn his head and we do a lot more tummy time now (he had bad reflux and so used to hate any time on his tummy). However I still think his head looks wonky - he still has a slight flat patch on the right hand side but his head is clearly asymmetrical and his ears are also misaligned now :(

I don’t know whether I’m just being a paranoid FTM - I’m sure if he had more hair it wouldn’t look so bad - but it’s the first thing I notice when I look at him and I feel bad. I don’t even know who I would speak to about it - GP? Will it just get better with time and I need to be patient?

One way to see it that may be reassuring - how often have you ever noticed someone's head shape compared with literally any other physical feature?

can you ask the doctor if you could be referred for the helmet i think it’s after 18/24 months these are not really an option

my daughters head is a bit like that she is older now so can’t have the helmet and it wasn’t like that when she was younger so not sure what happened there

but every time I wash her hair it annoys me (obviously she does not know this or that it’s different shape at the back) luckily you don’t notice it because of her hair but if she had a shaved head it would be very obvious

I think that given he has needed physio and you aren't happy with the alignment of his ears etc you should speak to your GP and ask for referral to a paediatrician. If you have private health cover for your children through yourself then I'd be very tempted to use that.

@Unseenentity that is very true - my concern though is it’s starting to affect other facial features, like his ears are misaligned, and one side of his forehead sticks out more than the other - and those things will be more noticeable!

@Usernametaken12 they don’t offer helmets on the NHS unfortunately - they say there isn’t enough evidence that they work - so I think if we wanted one we would need to go private, and they can cost £2000+. I think I will feel a lot better once he has hair, but still he might lose his hair or have a shaved head when he’s older and so he won’t want a wonky head!

@urghhh47 maybe you’re right. I’m just not sure what the treatment options actually are (other than a helmet). The physio said we may not see any improvements in his head shape until 12-18 months, but I’m nervous about leaving it and it getting worse (which is what happened at the beginning)

If you are concerned I would see a pediatrician asap.
I have a nephew who had an operation at age 6 months where they literally cut off the top of his head because the natural seams (whatever you call them) were closing too quickly and he would otherwise have had a very pointed head.
It was a rather traumatic operation for the parents too but went perfectly well and now his head at age 6 looks rather normal. Not in UK ...

My DS had this. Only realised when my mother pointed out that every photo we sent of him, his head was turned to the left. One inexpensive thing we did was buy a special sort of breathable baby pillow that was sort of like an oval doughnut which was lower in the middle. That meant that when he was in his cot or lying in the buggy, it centred his head facing forward. Think it was recommended by the paediatric physio he saw.

My daughters head had a very flat area. We bought the little pillow which helped slightly but now she’s a teenager with hair you really wouldn’t notice!

This sounds like craniosynostosis which is a very different condition from plagiocephaly/moulding.