Babies: 9 - 12 Months
trudibell
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flat head success stories without the helmet??
trudibell
member
Hi, I'm a FTM and my LO is 4 and 1/2 months old. We're worried about flat head syndrome. He has a flat spot on the back of his head and the pediatrician didn't seem super worried but indicated that some parents in our situation would seek out getting the helmet to correct his head. There is a lot of junk and mixed messages on the internet, and unfortunately our health insurance won't cover the helmet since it would be only for cosmetic reasons.
My question is, to you STMs and moms of older babies, if you had a flat spot at 4 1/2 months did it eventually correct itself? LO HATES tummy time and has figured out how to flip onto his back (not the other way around unfortunately) and will not stay on his tummy for any amount of time. We're obviously afraid to encourage him sleeping on his tummy because of the SIDS risk. Whenever we are out and about we wear him in carriers or a Moby wrap and we try to do 10-12 5 minute increments of tummy time a day but I'm still worried. Should I be? I've read that once they start sitting up most of the time on their own the head issue sorts itself out and the flatness is symmetrical so it's not like he has a droopy face.
Any guidance is appreciated. I am torn because $3k is a lot of money for a cosmetic procedure on a baby (not of course including consultation costs) that we don't really have right now but at the same time I don't want him to go through life with a flat head.
Thanks.
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Re: flat head success stories without the helmet??
We had a similar situation where the Ped wasnt concerned but I was... Turns out a second opinion diagnosed him with Torticolis and Brachycephaly. Your insurance may cover it if the degree of flatness is severe enough. Call a plastics (cranialfacial) doctor and he will do a proper measurement and then quote your insurance. We used Childrens Hospital of Boston and they offered 50% discount full price if insurance wouldnt cover it. (We have UHC and they did cover it under durable medical equipment)
He was 6 months when he got it (start of summer no less!).. had it full time for 1 month, then night only 1 month and was perfect. It gave me peace of mind and he didnt even mind it at all... and look how cute it is!
His head is just so perfectly round now I am glad we did it.
It may have resolved on its own- but I found it so stressful everytime I saw him laying on his head that it was definitely worth it.
Edited to include Insurance info
Me and DH - 26years old; IF DX: PCOS, Hypothyroid/Hashimotos(me)
IVF #1 April 2012- 15 ER (4/13), 13 Fertilized, 1 transfered (4/16), 3 frozen
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Although DS did not have torticullis, he did just prefer to sleep with his head turned slightly to the same side.
Once I noticed the flat spot (and the ped pointed it out too), I started getting up several times a night to check on his head position and change it to the less preferred side if he had moved. I also was conscious during the day to change the position of his feeding chair periodically so that he would get used to his neck being turned in different directions as he watched his surroundings. The third thing I did was that I realized I tended to bottle feed him on the same side all the time. I started switching sides often so that, again, he would turn his head differently.
I did this for probably a month or two. This all helped get him used to turning his head the other way.
They all hate belly time, but keep doing it. Once they start rolling (which will happen really soon for you) and get strong enough to lift their heads, they will start enjoying belly time. Then they start sitting up on their own etc. At that point, you really don't need to worry anymore about the flat spot because they will not be stationary in the crib anymore (more moving around, rolling, lying on their side, etc.).
DS is now 10.5 months, and his head is starting to round out again already. I am totally unconcerned at this point.
On another note, my friend's son had a grossly misshapen head (was even tested for hydroencephalitis) -- it bulged all over and his face was super tiny with an enormous cranium. He looked pretty bad. His doctor (Dupont Children's) said he didn't need a helmet. He is now 2.5 and totally handsome and normal looking -- absolutely no sign of his former severe issues.
I think a lot of people jump on the helmet bandwagon these days for cosmetic reasons, when really, if they are patient, the vast majority of the issues clear up on their own. Look up some studies on this -- by age 8 or 10, the head will tend to round out as it grows, even in the most severe cases.
