Talk to me about plagiocephaly...

Babykins11

So my girls went to the ped on Friday for a checkup and the ped said they both have plagiocephaly. K has a flat spot on one side due to torticollis and A just has it on the back of her head. I feel super stressed now because I mistakenly googles stuff about it and you know how the Internet stuff tells you all these bad things about it. Our doc never mentioned helmets but just said to use a rolled up receiving blanket like a donut under their head anytime they are on their backs. Has anyone done anything similar and did it seem to help? Also once they were sitting up on their own, did it seem to start going away? TIA!

finallyreilly

DS has a severe level of plagiocehaly on his right side.  It started while I was pregnant based on his position and then he favored it afterwards.  We knew early on it would be an issue so we worked with him on lots of tummy time and with blankets to keep him off that part of his head.  In his case, it probably helped some, but because his case is so severe we had to take the additional steps of getting him a helmet.  He does not have torticollis but he does go to physical therapy to build up his left side because he favors the right.  We are 4 months into the helmet and it has made all the difference in the world in his head and face shape.

 DD has a very minor case of it that developed after she was born from laying on the back of her head.  We have noticed now that she is sitting and crawling that it seems to be less of an issue.  We haven't done any treatment at all with her.

You might want to talk to the pedi about physical therapy for the torticollis  because that will help K stretch out those neck muscles and keep her off her flat spot.  As far as the helmet, the group that does it in our area has a free consultation so you might want to check into that if you are concerned. 

We are absolutely lucky that the helmet is covered under our insurance.  Most insurance companies see it as cosmestic and don't cover it.  Again, in our case DDs was so severe we would have done it regardless if it was covered or not.

jbl126

Ava had to wear a helmet due to her flat spot.  She also had some PT for her torticollis which helped but she loved being on her back so we were not able to correct her flat spots.

It is not a bad idea to go for a consult.  We were also lucky that our insurance covered the helmet.  And now that she is done with the helmet, I am so pleased with the results.

kelliwill

G has it and our pedi just said to get her to sleep on her side/look to the side she doesn't prefer whenever possible.  The back of her head looks a lot better now that she can sit up and is not on her back a lot.  The front of her face however is still less full on one side.  It's not super noticeable, but it's there and it really bothers me.  Our pedi is not a fan of helmets but I really would like to look into one and not sure what to do about it.  

redshoegirl

finallyreilly:

You might want to talk to the pedi about physical therapy for the torticollis  because that will help K stretch out those neck muscles and keep her off her flat spot.

I second this - one of our boys has a right turn preference due to mild torticollis, and the stretching and strengthening exercises have really helped. We also do plenty of tummy time.

We used one of these until 4 months (it's approved as a therapeutic device here in Australia), which helped during sleep times - I know that regular pillows are a no-no due to SIDS/suffocation, but these are made of a dense memory foam, so they're pretty much the same as sleeping on a mattress. (The Babymoov Lovenest is basically the same thing, and more well known outside of Australia.) I felt safer using this than a rolled up blanket or towel - just my personal preference, of course!