Plagiocephaly Puns

Hey all! My baby girl is going to be 7 months old next week, and I just wanted to share my experience with plagiocephaly and her little pink helmet.

My girl was born in the 89th percentile for head size. She’s got a big noggin. And by her 1st month check up she was already in the 92nd percentile! She was also a great sleeper from the start, but would only sleep directly on the back of the head.

At that 1 month check up, my pediatrician noticed a little skull flattening and showed us some techniques to turn her head. But it broke my heart. I tried so hard to keep her rotated and held her constantly. But just the weight of her head while sleeping was enough to cause it to get worse.

I started to become so paranoid. Every time I put her down I felt worse and worse because I knew it was getting worse. I was constantly turning and repositioning her head. Constantly doing belly time. I was obsessive and it was terrible for my confidence as a mom. I did NOT want her to have to wear a helmet.

Well we ended up with new insurance, and a new pediatrician. And he was so surprised that our old pediatrician hadn’t even referred us to a specialist. Because at this point it was necessary. When I asked him if he thought they would make her wear a helmet he said “When you walk into a mattress store, they are going to want to put you in a new bed. When you walk into a baby helmet store, they are going to want to put your baby in a helmet.”

So we went to the specialist, and baby girl already had moderate plagiocephaly, so we definitely needed to take action. I just cried and cried, in front of the specialist! She was so reassuring that I didn’t do anything wrong. Both her boys had it, and that’s why she decided to specialize in children’s orthotics.

Turns out almost HALF of infants have at least mild plagiocephaly. It’s because they recommend sleeping on the back now. Combined with a baby with a large head and it’s almost guaranteed that they will have plagiocephaly. And I didn’t know that. I had always been told that babies get flat heads because they don’t get picked up enough. But in most cases that’s just not true.

When I first had to put that helmet on my little girl, I had an awful wave of guilt. But then it turned into relief! I didn’t have to worry about putting her down! The guilt went away, and I became proud that I took the correct actions. And I’m so happy we did! Now she has a beautiful round head and a confident Mama.

But seriously, if you are worried th

Our LO had some torticollis after birth and as a result defaulted to sleeping with his face leaned one way, which now means he has a pretty noticeable flat spot. I've been bringing this up at every pediatricians visit since 2 months and were always told it gets better.. and now at 6 months we're being told he could get a helmet to round out his head.

I've been reading some of the literature and there isn't much out there on long term effects of mild/moderate plagiocephaly. Anyone out there who decided AGAINST a helmet? Most groups are parents who decided for the helmet.

I took my baby for a measurement today and was told that he has a mild case. It is not bad enough to say that he absolutely needs it nor good enough to say he absolutely doesn’t. It is basically our choice as it is now purely cosmetic. It is not too noticeable but of course as his mom, I can definitely tell.

Were you recommended a helmet & did it work for your child? I would like some advice because we were told that it is so mild that it could possibly correct itself. Has anyone had that experience?

At my baby’s 3 month check up today the doctor said he’s concerned with the flatness on one side of his head. He gave us some stretches to do but if it doesn’t improve in another month he said we may need a helmet. I’m so stressed - has anyone had this happen with their baby? Did the stretches help you avoid a helmet? My little guy doesn’t even like to wear a hat, I have no idea how he’ll tolerate a helmet for 23 hrs a day if he needs one.

My 6 month old daughter has torticollis which she’s been in physical therapy for for 7 weeks. Her torticollis has improved vastly and she can really turn her head both ways now. She’s constantly on her tummy and sleeps on her tummy too. Our pediatrician referred us to PT and the PT mentioned looking into a helmet. We got her measured at Cranial Technologies and are waiting on her official numbers, but the specialist told us she has a severe case of plagiocephaly (not to be confused with brachycephaly). I’m hesitant about getting her a helmet. 1. While he says it’s severe, I don’t think in real life it looks that flat. 2. Studies are inconclusive about their effectiveness. 3. Helmets aren’t a thing outside the US and it seems like if they were that effective, they would exist elsewhere. 4. $$$$$ 5. Cranial Technologies showed us case studies of before and after cases and honestly was not that impressed. Maybe a slight improvement?

