Risk factor - big baby boy?

October 10, 2009

I have never seen being a big baby boy listed as a risk factor for these

head conditions, but I think it is. I ran into another 17 month old

from our neighborhood who was built like , but even bigger, and I

see plagio on him. Here is why I think it is a risk factor:

- Less room before birth

- More difficult birth

- More head weight to flatten the head

- Needs more neck control for the head, and strength for crawling

- Held less, since so heavy

- They tend to be more content and so it is easy to leave them happily

in a bouncer, swing, or stoller

-Kathy

October 10, 2009

I don't necearily agree with the last 2 reasons, my son lived in a

sling and contentness varies by child. But I do agree with the others

could be factors. My only plagio of 5 kids was my only boy. 9 lbs 4

oz, biggest baby by over a lb. He was 22 lbs at 4 month old. But he

crawled at 6 month old and like I said was in a sling so mainly down

only to sleep. He alo dropped early but was 8 days late

On 10/10/09, Kathy Jensen <kathylorajensen@...> wrote:

> I have never seen being a big baby boy listed as a risk factor for these

> head conditions, but I think it is. I ran into another 17 month old

> from our neighborhood who was built like , but even bigger, and I

> see plagio on him. Here is why I think it is a risk factor:

> - Less room before birth

> - More difficult birth

> - More head weight to flatten the head

> - Needs more neck control for the head, and strength for crawling

> - Held less, since so heavy

> - They tend to be more content and so it is easy to leave them happily

> in a bouncer, swing, or stoller

>

> -Kathy

>

--

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and

A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms when his

hands are empty. ~Author Unknown

October 10, 2009

I think a large baby could possibly be a risk factor. I am very short through

the torso but had some pretty big and long babies. My youngest biological son

was nine and a half pounds and 23 inches long. When he was born he had what the

doctor called " cauliflower ear " which means his ear was completely folded over

and stayed that way for about a day to two days long.It really freaked me out at

first but the doctor said that it was due to his size and he basically ran out

of room to move in there.So that would mean that he couldnt move his head around

towards the end of the pregnancy. So I could see a larger baby possibly being

more at risk for in utero plagio. It makes sense to me.

Jessie

>

> I have never seen being a big baby boy listed as a risk factor for these

> head conditions, but I think it is. I ran into another 17 month old

> from our neighborhood who was built like , but even bigger, and I

> see plagio on him. Here is why I think it is a risk factor:

> - Less room before birth

> - More difficult birth

> - More head weight to flatten the head

> - Needs more neck control for the head, and strength for crawling

> - Held less, since so heavy

> - They tend to be more content and so it is easy to leave them happily

> in a bouncer, swing, or stoller

>

> -Kathy

>

October 11, 2009

Interesting. My daughter was 10lbs at birth and her head was so big that I had

significant difficulty pushing her out, even though she was my 4th child. Her

head circumference was in the 99th percentile. We use a sling a lot though and

never carried her around in an infant car seat so I'm not sure the last two

points apply to us either. It did take her longer to be able to hold her head

up though .

> >

> > I have never seen being a big baby boy listed as a risk factor for these

> > head conditions, but I think it is. I ran into another 17 month old

> > from our neighborhood who was built like , but even bigger, and I

> > see plagio on him. Here is why I think it is a risk factor:

> > - Less room before birth

> > - More difficult birth

> > - More head weight to flatten the head

> > - Needs more neck control for the head, and strength for crawling

> > - Held less, since so heavy

> > - They tend to be more content and so it is easy to leave them happily

> > in a bouncer, swing, or stoller

> >

> > -Kathy

> >

>

October 11, 2009

My middle son was 9#1 and had no issues with plagio, tort, etc. My baby was 8#14 and he's my plagio baby. I have been more of a carrier than a sling/stroller/carseat carrier mom; the weight didnt' really make me tend to leave them down more. My middle son has the BIGGEST HEAD, so I don't know that I can draw the conclusion about more head weight.

