Flat spot on DS's head (long)

arthist24 · December 2009

In the NICU DS developed a flat spot on the right back side of his head. We talked to several of his nurses and drs. about it and none seemed concerned, they just said to reposition his head to look to the other side when he was asleep and that it would eventually reshape.

We've also addressed this with his pediatrician who agreed with the repositioning idea and did not suggest we pursue any other treatment for it. We've been doing the repositioning since he came home about 2.5 months ago and have seen a big difference, it is much rounder and he doesn't favor the one side anymore.

However when we were at Christmas with my IL's, FIL kept asking me about DS's head and "what we were doing about it". I explained to him about the docs telling us to reposition and how we've noticed a big difference but apparently he still had concerns about it because he went online and started researching plagiocephaly. He printed out all this info for us about it and is urging us to get another opinion.

I guess what I'm asking/looking for here is if anyone has experience with this? Did your dr. tell you to seek additional treatment such as a band or did you have to push for it? A lot of what I'm reading says that this is mainly a cosmetic concern, but that there can be problems with vision, headaches, etc. Thanks for any info or experience you can share about this.

msalinardi@live.com · December 2009

DD has some flattening of the back of her head. our doctor just told us that we needed to do more tummy time (which she hates). But for the most part she said she wasn't concerned!

TriciaJoy · December 2009

Robbie had the same thing and no one (therapists, nicu follow up, pedi) was concerned about it, either. Basically our pediatrician said that unless it was affecting his facial symmetry or features (eyes, ears etc) that they didn't worry about it.

Robbie wouldn't sleep anywhere but his left side for MONTHS and had the same thing (sorta the back left corner of his head was flat) but once he started sitting up it got better and eventually he laid on his back and that helped a ton, too.

mek10976 · December 2009

DS has plagiocephaly and just finished his 3 months in a DOCband. Like your LO, Simon favored one side (due to torticollis) but even after PT fixed the torticollis, he still favored laying on the right side. We noticed the flat spot and also the right side of his forehead protruded out more than the left side. Our pedi and PT said to do the repositioning and once he can hold his head up, it will get better. It never did get better. The pedi still wasn't concerned, but said he would give us a referral to a neurologist if we wanted to pursue other options. The neurologist didn't really do much except confirm that DS had plagio and then referred us to a pediatric neurosurgeon for a more thorough consult. He diagnosed DS with moderate-severe plagio and felt a band would help. So at 9 months, we went to Cranial Technologies and had all the measurements/pictures done to see the degree of deformity and prognosis for correction. We decided to get the band and DS just got it off on the 14th. His head isn't perfect, but it is significantly better than before.

So, to answer some of your questions, the band was really at our urging, but our pedi was supportive. It is rarely covered by insurance because plagio is considered cosmetic. The band is usually between $2500-$3600. We struggled with all the research we did and the vision/jaw/headache issues that can occur. Basically, our decision to do it was based on two thoughts 1) If, when Simon is older, asks us if something could have been done to fix his head and why we didn't do it, we wouldn't be able to tell him that we just didn't want to. 2) A helmet is a benign treatment and wasn't at all invasive.

If you have anymore questions, feel free to PM me.

sapicochung1 · December 2009

My pedi said not to worry about it. We have ours on our left side. I put DD on her right side but she ends up moving her head. My doc said once she is sitting up on her own and doing more tummy time (which I do and she HATES) it will reposition itself.

hmms · December 2009

We mentioned DS flat spot (also back right side) at his 2-month appt, we tried repositioning until his 4-month appt. His pedi decided to refer us to a pediatric plastic surgeon. Based on measurements and the fact that we'd tried repositioning already, he recommended helmet therapy.

We did lots of research and decided we wanted to fix it (DS's forehead was a little asymetrical because of it, nothing noticable unless you were looking for it, but the flatspot was definitely noticable).

DS wore his helmet for 10 weeks, his head is significantly better, the only time I still see a flatness is when his hair is wet and I'm looking at him from above. While I hated the helmet every single day, we knew DS would thank us for it someday!

If you're at all considering a referral, keep in mind the optimal time to start therapy is between 4-6 months. Kids are growing fast and the change will happen quicker. The helmet doesn't hurt them at all, it just takes some getting used to.

GL, feel free to ask questions anytime, even though it's not a life-threatening ordeal, it's still a litte sad/scary.

arthist24 · December 2009

Thanks everyone! I appreciate hearing about everyone's experiences. While I belive this will resolve on its own with the repositioning, I think we've decided to get a referral and look into it further while he's still really young so we can feel confident we did everything we could for him (and so FIL stops emailing us articles and videos about it, lol!)