I’m happy that people who have decided to get a helmet are happy they did, but I guess you would never know if nature would run its course and fix it on its on. I think if she had brachycephaly I’d almost be more inclined to get her a helmet because I think it’s more noticeable.

Clearly I’m leaning towards not getting the helmet, but it feels scary declining the helmet when it seems like most people just bite the bullet and do it. Anyone else decline a helmet and regret or not regret it?

I know it isn't my fault (the doctor said it started with my sweetie's position in my womb) but I feel so sad for my sweet 7 month old baby. Encouraging words appreciated. It's a hard day.

Update: My son has had his helmet for 6 weeks now and he only needs it on for 4 more weeks! Thank you all for your kind words and encouragement. I had post partum depression so this was very hard on me in that state of mind.

Our LO has mild/moderate positional plagiocephaly and providers in our area are very "pro-helmet". However I've been reading some of the literature and there isn't much out there on long term effects of mild/moderate plagiocephaly. There was this Dutch study that found no benefit at all by two years, then this one that focused only on ear symmetry but not much else.

Any other resources out there that I'm missing?

Thanks!

Hello,

My 10 week old is starting to show a little shallow flat spot on this back right side. I am wondering if any mom went through this. If so, how often did you reposition their head at nigh and how did u position them for naps. What helped and what didn't. Any advice of tips would be appreciated. Should I be concerned? Will this resolve on its own? Should I reach out to he pediatrian?

Ps. He has been getting lots of tummy time. However I do notice he loves to sleep on the flat side.

Tia

I am new to the sub and I don't know where to post this question, please don't be rude.

Does anyone have any guidelines. TIA

Should the baby avoid laying on that side at all?

I was wondering if y'all had any thoughts, insights, or research references on this!

I'm not at all concerned that my three month old doesn't tolerate napping on his back in his bassinet. He naps in the carrier, over a parents shoulder, and belly to belly with a reclining parent. He DOES sleep on his back in a sidecar style bassinet with mom (me) within arm's reach for night sleeps.

In some ways, it would be nice to put the baby down during daytime naps, but on the other hand, it feels very natural. And I can't help but think this is protective against developing flat head syndrome (ETA: And potentially other undesirable physical outcomes I'm not even thinking of?)

A small baby could be sleeping up to 17 hours a day. 17 hours in the same on-the-back position makes it seem inevitable that there would be noticeable skull warping. Doesn't it make sense that babies would need to sleep in a variety of positions during the developmental stage when their skull is still so soft to promote healthy/normal/symmetrical skull development?

It seems that plagiocephaly is on the rise on conjunction with a lot of modern sleep programs that emphasize independent daytime nap (not in a carrier or on a parent). I feel that my baby may very well be getting better biomechanical inputs by sleeping in so many attachment positions throughout the day.

Just wondering if you all would have some thoughts. Please feel free to refute me with good evidence. I am merely musing and reflecting on my own personal experiences with babies.

Hi everyone,

I'm struggling a bit because my wife and I are at a crossroads about what to do for our son. We noticed that he may be developing slight plagiocephaly prior to his two month appointment (he mostly slept on mom so his head seemed fine for the most part. Our doctor waived it off as nothing to worry about then. We brought it up again at his four month and six month check-ins since it still seemed to be apparent (and maybe even more so since he began sleeping much more on his own in the crib by then). Again our doctor waived it off and basically said that helmets are over-prescribed and the issue is largely cosmetic. In every domain our doctor seems to be well read, cites the most recent research (e.g., he knew immediately about the recent studies for breastfeeding and COVID antibodies when we asked), and generally doesn't seem "out of touch".

This morning my wife went ahead and made an appointment with Cranial Technologies due to nagging worry. After viewing pictures of my son the OT said that it appeared to be at least moderate and that we should proceed with getting a helmet.

Our boy just turned seven months, is rolling back and forth to both sides, is able to hold is head up and play in tummy time, and is on the cusp of crawling. My wife is in shambles blaming herself and I'm battling guilt every step of the way because I've been on paternity leave these past two months and feel like I've failed my son. I worked really hard to get a sleep routine down and feel like following the current best practices for back sleeping has bitten me in the butt.

