Connection between Plagio and Autism

[Guest guest]

Hello,

I am wondering if anyone out there has statistics on the amount of children with

Plagio that end up getting diagnosed with Autism. My daughter is 6 months, and

we are doing the preliminary visits with Cranial Technologies to get her a

helmet. She was born with tort causing her to turn her head to the right when

she slept. I am a new mom and do not have any friends who are parents so I

didn't think it was an issue. That is until she had a noticeable flat head on

the right side at 4 months. As soon as the doctor brought this to our

attention, we started sleeping her on her side using a positioner. He head has

improved very well in the last 2 months, but it is still a bit flat and her ears

are not even so we are still planning to get the helmet. Since her 4 month well

appointment, she has shown several signs of autism. Her smiling has regressed,

she rarely makes eye contact, she doesn't respond very often when someone calls

her name, she twirls her wrists and feet constantly, her head size has rapidly

grown over the last 2 months, she has no desire to sit up (she can though so she

is still meeting milestones), she is obsessed with lights ceiling fans and

televisions, she does not seem very interested in other babies or animals, she

does not like when I try to hold her hands to teach her to wave or clap. She

also had major reflux problems at 3 months which helped lead to the plagio since

she refused tummy time and would push back even when we tried to sit her up on

our laps. She has received no treatment other than our initial appt with CT. I

did not even know that we should be doing exercises for the tort or take her to

therapy for it. I feel like her autism signs have just suddenly appeared.

Conveniently since the Plagio started. I followed the babywise schedule which

had her sleeping through the night at 6 weeks. She has been a very good sleeper

since 6 weeks which also contributed to the Plagio. She still sleeps between 14

and 18 hours a day at 6 months. She doesn't seem to have sensory issues other

than that she like to hold soft materials when she sleeps, but I think that is

pretty normal. Because we were trying to keep her off of her back at 4 months,

we bought her a jumperoo and an exersaucer. She would refuse to sit in them

unless the tv was on. I would try everything to get her to play without the tv

and she would just scream. Tummy time was impossible because she would just

roll right over to her back. She would almost suffocate herself on a boppy

pillow during tummy time. So the jumperoo and exersaucer just seemed to make

sense. After I started noticing signs of autism, I did research on the causes.

It seems like A LOT of babies with plagio and tort have signs of autism. I also

researched that some studies show that too much exposure to the tv may

contribute to the increase in autism over the past decade. It just seems weird

that autism started to be more common when pediatricians suggested sleeping

babies on their backs. Since doing all of this research, I have no longer

offered the television, and my husband and I do not even have it on at all until

she goes to bed for the night. Since she is 6 months now, she is too big for

her sleep positioner but she does still sleep on her side or stomach (on her

own) so she is still pretty much off of the back of her head 24 hours a day. I

keep her sitting up or I hold her all day to keep her from laying back. We do

sometimes have long car rides though. Friends and family think it is not an

issue since she does smile. The problem is that I know my baby and she does not

smile nearly as much as she once did. I really feel that her plagio and tort

are connected to these early signs of autism. I would like to know if there are

any parents out there of children 3 or older who had plagio issues and do not

show signs of autism. Also, are there any parents who decided not to get the

helmet? I have read that it can bruise the brain. Maybe the helmets contribut

to something? If there are parents of older children who opted not to do the

helmet, how does your child's head look now? Did it correct itself? Do they

have any semmetry problems like their ears not lining up? I am needing to make

a decision on the corrective helmet ASAP since my daughter is 6 1/2 months and I

know that it will take a while to get it as well. Time is running out if we

want to have the best results from the helmet since she is getting to be older

and her head will not be as easy to transform. Please help me understand what

is happening to my baby.

Thank you,

first time mom and new to the group