Deformational Plagiocephaly? « Back to Group Discussions

[KaliShanti]

My DH noticed last night the my son's head is rather asymmetrical, has round spots and flat spots. He also has a prominent forehead- like if he wrinkles his forehead the top of it kinda make a ridge where the anterior fontanelle is. Anyone else's babies have this? My other two had round heads (I think) by this point (DS is almost 9 weeks).

I guess it could be due to positioning. He does favor looking only to one side- so much that we both noticed it pretty early on. But I try to encourage him looking to the other side, try tummy time though he generally hates it, and he doesn't spend too much time in his carseat. He does love to lay on the floor though...

[meesh933]

I don't have any personal experience, but I do know that plagiocephaly doesn't have to be a positional issue. Some babies are actually born with it. It may or may not be your son's problem, but it is something I'd consider havign checked out by a doctor, as untreated, plagiocephaly can cause some pretty severe developmental delays.

[Abraisme]

My nephew ended up with a really flat spot on his head as well (asymetrical).  Some babies just seem very prone to getting it.  She is also an attachment parent, her DS was carried all day and only slept in a bed at night.  She didn't do anything to fix the issue, just waited for his hair to grow in over it.  It never did cause any issue or delays, her little boy is a very bright toddler.  Who knows?

The only other kids I've seen with this were the type that were totally left in a carseat all day, which I know isn't your case.  I suppose if you're really worried you could talk to your doctor.  The only treatment I've ever heard of is a helmet. 

[Jaimee]

Did Enoch have a 2 month well baby?   If so, then the doctor should have noticed anything to be concerned about.  If not, then you could make a well baby appointment and just ask.

[KaliShanti]

Well here's our dilemma. He has not had any well baby visits. I thought he would be covered by my pregnancy Medicaid (and he should be) but when I called today they had not added him. They said after I called it could take at least 30 days to add him. :( I don't really think it prudent to wait that long because IF he needs correction or therapy it's best to start asap- the younger the infant the better in these cases. But it's expensive to see a doctor even once and I bet if they think he needs attention it could be many more visits. I am conflicted.

[TalkToMeNow]

It may not be that much for one visit. I had to pay out of pocket for Jasper's first few and it was $90-150 per visit. I know that's not super cheap, but it may be doable for one visit? Then you could just get an opinion and you will know either way. You can wait 30 days for more visits.

I found when dealing with insurance co and doctors, making it clear that he needs to go to the doctor and you can not pay goes a long way. People were willing to rush things and work with me (payment plan) when I made it seem very important that he was seen.

[Jaimee]

He should be covered for the first 30 days and then he should be added as long as you have submitted his social security number.  You should also be able to get these things retroactively paid for since he should be totally covered for all well baby visits.  Though, I understand this is a lot of "shoulds" and it's a total PITA.  I'm sorry!  What about your midwife?  Would she be able to take a look at him?

[KaliShanti]

I asked my midwife. She thinks he needs to see a pediatrician. And Medicaid told me he was not submitted even though he was. :( *sigh*

[Paigekitten]

Is that something craniosacral therapy could help?  

[KaliShanti]

Originally Posted by Paigekitten 

Is that something craniosacral therapy could help?  

It could. I will now more when I see the doctor.

I ended up getting an appointment for tomorrow at a low cost clinic.

[Jaimee]

Kali, please update us after Enoch's appointment!

Speaking of heads, my dh and I were noticing that Avery's head seems much lumpier than our other babies' heads were.  It's like the indentations between his skull bones are much more pronounced so you can easily see the division of the plates.  I assume this is within the realm of normal, but since we don't remember our other two being this way it suddenly seemed worrisome.  Anyone have input?  I did take him in to the ped around 7 weeks and nothing was said about his head bones then.

[jbk21]

Dylan has a really nice shaped head, but the ridges are more pronounced than they were with Owen.  When he was born there was a lot of overlapping (see photo) and it has calmed down considerably.  I think it will continue to change a bit, but if his head is always shaped as it is now it will be totally fine.  Who knows what our skulls look like under this hair, you know?  

You can see that ridge behind his forehead.  It's much better now.  If you didn't know there was ever any overlapping you wouldn't notice anything weird about his head, but we can still see a slight ridge.