I'm trying to remain objective and consider our options but my wife wants to start treatment right away before hearing from our insurance. I've at least gotten her to agree to meet with another pediatrician / physicians assistant at our practice that wasn't the original doctor who seems to lean against helmets. I don't know what I'm trying to say or if I'm asking a question - I guess I'm just looking for commiseration and trying not to feel like a total failure. Have folks been in similar situations? What did you end up doing and how did it turn out?

Update: Thanks for the responses everyone I do appreciate them. Just as soon as I wrote this little man has started rolling non stop. Including rolling to his stomach to sleep now (we have one of those breathable mattresses just in case). We’re going to keep an eye on it but with this developmental progression he’s already spending much much les

My daughter (6m) is going to be a astronaut for Halloween. She has only had the helmet on for 6 weeks now and there is already some grey staining to strap despite regular cleaning of the helmet. I assume I can't use a bleach pen. Anyone successfully bring the strap back to a nice white?

Our 7month old baby needs a helmet to correct plagiocephaly. Hopefully, he’ll only wear it for 3-5 months, obviously it depends on how he’ll respond. It could be a bit more or a bit less. I’ve been really struggling with the idea because I feel responsible for the shape of his head. He’s a fantastic sleeper and as a result, spends a lot of time on his back. Also, he has always hated tummy time and because of it we never did it consistently.

Anyway, I decided to wear a bicycle helmet as long as he is in his helmet. I thought it would be a way for me to stand in solitary with him. That means, I would wear it 23 hours, only taking it off to shower.

My wife thinks it’s a ridiculous idea, and thinks I am using it as a form of “punishment”. I disagree with her. I don’t think I’m punishing myself. I am just trying to find a way to cope and show him he is not alone and it’s not weird having a helmet. Whose right on this one?

Edit: thanks everyone! It’s nice to get other people’s input and get out of your head sometimes

I was looking for a support group that would share their thoughts on the condition but I couldn’t find one. Consequently, realised it is quite rare. AMA

My 19 week old son has mild-moderate plagiocephaly. His doctor, nurse practitioner, pediatrician, and physiotherapist have all seen it and they all say the same thing: tummy time, tummy time, tummy time. I feel like I do a lot of tummy time. His PT says he's right on track for his age even though he was 3 weeks early. No one seems overly concerned about it, except me.

I'm worried his head will be deformed and it'll be my fault. I worry he'll grow up, realize his head is flat, and think I neglected him. I almost never put him in his swing and when I put him on his back to give him a tummy time break I use a little flat head pillow to cradle his head. We've done the stretches for his torticollis and that's 90% resolved now, but I don't feel like his flat head is improving enough. I know it can take time, but I'm still scared and guilty.

Has anyone else gone through this? Do you have any words of wisdom for me?

My wife and I have a beautiful 14 week old baby girl. Unfortunately she came 3 weeks early and is about 2 - 3 weeks behind in her milestones, still meeting them though. She also got a very severe form of torticollis that we spotted on week two. It was hard not to, she was a 6lb baby with a golf ball nodule on her neck. Fast forward to today, the nodule is 95% gone and she just has some tightness that we are stretching out.

However, due to the torticollis she HEAVILY favored her right side and is going to need a helmet to help fix her plagiocephaly. My wife and I had the talk last night and she took it incredibly hard. In her mind she was planning on having this great summer with our little girl, taking her to the park and surrounding areas and showing her off in cute outfits and hats. Now however, since she will likely wear a helmet my wife is struggling. She was so hopeful for this cute little girl and not a cute girl in a helmet. Admittedly, it is a vain sadness but my wife has every right to be sad and grieve for the summer she thought she would have with our little girl vs the summer she will have. In the end, we are both very happy that she'll be okay once we get the helmet.

My question to everyone is this, does any one have any happy ending stories regarding torticollis or having a baby with plagiocephaly? My wife works in the medical field and her experience with babies who wear helmets are that the vast majority of them are all developmentally stunted to some degree and likely will have a permeant disability. Currently all signs for our daughter do not suggest that. However, as a medical provider she has looked up every possible additional issue that could come from having torticollis and plagiocephaly and it's dashing her hopes significantly.