The important thing at this very early stage is to keep turning that head! Four months is so young, you can easily change the trajectory of the problem before it gets worse...and then it will start to get better over time as the skull grows and the child spends less time lying on that one spot all day and night.
Just my two cents.
I'm typing this quickly from work so please excuse any typos.
@trudibell
Hi I'm lurking from the 6-9 month board. My LO had mild plagio (flatness) due to torticollis and mild brachycephaly.
At 3.5 months I took him to the cranial facial specialist who recommended PT and aggressive repositioning. And when I say aggressive repositioning I thought LO & I were in repositioning hell! The only time he got to lay on his back was for diaper changes and when in the car seat. I wore him as much as possible also. I still hold and let him fall asleep in my arms at night so I can position him on his side (I alternate sides so that I don't create another head shape issue). DH and I are so lucky that my mom watches LO while we work and that she was 100% on board on keeping him off the back of his head.
He had follow up appointments at 4.5 months and 5.5 months. By the time he had his 5.5 month appointment his head had rounded out nicely and the brachy number had come down. His originally CI was 93.7 and at 5.5 months was down to 89.
The cranial facial specialist told me in my LO's case that repositioning is critical until 6 months and if I could keep it up from 6-9 months I would see further improvements.
My insurance would have covered a helmet at 5.5 months with his brachy numbers but the specialist said he didn't need the helmet. This made me super anxious and I worried that the specialist's personal opinions of the helmet companies was coming in to play. He had made a couple comments on how the helmet companies play into parents worry about their children's head shape. So I contacted the local orthotic (Doc Band) and another orthotic that is 3.5 hours away (CT) to run my LO's numbers past them. Both orthotic companies told me they would not recommend the helmet because the CI # my LO had was actually an exit number goal of many of the kids they treat.
I forgot to add the my LO still hates tummy time but we do it as much as possible. The PT explained that it helps not only to keep them off the back of their heads but by lifting their heads it engages the muscles in the back/neck/base of the head & increases blood flow and this is good for reshaping.
Sorry this is long and hope I made some sense. Best of luck!!!!!
PM me if you have any questions I can answer.
DS was referred to the local children's hospital for the head shape clinic at 3 months due to the flat spot on his head. Since helmets are not possible until 6+ months, we spent the next 3 months keeping him off of his back during the day time as much as possible. He spent very little time on the swing, car seat, floor mat, etc. We put him in a carrier a lot. I also took every nap with him so that I could move his head off of the flat spot. One thing the clinic suggested was to do tummy time with a towel underneath his chest to prop him up a bit more. DS hated tummy time and would scream the moment he was on his tummy; but with the towel, he tolerated it better.
At 6 months we went back to get re-evaluated. DS still had a flat spot, but no helmet was suggested because his flat spot wasn't so bad that it casued any facial assymetry or distortion. At our local children's hospital, they score you based on a score of 0 - 15 (0 being perfect head-shape and 15 being severely distorted), and DS only scored 3 since his ears didn't allign properly. My insurance would have covered the cost of the helmet but with a score like that, we didn't feel a helmet was necessary. Now at 16 months and with lots of hair, no one except me would ever know that he has a flat spot. The truth is, most of us have some sort of flat spot on our heads and it's really not a big deal most of the time.
What I would recommend is to find a specialist or see if your local children's hospital has a clinic and offer classes on how to correct this. I was told in the inital class (they only accept patients from 3 - 6 months old) that 80% of the parents that take their children to the class and followed the recommended exercises end up not needing a helmet.
Good luck!
Well 3 months later, our girls' heads look like the after picture and her DDs head still looks like the before pic at 10 months old.
I'm so happy we went through with the helmets. It's just like braces. You want straight teeth, you get braces. It may be cosmetic but, it makes a world of difference for a 16 year old whose battling insecurities.
I too wanted my girls to be able to wear headbands without them sliding off and hats that fit perfectly.