Flat Spots

[jammydonut]

I realise that Plagiocephaly is very common in babies as a result of the back to sleep campaign and our Paediatrician has told us that the problem should eventually correct itself but I still feel extremely concerned.

Does anyone have any advice on dealing with flat spots?

The Paediatrician says corrective helmets are a waste of time and money. I'd love your views on that.

My friends son is just about to have his little helmet removed. They need to be started by 18 months I believe or they will not work.

They need to be started within a couple of months. 18 months is too late.

They are not a waste of time or money ime.

If they are just because the baby is lying flat then they probably will sort themselves out but if the child has plagiocephaly they won't.

There are lots of posts on this on this website.

Has your child been dx with plagio?

My little boy had mderate to severe plagio. He went into a helmet at 7 mo and was out of it by 14 mo. We were told not to worry but i did loads of research and myself and Dp decided to go for it as the worst it wuld do was not work. FWIW my Ds truly seemed to have very little awareness of his helmet and believe me it saved him from quite a few nasty bumps too lol!

According to the clinical studies I personally found most seemed to indicate that about half of cases would se an improvement on their ownand about half would not. What made us decide was that my Ds's facial features were becoming slightly distorted and despite the Doctors saying it would improve it got worse. I think Doctors tend to view it as a purely cosmetic problem and hence it is a low priority- although a few NHS trusts have funded treatment for very severe cases so it is not a complete no no.

His head is now within the 'normal' range (given that we all have a bit of asymetry) and people cannot see anything odd about his head whereas they did before.

People have quite strong views on this topic, I have found.
Ultimately it has to be the individual parents decision and whatever you decide you will be doing out of love and caring for your child.There is a website plagio.co.uk (hope that is correct!!) there is loads of info there for you to have a look at. Someone else is sure to be along who is more of an expert than me soon!

Oh and 18mo to start would be too late, they recommend by seven months although it can be started later with good results, a lot of it depends on wher your child is 'at' with regards their head growth.

Really the earlier the better. Even 7 months is risky.