My hope is that reddit may have some positive stories that I can share with my wife to help keep her spirits up.

I'll be calling today to get our daughter set up for a scan for a helmet and again we are both very grateful that she is so far been healthy minus the torticollis and the related plagiocephaly. Any tips on helmets are also welcome.

Has anyone’s baby needed a helmet to correct a flat spot on their baby’s head? We have our 4-month checkup in mid-August and our bubba has such a flat backside to his head that I’m convinced he’ll need intervention. Did it help your baby and would you recommend it to others in a similar situation?

I’m looking to help a low income family that is unable to pay for the treatment and potential helmet that the baby will need. They don’t have additional health insurance. Are are any clinics that offers free treatment for this condition? Or even a very discounted treatment plan. It’s apparently not covered by OHIP. They can take ttc/ transit to the office.
Any advice will help thanks

Long story short, we were advised by our doctor that our LO's flat spot on her head would round out once she could sit up and spend less time on her back, but it really hasn't. I don't want to self-diagnose as I'm not a doctor, but from photos I've seen online, it looks like a moderate-severe case of brachycephaly.

Because of covid, our daughter hasn't seen our doctor in person since her 6-week appointment (we've just had virtual appointments and seen nurses for quick in-and-out immunizations). I think the fact that she hasn't seen a doctor in person and the fact that we kept telling ourselves the flat spot will eventually round out, led to time just passing us by. She's now 11.5 months and even though she is never on her back other than when we're changing her, her head is still very flat.

I'm trying to get an appointment with a specialist to see if anything can be done at this point, but I'm feeling really anxious that it's too late. I don't mind if the head shape just a cosmetic thing (I think she's adorable just the way she is), but I'm sad thinking about possible difficulties for her in the future like finding a biking helmet that fits, getting fitted for eyeglasses, getting teased at school, etc.

I feel like a horrible parent -- like completely ripped up inside -- that we've just decided to act now, as from what I gather, the ideal time for helmeting is 4-6 months. I'm not looking for medical advice, but I just wanted to ask: has anyone heard of or had experience with a helmet or DOC band (do they have those in Canada?) at 1 year or later being effective?

Or, did anyone else have a pretty moderate or severe case that eventually rounded out without treatment?

Our pediatrician pointed out that one of our twins has some flattening on the side of her head at their 2 month appointment. We were given list of suggested things we should do to keep it from getting worse. I’ve been spiraling ever since.

After doing some research I believe she has some slight torticollis. She definitely favors one side and will turn her head back to the flat side when you try to adjust her. I tried turning her in her bassinet and she continues to favor that one side. The past two nights every time I woke up I would turn her head. She pretty much always turns it back after some time. I’m trying to keep her off her head during the day but I’ve got twins so it’s not really possible to avoid swings and what not. I am trying to position her in those things with a rolled up burp cloth under her neck so she can’t turn to the flat side. I’m working on stretching her to help correct torticollis.

I’m wondering if anyone had a baby with plagiocephaly and DIDNT seek treatment or a helmet. The helmet just seems like torture and I’m terrified well have to make that decision fast. Is it really necessary? Since she’s a female won’t her hair conceal any flattening in the future?

Hi Daddit,

Proud dad of a 27 month old here and first time poster. Does anyone have experience dealing with positional plagiocephaly, particularly in an older toddler? What were your experiences? Could doctors help, did it get better with time, and if it persisted, how has it impacted your child's life?

Our little lad was born with torticollis (a tightening of muscles in the neck) that made him tilt his head to the right and favor sleeping on the right side of his head. Our pediatrician never caught it and we weren't aware it was a problem until we took him to a walk in clinic for a cold at around 6 or 7 months old. The walk-in pediatrician noticed it immediately. We started physical therapy at the doctor's order and have had good results on the neck, but he continued to sleep on his right side despite our best efforts and now he has some flattening on the right side of his skull.

We had him evaluated shortly several months after he turned 1 for a headband or helmet, and he was just outside of the therapeutic range. (meaning that he was outside the point where doctors recommend it because his flattening was not too bad) Our doctor recommended against it and said she thought it would improve without treatment. However, he continued to sleep primarily on his right side no matter what we did, and our physical therapist recommended not interfering with sleep.

