I'm not super concerned because it seems fairly common, but ds is going to physical therapy Monday after seeing the pediatrician today. What was your experience like?
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My nephew had this-- it led to a flat head on one side and needed to wear a helmet for a few months. He still gets PT (he also has low muscle tone) but the helmet came off in just a few months and his head is nicely shaped now. It doesn't seem like a big deal, but I know the PT can be hard on his parents, since he cries when the therapist makes him do exercises he'd rather not do, but he needs to do. Once the PT is over he's fine.
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I think I've posted about my PT experience with DS before. Here's the basic run down:
DS was diagnosed with plagiocephaly (the fancy term for having a flat spot on his head) at 2 months. Although he was not diagnosed with torticullis, his doctor recommended we start Physical Therapy so we could learn some techniques to reverse the plagiocephaly and prevent torticullis. We went to his first appoint at 2 months. During the first appointment, the therapist did a lot of measurements. She measured his head circumference, the distance between his eyes and ears, the flat spot, etc... Then we did a few exercises and she gave me some tips on positioning to help correct his issues:
1. Increase tummy time and reduce time flat on his back. When DS is awake, she told me to hold him upright instead of cradling him, and to reduce the use of baby products like carseats, bouncers, swings, etc... as babies will naturally turn more to one side. The PT also used a Bumbo seat with him, to help strengthen his core muscles.
2. To prevent (or correct) torticullis, you have to strengthen the muscles on the less used side. Sop when he's doing tummy time or sitting upright, you want to draw his attention to that weak side and force him to use those muscles. I would sit on the side opposite from DS's flat spot and talk, sing, read, play with toys, etc... to draw his attention over there. After a while, we also began slowly moving toys from side to side in front of him, so he had to move his head back and forth, rotating 120 degrees.
3. We also practiced core strengthening exercises, such as the "superman" position (holding your baby's bottom half on your lap, tummy down, facing outward, so they have to use their core muscles to hold their torso up). The PT reminded me switch which way DS was lying in his crib (or our bed, since we were co-sleeping at the time), each time we laid him down, and to turn his head to the other side, if we noticed it rolling to the flat spot.
4. At each appointment, the PT also did some "baby massage," stretching his neck and shoulder muscles. This part is a little uncomfortable for babies, but whenever DS started to get upset, she would stop and switch activities. We also usually had a feeding during each 1 hour session, so we were really only "working" for about 45 minutes per appointment.
We had our first appointment when DS was 2.5 months, and then didn't go back until he was 3 months. We had a few weekly appointments, then a couple appointments 2 weeks apart, and finally, a one month follow-up appointment when he was released by his PT. All together, we had 6 appointments over 3 months, and DS was done by 5 months old.
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@foodnerd81 thanks that helps with what to expect. They told me at the hospital he could develop flat head since he was born using a vacuum and facing upwards. We'll see how PT goes Monday for my little man!
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@honeybee thank you! That is also very helpful...a lot of things I never thought about like reversing him in the crib. Thank you so much!
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@lydg: No problem! My understanding is that a lot of babies go through. In fact, Mrs. Jacks even wrote a blog post about it (and I believe she did some work with Jack Jacks, too, to help combat plagiocephaly):
http://www.hellobee.com/2012/05/03/my-babys-head-is-flat-whats-the-deal-with-plagiocephaly/
Personally, we had a great experience with our PT. She was very midful of switching activities whenever DS got upset, so he was never too uncomfortable. She also involved me a lot, which I think helped DS engage better in the exercises and work longer on each item. If you have the chance to be involved in each session, I think it really helps in getting the problem corrected as quickly as possible.
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@honeybee I will read her post next! I am all about being hands on with him and hopefully it is only a minor deal from here on out.
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@lydg: I'm sure it won't take very long at all to see an improvement.
Good luck!
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DS went to PT for this when he was about 6 months. we went once a week for 2 months. it didn't result in him having a flat spot. eventually his neck adjusted with a lot of massaging and stretching exercises!
Good luck!
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