Interesting observations, but they don't play out at all in our circumstances; we could be the exception though

Betsy

October 11, 2009

Our specialist (cranial facial plastic surgeon) did tell us that large head size

is a factor for plagio. It is harder to move a big head. My daughter's head was

50th percentile at birth, then grew to 95th by 6 mo old - I think all the growth

while she wasn't very mobile was a huge factor. It also was a warning sign for

other problems, but luckily there weren't any - her head was just catching up

with her big body (after that 90th+ percentile for height/weight/head).

His experience was also that boys tended to be more prone to flattening in back

(brachy) and girls to plagio - but I think that was more anecdotal.

=christine

sydney, 3.5 yrs, starband grad

>

> I have never seen being a big baby boy listed as a risk factor for these

> head conditions, but I think it is. I ran into another 17 month old

> from our neighborhood who was built like , but even bigger, and I

> see plagio on him. Here is why I think it is a risk factor:

> - Less room before birth

> - More difficult birth

> - More head weight to flatten the head

> - Needs more neck control for the head, and strength for crawling

> - Held less, since so heavy

> - They tend to be more content and so it is easy to leave them happily

> in a bouncer, swing, or stoller

>

> -Kathy

>

October 11, 2009

I too think that running out of space in the uterus has to be a risk factor - which is probably why twins can be affected more often than a singleton, but rather than the size of the head, isnt it more a matter of where/how the head is positioned once a large baby has taken all the available space?

On Sun, Oct 11, 2009 at 8:40 PM, Betsy <bsm7305@...> wrote:

My middle son was 9#1 and had no issues with plagio, tort, etc. My baby was 8#14 and he's my plagio baby. I have been more of a carrier than a sling/stroller/carseat carrier mom; the weight didnt' really make me tend to leave them down more. My middle son has the BIGGEST HEAD, so I don't know that I can draw the conclusion about more head weight.

Interesting observations, but they don't play out at all in our circumstances; we could be the exception though

Betsy

October 11, 2009

It doesn't really play out with my kids either. Aidan was the larger baby. Although only 7 lb 2 oz at birth, he was 14 lbs by 2 months and 20 lbs by six months. His head is the ideal shape. was only 5 lb 5 oz at birth and was only 14 lbs at 6 months and 18 pounds at a year. At her two year appointment, she still weighs less than her brother did at 12 months. As infants, her head was below the 1st percentile and her brothers was at the 90th. She's the one that had the brachy.

For us, I think that there were multiple risk factors, but some of it was the second child issue. Because we had another toddler around (they're 16 months apart), we had to put her down more often. Also, as I've mentioned previously, she had reflux, colic and food allergies that caused her a lot of pain. When she slept flat on her back, she woke up every 20 minutes throughout the night. If I swaddled her and put her in the carseat, I had a lot more time in between awakenings. So the advice from the nurse was to keep doing this. Even with doing this, there were many nights that I was up 7 or 8 times with her. I took her out of the car seat at night around 3 months old (after we'd figured out the allergy and reflux issues) and stopped swaddling around 7 or 8 months old.

So, she slept pretty much exclusively either in her car seat or in my arms until I went back to work. At 6 weeks, it was pretty much always in a car seat, swing, etc. because the day care provider couldn't hold her as much and she'd scream bloody murder in any other position. In fact, it was so bad that she was kicked out of her first daycare at 10 weeks old. The lady said she'd never taken care of such a difficult baby and she just couldn't handle the stress of her crying so much. Interestingly enough, it was at about 10 weeks that I first noticed that her head was getting flat. It was still perfectly round when I went back to work at 6 weeks.

I do have to say that the issue of not having as much room may apply to because my amniotic fluid was very low for at least the last three weeks. And the largest I every measured was 30 weeks along. So, even though she was little, she may not have had enough room. was also born at 37 weeks and her brother was born at 41 weeks so being in there longer was probably helpful to him as well.