It has improved somewhat without intervention, but he also still has some flattening on the right side of his head (or no flattening on the left side) so there's a slight asymmetry on his skull. His ears/eyes don't have any noticeable asymmetry to an outside viewer, but people have asked about his face before.

I am feeling a lot of guilt that I didn't intervene earlier or push earlier for a headband. Sometimes I see photos of his head being pretty round when he was 4-6 months old and can't help but feel I didn't do enough. I don't want this to negatively affect his life. It doesn't change how much I love him in any sense (it has maybe been a bonding experience), but I know that people can be cruel.

It is my understanding he is now too old for a headband, so I am curious if there are any other treatment options, or if we might continue to see improvement, what your experiences have been watching your toddler grow, and so on. I appreciate any experiences or thoughts.

We noticed my son was getting a flat spot on the right side of his head at about 2 months old. We've been doing a lot of daily tummy time, carrier naps, and he sleeps on one of those plagiocephaly pillows (I know it's not ideal for SIDS, however, the pediatrician said it's ok). He's 4.5 months old now and none of it has appeared to make any difference. We also went to a chiropractor to check if he had any torticolis and he doesn't.

The pediatrician and chiropractor say we have nothing to worry about and his head will eventually round out, however, the pediatrician said we will always know its there.

My wife is totally calm about it but I feel so guilty that we didn't prevent him from getting plagiocephaly and I'm nervous he'll always have a flat head. I just want to make sure we're doing everything we can to help the little guy.

Does anyone know when plagiocephaly typically gets better? Both the pediatrician and chiropractor say he doesn't need a helmet and don't recommend he gets one, but I'm nervous we'll take too little action before his head starts hardening soon.

Any experience with this will be much appreciated!

Age : 37

Sex : Male

Height : 6ft

Weight : 79kg

Race : Asian

Duration of complaint : Since birth

Location : Uk

I was born premature (6mths) and have always struggled mentally. To remember things to speak (sometimes) to understand what people say (sometimes). I currently work (survival mode) as a software engineer. I also have a mishaped skull.

I have never had myself looked at professionally. I am now looking to diagnose myself and get myself tested and possibly cured. Where do I start?

Is anyone else dealing with plagiocephaly? My 5 mo just got evaluated and I’m currently waiting to hear back about insurance coverage for a helmet. Between that and weekly PT appointments for torticollis I’m overwhelmed. Feeling frustrated and slightly hopeless about insurance. I’m not great with waiting for answers...

So my six month old boy has to get a helmet. He just went in today for his helmet measurements. He has 8% asymmetry, and 93% width (doctor wants to see 4% and 50%) and I have a question about getting it covered by insurance because his flat head was caused by torticolos (tight neck muscles) from being head down in the womb with his head tilted which made it get kind of stuck that way. We have been going to weekly physical therapy and want to get him the helmet. The doctor said today that it’s around $800 if insurance covers it and $2500 if they don’t and we have 50% chance of them covering it but originally doctor told us they would cover it because of his muscle issue with his neck as a contributing cause. They told us we have to fill out forms describing our routine and how many times we do yummy time etc,

Does anyone have experience with this and with getting it covered by insurance?

Any tips would be so appreciated. Thank you I’m advance.

Edit: Tummy time, not yummy time. They told us early on that tummy time was key to gain strength in his muscles and it was, he can already sit up without help and is starting to crawl around now that his core is strong too

Hi folks. My daughter will be 5 months old in two weeks. She is getting worse with her night sleep. Last night she was up every hour starting around 11 pm all the way to 6 am. She has a 7 pm bedtime.

She is in the habit of wanting a bottle to go back to sleep. And if no bottle then it’s holding the pacifier on and off all night.

My question: she needs a cranial band and is getting her 3D imaging today. The helmet will take 1-2 weeks to get here. She’s at the tail end of leap 4, almost five months old, and will need a week to adjust to wearing the band for 23 hours a day. Should I start sleep training now or tough it out 1-2 weeks more waiting for band and tough it out another week getting her adjusted to band before training?

