We have noticed over the past several months that Kelton has a slight flatness on the back of his head. We've been questioning the pediatricians since he was 3 months old. Well, let me clarify that, we questioned each pediatrician that we went to...the one when Kelton was 3 months old was different than the one we're at now. That's a whole 'nother post on pediatricians though.
At his last check-up, our current pedi brought up his head shape and said that although there doesn't appear to be anything significant that would affect cognitive development, that we might still want to visit a physical therapist or consult with a head banding office for an evaluation. Our concern at the time lay in the fact that Kelton wanted only to sleep on his back. To sleep on the tummy was a most preposterous and infuriating idea to him. Our appointment was made with a physical therapist to see if she could teach us ways to encourage different positions with him.
About 10 days ago, Kelton decided that he loves tummy time and sleeps oh-so-well on his tummy and/or side. So I called the PT office Thursday morning to cancel our Friday afternoon appointment. I took Kelton in to the pedi's office Thursday afternoon for a vaccine, and the Dr. took the time to come in and suggest that I reconsider the PT appointment. Her point was that even if we came away with only one exercise to encourage equal development of neck muscles then the appointment would have been worth. I was an easy sell with that reasoning and I got our appointment back.
Friday afternoon wasn't anything like what we expected. Jane, the PT, was wonderful and was able to point several things out to us regarding Kelton's range of motion to the left, and the flat spots (plural) on his head. She encouraged us to pursue the headband. 40 minutes later, after more discussion and looking at what the path of head banding entailed, we were in full swing of getting an appointment ASAP with the head band clinic and obtaining a prescription from the pedi. We go in Tuesday morning at 8:30.
Kelton also has jaw pain that seems most present when he's on his back (with pressure on the back of his head). As soon as he is set up or rolled on to his side, he quits fussing with his jaws. My mom-intuition says that there's something correlating between the mis-shaped skull and the jaws. The PT concurred with that. So, Tuesday morning we'll start down the path of getting our little boy into a foam helmet of sorts.
From the website of where we're taking him...
Kelton has a mild form of Brachycephaly - Something as simple as sleeping on the back can cause brachycephaly. The head flattens uniformly, causing a wider and shorter shape. Increased head height is also common in children with brachycephaly.
Before (not Kelton, but this is pretty darn close to what his profile looks like)
After - the goal of a more rounded head
6 comments:
Wow, keep me posted on this....
Amber
Interesting. I'm glad that your pedi suggested following up even though he's started sleeping on his tummy.
Happy to hear he is doing well.
It's hard these days...you know they are supposed to sleep on their back, but when they become accustomed to this and we change it up, they freak.
Good for you for conquering the tummy sleeping!
Thanks for the comment!
My great niece had that and had to sleep on her side. She's nearly three now and it's all better, looks like it should. It helps when they get hair, it's less obvious ;)
My friend's son had this and was later fitted with a helmet. He's now 11 and between the hair and what the helmet did, you can't even tell. Good luck!
Aw! I hope your appt goes/went? well. (sorry i'm not sure when that was)I've read about this some and it's amazing what they can do with all the stuff that's out there. Good luck!
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