David's Plagio Pages: a repositioning success

Our story

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We started being concerned about David's head when he was a week old.  He had some ridges on his coronal sutures and since his pediatrician was on vacation, we ask to see another one after reading quickly about craniosynostosis when we did a search on ridges on the internet.  We were really nervous and worried about his head and couldn't wait.  The pediatrician felt his head and quickly dismissed us by saying it was normal and his soft spot was open.  We stopped worrying then, but just before his 2 month old pediatrician appointment, I started worrying again because the ridges didn't seem to be going away, so I went on the internet again and really research craniosynostosis and that is when I also found out about plagiocephaly.  That is also when I realized that his ears were not aligned, he had a flat spot in the back and that his forehead was bulging on that side (his eyes were also mismatched in size when we look at pictures but we didn't notice it then).  Of course, he had been put on his back to sleep and had been favoring one side to sleep, but I didn't know then that I shouldn't let him sleep on the same side all the time.

From reading on the net, I was still worried it could have been craniosynostosis. But because his ear was forward on the bulging side, I started thinking it might be plagiocephaly.  At his 2 month old doctor's appointment, I mentioned it to the pediatrician who thought it was plagio too, but sent me for skull x-rays to be on the safe side.  The sutures were open, so we were relieved to be faced with plagio and not cranio.

Choosing to treat Plagiocephaly with repositioning techniques


Dh and I had decided we were going to try repositioning first since David was so young.  We told ourselves we would reconsider our treatment at 4 months old and decide if we were going to ask for a helmet or not at that point.  So I read everything I could find on plagio and on repositioning and we started.  Within a week or two we saw progress, I didn't know if it was real or I was dreaming it.  A lot of our friends and family noticed an improvement too.  Of course, I was observing his head all the time, once in a while I would think: "Wow, it has improve a lot! Repositioning is working!" , but then a lot of time I would doubt myself and think maybe we should have gone for the helmet right away!

When David approached the four month mark, Dh and I started discussing what we would do.  In the back of my mind, I was still a bit worried about cranio since the ridges on the coronal sutures were still there, and they were not improving.   We had seen some good improvement with repositioning but there was still room for more improvement...  We really didn't know if we wanted the helmet or not.  We decided we were going to ask for a referral to a neurosurgeon and discuss this with him.  Our pediatrician was very good about this, when we told him about our worries, he is the one who suggested the neurosurgeon!  On our way home, we called for an appointment with the neurosurgeon, and were told we couldn't be seen until the next month...  We were a bit disappointed, but then, we though it would give us a chance to try repositioning for longer to see if we would still see more improvement.

Meeting with the neurosurgeon


Finally, when David turned 5 months old, we met with the neurosurgeon.  Before the meeting, dh and I had decided that we had seen more improvement in the last month, and even if there was to be no more improvement from now on, we were satisfied with the shape of David's head.  Therefore, we were not going to ask for a helmet.  By looking at the x-rays, the neurosurgeon said he could clearly see that the sutures were open.  So that was our first piece of good news.  He then told us he could see lots of improvement in David's plagio as compare to the x-rays taken at 2 months old.  It was really nice to hear it confirmed by a specialist!!  I hadn't dreamed the improvement, it was there!  He also said he would have diagnosed David's plagio as moderate at 2 months old, but was now only mild!!  That was great news to us.  He thought David might have had a mild case of torticollis (but not a head tilt) that could have contributed to his plagio and referred us to a physical therapist.  We met with the pt the following week, and David received a complete physical exam.  The pt concluded he had no tort, he had full range of motion, and that he was doing great in all other aspect of his development and had no delays (he was even advance on some aspects).  So that was our third piece of good news in that week!

Now

David is now 1 year old and doing great. We don't reposition him anymore since he is so mobile and mostly sleeps on his side and tummy, but even on when he sleeps on his back he doesn't always sleep on the same side.  He has a little bit of a flat spot left, that even I have a hard time finding and seeing when I look from the top of his head (even at bath time with wet hair).  So, we coudn't be happier with how David's head has rounded out.  We don't regret for one second our choice of treatment, and now when I look at David's head instead of worrying and seeing plagio, I just see my son's beautiful head and cute face!! : )
 
 



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