I am hiring a sleep trainer who does this as her main job. She’s also my daughter’s nanny a few days a week because I work at home full time. Very expensive at about $250 a night and she estimated needing at least 5 nights to get training underway. I can only afford doing this once so I am scared to waste money sleep training prior to helmet only to have her regress once we start helmet. Her method is a modified Ferber.

What did you do fellow helmet/cranial band parents?

Our baby was almost always turning his head to the right when in the snoo so has developed a flat spot on the back of his head (positional plagiocephaly). Our pediatrician suggested trying to reposition him so he would turn his head the other way. We tried rotating him 180 degrees and putting interesting pictures on the left side but he still preferred looking right. We then tried moving our leg lifters (tuna cans) to the right legs so that the snoo is tilted sideways with the left side lower, making it easier for baby to look left. It seems to be working so I wanted to share this tip for any other parents trying to get their baby to look the other way. If anyone thinks there may be risks to doing this please share. The snoo does have a big advantage over a regular bassinet here since with the swaddle clipped in there is no risk of rolling.

Our son is now about 14 weeks. We were told at 2 months to get PT referral, finally got the PT appt at 3 months and have been doing stretches, baby wearing, constant tummy time as tolerated. I am worried about needing a helmet. Our PT rate with insurance is $285 a visit so I'm also worried that we will need to space out some appts. But we are very dedicated to reposition during sleep as well (but he usually turns back, I have already turned his head 6 times in the past hour of nap). Any experience or advice appreciated!!

I was born to uniquely attractive parents, in whichI inherited very masculine yet 'pretty' features. But this doesn't matter because my whole face and skull is crooked, facing slightly off to the right. Looking at me a couple degrees from my right looks like you're looking at me head on, but if you actually look at me head on my whole face looks jumbled. From my left my fave looks extremely small and my skull large, so I look infantile, as opposed to my manly looking right profile. People have even told me I look handsome when I'm keeping them to my good angle but I can almost pinpoint the moment they realize how odd my face looks. Idk if surgery could even help when my left eyeball is literally bugging out. I even had a pretty sad experience when some girl said I was hot and then later on told me I looked 'average' and stopped talking to me. Yeah, shitty huh? To be born with great looks but it doesn't matter because the way you slept for awhile caused one side of it to flatten and rotate. I punch and smack myself in the face very frequently. My face is so unpleasant. My head bulges from the left. All because of my sleeping position. Eternal depression.

Hello! My sons pediatrician noticed slight mild plagiocephaly at his 6 month appointment and suggested we go to a specialist. He’s now going to be 8 months old tomorrow and we haven’t seen anyone for it, because the place we were told to go to is famous for going the helmet route, even if it can be fixed with physical therapy. I have done exercises with him in the past two months, his head is rounding out nicely, except there is a spot on his head where it’s slightly indented because I can only nurse on one side, due to my left breast drying up. We have changed positions and seems it be helping. However I would still like to see a physical therapist before his 9 month appointment next month, to get a second opinion and to get more help. The only problem is I’m struggling to find someone in Denver Colorado. Does anyone in this group happen to live in southwest Denver and know of anyone that can help?

Hello. I was wondering if anyone has had a 4 mo old treated for Plagiocephaly and could give me some idea of what to expect from a doctors visit?

Honestly Ive been trying for 6 weeks to get an in-person appt and not a stupid Zoom call apt for my girl. Im calling the doc tom and demanding an in-person appointment. Im even going to exaggerate my worry if I need to. Ive been working on exercises I saw on a Physical Therapy Youtube for a month with her neck and she moves it freely now. But she still sleeps on the one side only, and her head is very flat on one side and pushed out on another. Im also searching for a new doctor. Has anyone been through this? Is anyone elses doc refusing to see patients in person or do I just have a bad doc? Anyone know how I can get her to lay on the other side at night? Thanks for any advice.

I'm traveling to SK next month to finally get my plagiocephaly somewhat fixed. For those of you who don't know, plagiocephaly is a skull deformation that results in flat spots or a skewed skull. Normally, this is treated during infancy by wearing a helmet for 23 hours a day until the baby's skull hardens. Unfortunately, this wasn't done for me.

