Re: Newborn with forehead flattening

October 11, 2009

I haven't heard of this, but it makes sense that depending how she was

positioned in the womb and if she couldn't move around much she might get flat

on the forehead. She's very young, so rounding may actually happen :-) Make

sure you vary her head position while she sleeps and keep her off her head in

general when she isn't sleeping (e.g. use a baby carrier etc). Usually you try

to have them rest on the " prominent area " but it doesn't sound like she has one.

I would recommend some photos to show here overall head shape (top view) as well

as capturing the forehead area, so that you have a way to monitor changes. Take

pics every week or two.

-christine

sydney, 3.5 yrs, starband grad

>

> Hi everyone,

>

> My second baby was born on 9/30 and I fear we may be facing plagio problems

with her. My first born who is now 16 months was born with tort, had plagio and

was treated with a helmet and is doing great. Her case seems different. So far

no signs of tort which is a relief, however at birth it was noticed right away

by her doctor that the one side of her forhead is flattened. It's flattened

enough that it has affected the symmetry of her face, making her one eye look

different. The back of her head is nice and round, and I'm wondering if the

flattening in the front could be from womb position? She was born face up and

was a fairly big baby as well. What makes me nervous is they are doing a

chromosone test on her to make sure there is nothing else going on because they

feel her ears and hands are a bit small for her sized ( though I did tell them

that runs in our family) Her head also has more soft spots open than normal for

a full term baby and they have already ruled out hypothyroidism. The doctor

said to me if tests turn out normal that her head should round out on it's

own..which we've all heard before..

> Has anyone else had experience with flattening on the front of the head at

birth? I'm very nervous and scared right now!

>

> thanks,

>

> Kate

> mom of Connor, 16 months, and Gwendolyn 1 1/2 weeks.

>

October 11, 2009

Hi Kate-

Congratulations on your new little one!

My son was born 10 lbs 11 oz and had a dent in his head, right above the

forehead (at the hairline), to the left of his midline suture. I actually didn't

notice it until his first checkup (at 5 days old). The ped said he must have

been pressed into my uterine wall in some way to get that flattening. He also

had a round head at birth, but by 2 months old his head was really misshapened

and was diagnosed with tort. He wasn't banded until 17 months old. Although his

dent did pop out some, there has always been and still is a slope from his

midline suturs downward. It did improve some with the bands and at one point,

that midline suture was pretty prominent, but it isn't as much any more, and

it's not as dramatic of a slope. The dent/slope was on his left side and his

bulging forehead was on his right. We had great improvement in his forehead

bulge while in 2 bands, but I'm convinced we would have had even more if it

weren't for that dent/slope. I think it hindered the left side of his forehead

from popping out even more. I'm keeping a close eye on it because in the back of

my mind, I'm concerned that maybe it will continue to hinder the growth of the

left side of his forehead, causing some form of regression or something.

Hopefully that won't happen, but I'm watching for it.

So, my advice is, assuming that all the tests come back normal (which I hope

they do), I would start thinking about band treatment at around 3 or 4 months

old. The softer her head is, the better chance you have of getting correction in

her forehead (I think we would have had better correction had we banded when my

son was younger). In uterine shaping is even harder to correct than positional

shaping. Depending on how long she was in that position in utero, will determine

how easy or hard it will be to fix, if completely. Good luck and please keep us

posted.

Jake-3 (DOCBand Grad 9/08)