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Original poster

Unusual shaped head

22 replies

chocohead · 30/01/2006 18:27

My DD has just turned 5 months old for the past 3 months i have been concerned about the shape of her head. It is flater on the left side this resulting in her left ear being slightly pushed forward and left ear lobe is also bigger. Having read up on this sounds like plagiocephaly.

I have seen GP and asked 2 HV's, all of whom have told me it will correct itself by the age of 2.

Has anyone had any similar experiences of this ?

OP posts:

starlover · 30/01/2006 18:28

don't want to worry you unnecessarily but it doesn't always correct itself.

ask for a referral to a paediatrician

izzybiz · 30/01/2006 20:33

my DD has this too. i was also told it would correct itself she is now 20 months and it hasnt, its not as flat but still quite misshapen.
i think up till 6 months you can try repositioning, please dont be fobbed off, try and find a HV or GP that will take you concerns seriously. good luck.

mower · 30/01/2006 20:38

My ds has flat head and head is bigger on one side than the other. I am taking him to an osteopath, its expensive, but definately doing the job. Did you have a complicated labour. My ds was stuck, was having contractions for three days, this is why his head is this shape. HV and doctors told me it would correct itself, but I was not prepared to take that risk. Highly recommend seeing an osteopath.

Original poster

chocohead · 31/01/2006 09:24

What is an osteopath? what exactly do they do? and also where could i find one?

Think i will also try and go back to GP but don't fancy my chances.

Thanks for the replies all a great help

OP posts:

NannyL · 31/01/2006 09:45

My cousin had this....

his mum is a Dr. herslef and new something was wrong... he was referred to a specialist at the hospital who said it was one of the worse cases he'd ever seen he would have been about 8 months i guess.... and they were suggesting operating on him sometime before the age of 2.

anyway he is now 3 years old and it has grown out all by itself and it looks completely normal.

By 2 years you could hardly notice it (only if you "looked") but now even looking cant make you see it

Kelly1978 · 31/01/2006 09:55

I'm pretty sure my dts have brachiocephaly (flat at the back), and I also have a friend who has a dt with plagiocephaly. My dts are 10 months now and once they started sitting it did start rounding out a lot. dt2 isn't noticeable at all now. dt1 had it far worse and it is still there but is def improving. My friends baby is a few months older and his is improving a lot too, though she thinks he may always have one ear slightly higher than the other.

It is hard to get treatment in this country as it is a cosmetic problem and does usually clear up by itself. We looked into it, but it is very expensive and IMHO rather unpleasent for the baby considering it is for cosmetic reasons. We did start reposistioning and they both now sleep on their front which helps. I also believe that too much time in stage 1 car seats contributed to their problems.

Kelly1978 · 31/01/2006 09:58

Don't know too much about oesteopathy, but it is a holistic therapy that uses touch to feel for imbalances then apply pressure to correct them. We also considered this, but then the dts started improving. You would hav to look for a clinic locally. I'm not sure how much it costs. There is a childrens clinic in london that works on a charity place and only requests voluntary donations.

newkid · 31/01/2006 11:08

Have just posted separate message on this subject. My dd has plagio (she's now 21mo). It's hardly noticeable as she has loads of hair and always has had. I didn't favour the helmet treatments for a variety of reasons. Her head shape has gotten better but it's still lopsided and I'm tempted by osteopathy, which sounds gentle. I'd try that first. IMHO (and in my experience!) most paeds will simply tell you that the head will round out by 2. This is probably somewhat true, but it is also true that once they have lots of hair you don't stress about it as much.

As an aside, I think that all babies born with ventouse or forceps should be checked for post-birth trauma/strains as this is what caused my dd to favour one side and develop the flat spot. Feel guilty that I didn't follow my instincts when she was tiny and get some physio/osteo then.

hana · 31/01/2006 11:22

also babies need to spend time on their bellies, not just on their backs
hope you get some help/support

LIZS · 31/01/2006 11:27

Cranial osteopathy sounds like a good idea, they can help release tension betwen the plates of the skull, but so gently you hardly realise it. Would also suggest getting a referral to a peadiatrician. By the time you see someone it may have improved or not, and better to be in the system and ultimately perhaps not need it, that get to a point of being so worried if it doesn't correct itself and then having to wait.

Dickers · 31/01/2006 11:49

I haven't got much time as DS2 is waking up.
He had a misshapen head and after trying to reposition, with no sucess, we have used 2 starbands and are really pleased with the results.
Please look at this website groups.msn.com/PlagioUK
I'll check back later, if anyone has any queastions

jan44 · 31/01/2006 12:48

My grand-daughter after a long labour was born with a head that resembled a German second world war helmet, completely - utterly flat, so flat it looked like it had been ironed! This gave her face the fattest cheeks imaginable, she looked like a wind blowing cherub...her earlobe was pushed forward too..Her hair was blonde and very fine, she looked bald until she was two!