So after feeling really uncomfortable about the shape of my head for the majority of my life, I did years of research trying to figure out what my options were to get this fixed. Most options were very expensive, very extensive, temporary or didn't seem to give the results I was looking for. Eventually, I stumbled upon a clinic in South Korea that specializes in head augmentation and found people similar to me who have actually traveled and got their heads fixed very nicely. It was a no brainer for me to do the same.

After saving my money, setting aside time to do this, becoming independent, scheduling the procedure and flights, I've hit a bump. I completely forgot that my parents are able to see large purchases on my card and they found the flight ticket. They aren't taking it too well. They understand why I want to do this and support my decision, but they are refusing to understand why I opted to travel to South Korea instead of seeing an American doctor. I've explained that I'm essentially seeing the best people I can to get this done, it's a relatively short and safe procedure (bone cement), no American doctors are on the same level of quality as the one I found in SK, it's cheaper, I've actually spoken to other westerners who can vouch for this clinic, and I don't want to risk ending up with a result I'm not comfortable with if I were to do this in America.

They aren't even worried about Covid (and neither am I), they just don't like the idea of me travelling across the world and spending 3 weeks there by myself. They think I'm putting myself at risk and that I shouldn't trust this clinic.

I'm frustrated to say the least. Does anyone have any experience easing the worries of parents who are somewhat supportive, but annoyingly unwilling to listen to your reasoning? I'm going regardless, but I really just don't need the added stress when I already have so many things to juggle for this trip.

Hi everyone, looking for parents that have gone through this before and hoping for some unique advice. The TL;DR is: does anyone here know of any methods or activities to help a baby break a preference of looking to the right? It's not torticollis so muscularly/developmentally nothing is wrong, our bebe is just being "stubborn". On top of that, my wife is extremely concerned about this, to the point of severe anxiety. I can't get her to relax about it, so that kind of advise will sadly not be of any assistance at this time :(. Full details below:

My wife and I have a 4 month old dealing with plagiocephaly. We know this is usually due to torticollis, either minor or severe, but that is not the case with our son. He just prefers looking to the right, specifically when he's *SLEEPING. He's been examined by two physical therapists and we've not only been told that there is no torticollis, but he's actually got better motor-congnitave ability than average OUR BABY IS A GENIUS DONT @ ME /s. our pediatrician has told us not to worry about it, and that it will get better once he's rolling over and sleeping on his stomach. Both physical therapists said the EXACT same thing without any provocation. However my wife is convinced that it's going to be a major issue as he gets older because he refuses to look left through the night (while sleeping) unless we get a cranial helmet that will cost a ton of money, as most parents know. Our insurance will not cover any part of the cost, so it would be all out of pocket.

We just took him to an orthotics specialist to have his head scanned, and he has about 12mm of asymmetry on head shape, the left being larger, obviously. There is a 1-2mm bit of asymmetry in terms or ear displacement. No other asymmetry was able to be measured by the scan. I'm not trying to badmouth the specialist (it's anonymous, so I don't know why I care), but at the end of the day they're livelihood rests in getting kids in helmets.

We're going to get a second opinion at another pediatrician (waiting for callback on appointment times), but regardless of the opinion we get we'd like to do whatever we can to help rectify the issue or just keep the pressure off that side of his little noggin.

So, any thoughts? Lol. Take care everyone, any advice would be appreciated!

Our girl is 6 months and for the first month or so of her life, we let her sleep on the baby pillow. We know now that it was a big mistake and while her flattened head is getting better, there's still some flat areas. Now she can sit up, roll over, and gets tons of tummy time. She also sleeps on her side sometimes.

We have a consultation with the cranial specialist next week for free but don't have insurance (long story) and it'll cost $3000 if we proceed. I want to do everything to help her grow properly but it's a HUGE expense on top of our other bills right now.

I am getting anxiety and just want her to be happy and healthy but am praying she doesn't need treatment. Have any other parents experienced this?

At my baby’s 3 month check up today the doctor said he’s concerned with the flatness on one side of his head. He gave us some stretches to do but if it doesn’t improve in another month he said we may need a helmet. I’m so stressed - has anyone had this happen with their baby? Did the stretches help you avoid a helmet? My little guy doesn’t even like to wear a hat, I have no idea how he’ll tolerate a helmet for 23 hrs a day if he needs one.