Ollies flat head

 Oliver was born on 8th June 2005, a very healthy baby with no complications, although it was a very quick birth, 4 hours in total!   

At 3 weeks old I looked at him straight on and noticed a bump on one side of his forehead and his head looked almost misshapen, and the more I studied the more I saw that the side and back of his head seemed flattened and pushing up into a cone shape. I booked an appointment with a local osteopath for a baby check, Simon Lichenstein of Leominster, who agreed he was quite twisted and misshapen and would require several treatments to try and reduce his flatter side which would straighten out the front and realign his forehead.

This included home physio, putting him in a position that if he wanted the light or toys to look at he had to twist away from the favoured side, also to lie him whilst sleeping on the normal side to prevent further flattening. This was not easy as a tiny baby will continue to naturally turn their head and lie on the most comfortable side.

We also mentioned this to our doctor on one of our baby checks who agreed a further consultation should take place and referred us to Hereford Hospital to see a consultant specialising in cranial cases.

The doctor said the same as all the others but offered no solutions other than it will look less as his head grows and to keep physio up and eventually this would prevent favoured sides and further flattening, in time as he head grew the flat area would look less but they did not say that it would actually improve or the front straighten out.

We were still not satisfied and all though you feel you should trust in the professionals felt we had to take matters into our own hands.

Then, a friend found an article in a magazine about a little boy called (strangely) Oliver, their story and the symptoms were identical and they had taken the matter further and had found the little boy had plagiocephaly (flat head syndrome). We approached the website that was mentioned and made contact and an appointment was made after discussing this with our osteopath, who agreed and encouraged us to proceed.

We met Dr. Blecher, a german surgeon who flew over every couple of weeks to England, to run a clinic specialising in plagiocephaly. To say the least our first appointment in London was a breakthrough, at last a full nights sleep!

The actual appointments took place in a very comfortable and homely terraced house in Kensington making you feel like a huge family not at all clinical and you were always with other families in the same position albeit at different stages.

This proved as successful as any waiting time was taken up chatting to others and watching their babies going through the same treatment, almost free therapy sessions!

The interview was very interesting and the website we approached, www.headstart4babies.co.uk,  has all the information on a professional note. But Dr. Blecher also explained it on a more basic note emphasising that unless further treatment was taken not a lot of improvement as they grew would happen. Physio may help strengthen their necks to encourage more free movement but the flat area would remain and also the misalignment.

Therefore, if they are diagnosed with plagiocephaly, treatment is necessary to start as young as possible as their heads are still soft before 12 months old, and that treatment is very important to prevent problems in their later life in conjunction with the misalignment to their eyes, ears and even dental problems due to the affect on the jaw line.

Of course the most obvious was to the eye, the physical side, if their hair became thinner or they became bald it would be quite noticeable.

The babies present at that interview were all measured and my Oliver was measuring 2cm out which is considered severe, a helmet was fitted and on our first check up some 6 weeks after the helmet was first placed on his head measured a fantastic 0.9cms out, incredible the improvement in such a short time and already looking more straight from the front, the bump was lessening on his forehead.

    Ollie looking as gorgeous as ever!!

How does it work? Well, they basically and quite crudely take a cast of the shape of each babies head, which was the worst and most frightening experience of the whole ordeal, and every parent who we met on our journey agreed. But it made a perfect fitting helmet which left a gap where the flattened area was to encourage growth and prevent further flattening and no further physio or training to one side was necessary once the helmet was in place.

The down side was the helmet had to remain on their heads for 23 hours a day only taken off to clean and then you could bath the baby, as when on you could not allow the helmet to get wet as this would cause skin irritation and discomfort to the babies head.

The end of swimming for 6 months, not a big price to pay!

From my own point, I found the helmet harder than any other member of the family including Oliver as I was still breast feeding and this was awkward at first and a little cold holding him against my skin and not quite the same bonding, the cuddles were not as cosy. Also putting the helmet back on, being a little clumsy, I found it hard but dad stepped in!!

The other disadvantages were when playing with other children, obviously his helmet was quite hard and he took no care in protecting his head and as no matter how hard you banged an object, no pain!!! To say the least no one messed with Oliver!!! And of course the other was the physical side, it did attract attention, but I met lots of new friends!

The only other downside if you can call them downsides to the helmet is the baby is obviously hotter due to the theory wear a hat keeps the heat in! I was therefore glad that I went through majority of this journey in the winter/spring.

To continue, 6 months and several journeys to London later Oliver graduated just before his first birthday as near perfect o as possible (the best birthday present we could ever wish for). He finally measured 0.1cms and this was with a small and unplanned weeks break due to a very nasty case of chicken pox and small course of antibiotics. We had to remove the helmet until the scabs formed as the overheating was making the chicken pox worse.

So to date, Oliver is now 3 years old and from our story only, I would highly recommend should you have any doubts, to contact this or a similar website or even a mum like myself.

Don't leave it if you have any concerns before it is too late, well worth the journey. As quoted by another mum in the article which began our journey "the solution was simple, it was just a matter of finding it".