[Jaimee]

Avery's head is nicely shaped as well, just lumpy.  I'll have to try and get a picture.  The back head plate seems like it is sticking out slightly and you can see this "halo" across the front of his head where those two plates are not fused.  Again, hopefully everything is fine, but I do remember reading in The Baby Book that sometimes the plates do not grow at the same rate as the rest of the head and this can, obviously, cause problems.  It's rare, of course, so I'm sure I'm just being a bit paranoid...

[jbk21]

I know what you mean.  For about a week (right around his 6 week appointment) he had a bit of a gap right in the center- in front of the soft spot.  Obviously this totally freaked me out, but it's gone now and my midwives looked at it and said it was totally normal.  Does anyone know when things are truly "set"?  Probably when the soft spot closes, right?  18 months or so?

[meesh933]

Jack's head looked just like Dylan's at birth, and neither of my other two ever had any noticeable molding. The ridges on the back of his skull were very pronounced for a while, and I noticed yesterday that they are still there. His fontalle seems smaller than the other two at this age, too. I'm sure it's all within the range of normal, but I was considering taking him to the ped to measure his head and just make sure it's growing correctly.

I have a friend whose son was born with all the plates in his skull already fused. (She pushed for over 5 hours!) Because there is such a wide range in normal, it took her 2 months to convince a doctor that something was wrong with his head. He had skull surgery at 5 months and wore a helmet through toddlerhood. (He's a totally normal 7 yr old now.) Anyway, I typed that for two reasons - 1, yes, there is a very big range in normal, so much so that in that case, even the doctors didn't catch it,  and 2, Mommy knows best, and if you think something is wrong, trust your gut.

[Jaimee]

J, I think it's upwards of 2 years.  Well, I'll probably just wait until his next well baby appointment at 3 months to ask- that's only a few weeks.  I doubt it warrants rushing in since he was just checked out 2 weeks ago.

[KaliShanti]

We took him to the clinic and the doctor said he did have torticollis, which I had suspected and he noticed the deformation. He recommended physical therapy for the torticollis and in a few months if that doesn't help even out his head some (since he'll hopefully be not lying primarily on his right side) he might be fitted for a doc-band type thing. Then he very nicely told me that this was the last time we could see him because we did not vaccinate. *shrug*

Medicaid is going to take at least 30 days and ECI will take at least 2 weeks so until one of them starts we will just work with him on our own and take him to a chiropractor after we get our tax refund. Plus look for a pediatrician who is ok with non-vaccinated kids!

[Mal85]

I'm glad you got some answers. My brother is going through something similar with his son right now. Being a preemie, he spent a lot of time laying down in the isolette in the NICU and has had a definite preference for which way he turns his head ever since. He has a pretty good flat spot on the back of his head. My brother was just pointing it out to us last weekend. Their ped told them it's basically up to them whether or not they want to correct it. It does make his forehead protrude a little, but I hadn't really noticed it until it was pointed out to me. My SIL wants to go ahead and correct it.

Also, do a lot of peds not see patients that don't vaccinate? When I did daycare for a family, I remember the mom telling me about what shots their daughter was getting one day and I mentioned that we were selectively vaccinating and not really on schedule. She said if they don't do all vaccinations on schedule, they're ped wouldn't take her as a patient. We take our kids to our general practitioner and he's never minded at all what we decide to do. He was actually really helpful with our research. He even went so far as to find some studies for me and mailed them to me to look over while we were deciding what to do with DD1. I live in a really non-crunchy area, so I guess we just got lucky with the doc we use.

[Jaimee]

Kali... I'm sorry that it did turn out to be somewhat of an issue after all.  I hope that Enoch responds quickly to your at home therapy so that you don't have to see a PT or get any sort of corrective gear.
 

Originally Posted by Mal85 
Also, do a lot of peds not see patients that don't vaccinate?

Yes.  They have the right to kick you out of their practice (or not accept you in the first place).  They want to keep their vax numbers up... board certified peds get certificates you'll see hanging in their offices for having a certain % of their practice on the CDC schedule.
 

[Abraisme]

Yup, I've heard in some places it's nearly impossible to find a pedi that will accept your kids if they're unvaccinated.  My sister is having this issue in TN.  Luckily here in OR we have a decent amount of options.  I'm fortunate enough to have a great pedi, close to my house that is very AP friendly (co-sleeping, breastfeeding, un-vacc, etc).  They do exist!
 

Originally Posted by Jaimee 

Yes.  They have the right to kick you out of their practice (or not accept you in the first place).  They want to keep their vax numbers up... board certified peds get certificates you'll see hanging in their offices for having a certain % of their practice on the CDC schedule.