How do you know they need a band?

[Guest guest]

Hi -

I'm new here. My son, Silas, is almost 4 months old. He has a flat area on the

rear right side of his head. We're waiting to see if he's going to need to be

banded... instinct says there is a fair chance he will, but we don't know yet.

There were some indications just after his birth that there was something going

on - he looked to the right most of the time from the very beginning, and his

jaw seemed a little lopsided. Nothing was said at the time about it. He had

some issues with breastfeeding in the first weeks - shaking his head, clamping

down, and frequent pulling off. We did cranialsacral therapy for it, which

seemed to help. The therapist pointed out that he had some asymmetry in his

skull (forehead more prominent on the right side especially), and did a few

things to try to address it. I've since read that if a woman has serious pain

in one hip and tailbone, that there could be some kind of positioning

restriction. He went head-down early and the hip pain started a couple of weeks

later, so I wonder if this process got started weeks before his birth.

As far as doctors, I was not happy with the first pediatrician we went to, for a

variety of reasons. About his head and neck, all the old pediatrician said at 2

months was to get him to turn his head to both the right and the left, nothing

about the developing flatness (which we hadn't picked up on yet), etc. We

switched pediatricians by the time he was 3 months old. Silas will look to

either side now, although he still has a preference to look right. And more

worrisome to me, he tilts the upper left side of his head to the left, so his

head often appears crooked. That part of it seems like it might be a little

worse, possibly.

But by 3 months, we had started noticing a more significant flatness on the

right side of the back of his head as well as the prominence of his right

forehead. I like the new pediatrician much more, fortunately, and he

immediately flagged the torticollis and flat area. Apparently he is very

proactive about possible plagiocephaly cases, and gave me a sheet with exercises

we need to do for his neck, the need to greatly increase his tummy time, etc.

(I've heard that other moms of similar-aged babies have all gotten the " tummy

time speech " from this particular doctor.)

I want to say that his flat area has improved a little in the last couple of

weeks since that appointment, but maybe it's just wishful thinking. And I just

don't know if doing just more tummy time, upright time, and the neck exercises

will be enough. How do I know? How insistent should I be on getting him

evaluated by a specialist doctor and/or a place that makes the bands, rather

than another couple of months of wait-and-see? I am not thrilled with the idea

of him having to get banded, but if he really does need it and it can't be

avoided, I'd rather get it done at a younger age so hopefully we can get it over

with in a fairly short amount of time. But the question is, how do we know if

we should be progressing quickly to the band so as to not lose time?

And what about doing more CST and/or chiropractic care to try to help the

situation, either before banding (possibly to try to avoid banding), or in

conjunction with banding? Can anyone offer any insight into this possible path?

I know I should post some pictures, I just haven't had a chance to get some good

ones of his head. I'll try to do it tomorrow, if possible.

I also just want to say thank you to everyone who has been posting - it's been

helpful already just in the last couple of weeks to read about people's

experiences and perspectives related to plagiocephaly and torticollis.

For now, we're doing the positioning, stretches, and tummy time, and waiting for

his 4-month appointment in a couple of weeks, at which time I will be discussing

the plagio/tort issues in a lot more detail with the pediatrician to determine

next steps. Any insight on how you came to realize that your baby had an issue

that required more than just neck exercises and repositioning (whether or not

the baby did eventually get a helmet) would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for reading my long intro, and for any feedback you may be able to

give me.

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