The G.P., H.V.s all said that it would correct itself and it did, but not until 3 0r 4, she is now no different in appearance from any other child..but being her Nanny far more beautiful!
The helmet route...how long would it have to be worn, she may not like wearing one love?

Dickers · 31/01/2006 13:38

DS2 wore his first helmet for 11 weeks (from 6 months) and this would normally be suffucient to correct most plagiocephaly.
It is worn 23 hours a day, taken off for half an hour in the morning and evening for cleaning, washing etc.
After a few days getting used to wearing it, DS dosen't seem to notice it at all, in fact when it is off, if he finds it, he tries to put it on. (he is now 12.5 months and in helmet no 2)
I think, it is far more distressing for the parents and all the parents I have met at the clinic agree.

Original poster

chocohead · 02/02/2006 08:43

Anyone who tried an osteopath, at what age did you start? Can this begin at any age?

I am also going to try and get referral to a paed as you say LIZS better to try and get in the system.

OP posts:

uwila · 02/02/2006 09:04

My Ds has a bit of lopsided head too. It isn't from birth because he was a planned section with no complications. He's just a bit flattish on the back, right side. I mentione it to my mum when he was about a month old and she said, "I bet we shaved our heads we'd find out ours aren't perfectly round either." So I left it at that and it is a bit better now at 8 months. IEven if it stays as it is, I don't think anyone will notice when he has a full head of hair.

Also, I remember my nephew's head was really quite flat in the back when he was a baby. He is 5 now and it has completely sorted itself.

hamster · 02/02/2006 09:07

My DS is 3 months old, and yesterday I went to see the HV. He too has quite a flat head on the one side. She told me that usually this corrects itself, and that because their skulls are still so soft, where they lie down all the time flattens it.
I really am not sure, as DS1 never had this.
Will watch this space.......

leogaela · 02/02/2006 09:23

Have a look at this thread

babies head shape

To avoid ths our doctor told us to make sure that we turned DS's head so he slept on both sides when he was small. Also put him on his front as much as possible during the day so he wasn't always putting pressure on teh back or sides of his head. A friends ds was developing this problem and was advised to get a cushion to prop the baby up in to sleep on his side. I think though at 5 months your baby will be moving around too much for any of these things.

leogaela · 02/02/2006 09:28

And another thing... a cranial osteopath told a friend of mine that this was more common in babies born by CS because the kneck doesn't get freed as in a normal birth so is stiff and the baby will be more likely to sleep in the same position all the time. Not sure if this is a load of rubbish, but ds was born by CS and at first always slept with his head in the same position until we started moving it.-

I'm interested to know if this is true.

jabberwocky · 02/02/2006 09:30

DS had a very noticable scaphiocephaly from being breech. He also had/has a flat area on one side from being closer to my ribs. The scaphiocephaly was corrected through rigorous positioning therapy but sometimes I wish we had done a helmet for the flat area. You are at a great point to do a helmet for this. After a year old the chances of success go way down.

There is another thread on this as well. Will try to find the link for you.

jabberwocky · 02/02/2006 09:32

other thread here

newkid · 02/02/2006 09:39

Rant warning!

Helmet treatment may speed up the rounding out of a flat spot and/or 100% round it out, but when left alone most heads will sort themselves out OR the lopsidedness will be so mild and covered by hair that no one will ever notice. I can understand why parents choose helmets as I investigated them thoroughly when my dd was 5mo, but ultimately I decided to take a 'wait and see' approach and I am really pleased that I did. It's a personal choice, but I (unusually for me) put my faith in the medical profession (GP, HV AND paed) who all assured me that it would sort itself out. It's still got a way to go but it is sorting itself out. From my research, heads seems to keep growing for up to 18 years (if not longer) and head versus face proportions change so much with age that this makes a big difference too. A baby is ALL skull compared to an adult so any 'deformation' is more noticeable.

Having a dd with a lopsided head makes me look at ALL babies' heads and what always amazes me is quite often I'll see a child initially and think how 'normal' their head looks but if I get a bit closer notice that it too is a bit lopsided! This is soooo common and how many adults have you ever seen with a noticeably funny shaped head?

newkid · 02/02/2006 09:45

One thing all 'lopsided' babes seem to have in common is some strained neck muscles etc post-birth. My dd was born with forceps (she was almost 10lb). She hated feeding on one side and really cried when held in one direction. We mentioned it to our midwife who thought there was no problem. This should have been a warning sign that she was favouring one side and that a flat spot could develop. I think more training could be done for medical professionals about this and that checking for neck muscle damage/strains could be made part of the initial baby check-up. This would probably reduce the cases of plagio at least.

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