advice on night repositioning

[Guest guest]

Hi,

I have a son who's 4 months old. When he was 10 weeks old, my GP

noticed he had some " mild " flattening of the back right side of his

head and told me to give him more tummy time. A few days later I

asked her for a referral to a specialist. She said to try

repositioning as the specialists at The Hospital for Sick Children

were burdened and needed to address more severe cases.

I've been doing as much tummy time as I can with him ever since. When

in his infant chair (only for a few minutes a day during meals and

kitchen prep) we use a Boppy Noggin Nest and prop his right back with

a rolled receiving blanket to remove any pressure on his right side.

I never transport him in a stroller and only use my Baby Bjorn when on

outings. I bought a sleep positioner and put him down on his left

side at about a 70 degree angle. However by the morning he's flat on

his back and I know he still favours the right side as his hair on

that side is thinning.

I'm convinced that it's this nighttime pressure that is the reason why

I don't seem to see any improvement after almost two months of

repositioning since he rarely has any pressure at all during the day.

He sees the GP again on Monday and I know she'll still be reluctant

to refer him until probably he's 6 months old--people keep saying

" it'll go away once he can hold his head up more " but I know that it's

at night that the pressure is a problem and I don't know how that'll

go away.

My question for the group: does anyone have ANY advice on nighttime

repositioning??? I'm reluctant to use too many " pillows " because of

SIDS. Right now I use the Sassy positioner. It does have a wedge

pillow for his head which is completely ineffective.

many thanks,

Tara

[Guest guest]

It's hard once they want to wiggle off their positioners! I found that swaddling helped my baby to stay in position a bit better, but he still found ways to wiggle off. The other thing that helped, and I wish I had known to do this sooner, was to do stretches to get rid of the very mild torticollis my son had. He didn't have " real " tort, but he preferred to look one way over the other. Once we did the stretches, we would peek in and he became equally likely to be sleeping on either side. Unfortunately, it was too late, and we wound up having to get a helmet, but addressing the underlying reason why your son is flattening on one side might help the repo to be more successful. This site has some stretches: http://www.orthoseek.com/articles/ifs-right.html Depending on the severity and your comfort level, you might look into a referral to a physical therapist if you're noticing a strong tendency to turn one way. Not all babies with plagio have torticollis, but in our case, my son's preference to turn to his right (which I asked the pediatrician about, and she said not to worry), was resolved with the stretches on that page.

Good luck!!

-Pam

On 2/25/08, tajd2007 <taabraha@...> wrote:

Hi,I have a son who's 4 months old. When he was 10 weeks old, my GPnoticed he had some " mild " flattening of the back right side of hishead and told me to give him more tummy time. A few days later I

asked her for a referral to a specialist. She said to tryrepositioning as the specialists at The Hospital for Sick Childrenwere burdened and needed to address more severe cases. I've been doing as much tummy time as I can with him ever since. When

in his infant chair (only for a few minutes a day during meals andkitchen prep) we use a Boppy Noggin Nest and prop his right back witha rolled receiving blanket to remove any pressure on his right side. I never transport him in a stroller and only use my Baby Bjorn when on

outings. I bought a sleep positioner and put him down on his leftside at about a 70 degree angle. However by the morning he's flat onhis back and I know he still favours the right side as his hair onthat side is thinning.

I'm convinced that it's this nighttime pressure that is the reason whyI don't seem to see any improvement after almost two months ofrepositioning since he rarely has any pressure at all during the day.

He sees the GP again on Monday and I know she'll still be reluctantto refer him until probably he's 6 months old--people keep saying " it'll go away once he can hold his head up more " but I know that it's

at night that the pressure is a problem and I don't know how that'llgo away.My question for the group: does anyone have ANY advice on nighttimerepositioning??? I'm reluctant to use too many " pillows " because of

SIDS. Right now I use the Sassy positioner. It does have a wedgepillow for his head which is completely ineffective.many thanks,Tara

[Guest guest]

Hi Tara - We went through the same thing, and actually just got my 5-month old daughter into her DOC band last week. Our doctor pointed out her flat spot at 8 weeks and told us to do the repositioning with her. It was almost impossible to keep her off of her flat spot - especially at night when I would have had to stand by her crib and wake her up everytime she settled on that side. Her plagio wasn't any better at her 4 month appointment, but the doctor said that her "hair would grow over it" and that they never sent babies to a specialist before 6 months. I was obsessed with her head shape by this point and kept reading that the younger babies ending up with a DOC band had better success in a shorter amount of time. I went ahead and called CT and scheduled a free evaluation just to find out if Mia's plagio was considered severe enough for a band. She

came out on the high/moderate to severe side, so we decided to go ahead with the band. At that point, we just called the doctor and told him we were getting one and CT sent all the paperwork over for him to sign. I was really dreading the whole ordeal, but it's really been much easier than I imagined and after only 4 days in the band, I can already see improvement in her head shape. I'm not saying you should go for the band, I just don't want you to feel frustrated if your doctor won't do anything until 6 months. I felt so helpless and frustrated that our doctor wasn't listening, that it was nice to be able to take matters into my own hands and call Cranial Technologies directly. Is there a CT location in your area? If so, maybe you can get them to check your son to see what they think. That might put your mind at ease. Good luck, and feel free to email

me at mollyurrabazo@... if you have any questions. This board has been SO helpful for me during this whole ordeal!! Mollytajd2007 <taabraha@...> wrote: Hi,I have a son who's 4 months old. When he was 10 weeks old, my GPnoticed he had some "mild" flattening of the back right side of hishead and told me to give him more tummy time. A few days later Iasked her for a referral to a specialist. She said to tryrepositioning as the

specialists at The Hospital for Sick Childrenwere burdened and needed to address more severe cases. I've been doing as much tummy time as I can with him ever since. Whenin his infant chair (only for a few minutes a day during meals andkitchen prep) we use a Boppy Noggin Nest and prop his right back witha rolled receiving blanket to remove any pressure on his right side. I never transport him in a stroller and only use my Baby Bjorn when onoutings. I bought a sleep positioner and put him down on his leftside at about a 70 degree angle. However by the morning he's flat onhis back and I know he still favours the right side as his hair onthat side is thinning.I'm convinced that it's this nighttime pressure that is the reason whyI don't seem to see any improvement after almost two months ofrepositioning since he rarely has any pressure at all during the day.He sees the GP again on Monday and I know she'll still be

reluctantto refer him until probably he's 6 months old--people keep saying"it'll go away once he can hold his head up more" but I know that it'sat night that the pressure is a problem and I don't know how that'llgo away.My question for the group: does anyone have ANY advice on nighttimerepositioning??? I'm reluctant to use too many "pillows" because ofSIDS. Right now I use the Sassy positioner. It does have a wedgepillow for his head which is completely ineffective.many thanks,Tara