Flat Head and Helmets

My son had a flattened head and tilted his head to the left side. The doctors were telling us that he neaded a helmet. It was very expensive and we decided to try physical therapy first. The physical therapy and lying him in different positions helped and his head is perfect now. I think that the company, cranial technologies is located here in Phoenix and they are way too quick to recommend this. I think the doctors get money for recommending clients there.

I am a pediatric occupational therapist, and I have worked alot with little ones with helmets. I always encourage parents to do as much tummy time as possible, as well as doing exactly what you have started to do....don't use so much of the baby "equipment". Be aware that helmets are of course necessary in certain situations, but have a negative side effect of causing potential delays in motor development due to the increased "bulk" of the helmet. Hope this information helps!

Well, if he has a flat head, you made a right decision in throwing away the stuff that is contributing to it and also give him some tummy time. Maybe you can fix it before the next pediatrician appointment but if you can't, it may be possible that your son does not have to wear a helmet and it can be fixed by itself since his head is still growing at this age. Anything that happens, will be for the better of your child and it is something that can be fixed. Don't worry and take care.

Actually the more tiime he spends sitting upright, it a walker, exersaucer or just sitting up the better it is for him. Gravity will help his little head round out. My son too had a flat spot and is almost seven months and the more time they spend off that spot teh better it is for them. Hope that helps....good luck!

Hello, I have a 2 year old that used a helmet when he was about 4 months old. We had it on him for three months straight, but it helped a lot. His head was flat on one side of his head. The doctor told us to keep turning his head to the other side to even it out, but it didn't work, so we got the helmet. It really did help his head to go back to normal, but it took a few months. Once a week for three months, we took him to the doctor so they can shave the inside of the helmet as his head grew. Now he has a perfect shaped head. When you go to the doctor with your child, she might not be as worried if its not too bad because some mild flats tend to go back to normal without help when the baby starts to sit up. My advice is to try and keep the baby up on her bottom more often. Try not to lay her down as much.

Hello there! My I have a 10mo old with plagiocephaly( or something like that) flat apot anyway! The helmet use depends on how severe the flat area is. I have a friend of mine who's son has it pretty severe and after Physical therapy with very little improvement they finally used helmet therapy and he's doing great. My son is doing physical therapy weekly, i thought it was pretty bad but accorfing to the scale the physical therapists use it wasnt really necessary to use a helmet. The first thing I would do is ask your ped to rule out the major stuff first, I'm not sure of the actual name for it but sometimes baby's fontanels (soft spots) close too early and can cause some major problems but this is really rare, after that ask your pediatrician to recommend or give you a referral to see a Physical therapist. he/she can go from there as far as rating how severe it is...we had to do alot of tummy time....turning his head while sleeping...stretches...limit time on swing, bouncer..etc.. it seems like you are already doing that..and I assure you as soon as he gets more mobile (crawling and cruising, etc) it makes keeping him off his flat spot so much easier! His PT said he'll probably never have a perfectly round head but it would be so mild that only I would know because I'm aware of it being there. besides most people dont have perfectly round heads anyway! lol =) feel free to email me with any questions! Good luck to your son!

I would call your ped now and ask him what you can do to prevent it from getting worse. Are you doing tummy time? Kids need 15 minutes twice a day to help develop their crawling skills and prevent the flat spots. You can also try a triangle that will help position the baby on its side and keep him there while he sleeps.
Good luck

Our son just graduated from his DOC band. Our Pedi noticed it at 2 months and we tried everything to get him to sleep on his opposite side but nothing helped. We also found out he had torticolis and were assigned some neck stretches. The stretches helped a lot and the band really helped round out his head. Since we caught it so fast he only had to wear it 8 weeks. Good luck!

My son did sleep a lot in the bouncer, swing and carrier but he did get a lot of tummy time and also sat up right in the exersaucer. Try rotating constantly.

My daughter had the same problem. The back of her head was completely lopsided because she favored one side. Her pediatrician noticed it and said it would correct itself. Sure enough, as months went on and she moved around a lot more, it gradually fixed itself. Now at 10 months, she has a perfectly shaped head. I would definatley discuss this with your pediatrician, but I wouldn't jump to using a corrective helmet unless it's really an extreme case.

My son had to use the DOC band from Cranial Technologies. We noticed the flattening at 8 weeks and it just got worse. He was banded at about 5 months and wore the helmet for about 10 weeks with every good results. If you are thinking of doing it, now is the time while you can catch him in growth spurts so he doesn't have to wear it as long. Yahoo has a great support group called plagiocephaly (the term for the head flattening). Also, go to www.cranialtech.com for more support info. It was a difficult choice, but I am glad we did it. Initially, our insurance did not pay for it and we paid $3000 out of pocket for the helmet and follow up treatment. After 1 1/2 years of battling, we won our appeals and were paid the full $3000!!!

Hope that helps...feel free to respond with any other questions.

K.

Hi - my daughter started getting a flattened head on one side at that age. My pediatrician just had us make sure to always prop her on the other side as much as possible and hold her or put her in an exersaucer so her head was upright. It corrected itself within a few months and now at 6 years old, she has a beautiful, normal-shaped head. It's amazing how fast baby's are growing at that age. Seeing how fast my daughter's problem corrected itself, I do think that maybe some doctors are too quick to use the helmets. Don't panic that your son will need a helmet - it sounds like everything you are doing should help the problem correct itself!

Hi A.,

We have a 6 month old daughter with plagiocephaly as well abd she is getting her band next Friday. I will keep you posted on how well she is doing. We tried to re-position her as well but she is not going to have it. She hates being on her tummy. She is spending more and more time in her saucer and Bumbo seat and we also try to keep her head up without being against something flat but it is hard as she cannot support herself yet. One cannot hold their baby all day long. And her head is not getting any better with spending more time on her tummy either. I would not wait on getting the head band. The later it is, the harder it is and longer it takes to "fix it." I will keep on doing everything you can do to keep her/him from laying on the back of her head but would plan on getting the band. I know it's very expensive but I think your child will thank you later. Older kids could be mean and they can make fun of other children that do not look like them. It can cause some mental anguish later to your child and I think that we, as parents, should do everything and anything to make our child's life easier. Good lcuk, M..