Charlotte’s newborn hat wouldn’t stay on. They never really do, do they? We were pretty relaxed about it and didn’t make a big deal about it, and I soaked in every tiny detail of her after she was born: her tiny, wrinkly ears, her barely-there eyebrows, and her bright blue eyes. I noticed that her fine hair hair had a bit of a swirl to it, and wondered if she’d have curly hair like Chloe and me. And, I couldn’t help but notice that she had a divot on her head above her left eyebrow.
No one else seemed to notice. I really seemed obsessed with this so-called divot, and not even my husband could see what I was talking about. It looked like a dimple, or maybe a dip, in her head. I couldn’t help but notice the rest of her head was nice and round, but this part was absolutely sloped. It was driving me crazy that no one else could see it. I brought it up with her pediatrician at both in-hospital checks and was brushed off. Our pediatrician didn’t notice anything either, and for the most part I let it go.
But it was even more noticeable to me when we got Charlotte’s newborn pictures back. I kept talking about it with my husband, and *finally* he could see what I was talking about. I brought it up with our pediatrician at our 4 week well visit and they weren’t worried about it and said her soft spots were nice and open.
I also started to notice that she had a strong preference to nurse on my left side. It almost pained her to nurse from my right breast because she couldn’t turn her head that well, and she’d whine and whimper as if she was in pain. I was growing increasingly concerned, and then I noticed that she had a head tilt in all of her pictures and when laying down. We hadn’t transitioned her to her crib yet and it was glaringly obvious while she was in her rock ‘n play that her head would tilt to the right.
At her 8 week well check, I brought all this back up to our pediatrician. I was very persistent and insisted we get a second opinion. At first, our pediatrician still didn’t “see” the divot on her head that I saw. But I showed her photos of Charlotte’s head that I had taken over time from different angles, and finally she was able to really notice what I meant. Then she was able to see some bossing on Charlotte’s forehead, and noticed that her ears were slightly uneven, and her right cheek was ever so slightly bigger than her left. For reference, she has a 9mm asymmetry – so it’s incredibly minor; it isn’t completely unbelievable that our pediatrician couldn’t see this right away. It really is so slight and I argued with my husband for weeks that this even existed.
Our pediatrician referred us to the craniofacial center of the children’s hospital and I called the same day to make an appointment. The woman who booked our appointment really made me nervous: she said that we’d meet with a surgeon in case we needed to go the route of helmet therapy and meet with a RN in case we only needed to explore physical therapy. She also explained that it’s possible that over time, Charlotte could outgrow plagiocephaly and torticollis — two things our ped didn’t even discuss with us. It would take us six weeks to be seen with a specialist which was very nerve wracking. I wasn’t sure what steps, if any, we should be taking in the mean time to help correct Charlie’s head tilt, and now we had to wait six more weeks to find anything out.
… To be continued.
Mrs. Jump Rope’s Deformational Plagiocepahaly and Torticollis Series part 1 of 4
1. Deformational plagiocephaly and torticollis: noticing something isn't right by Mrs. Jump Rope2. Deformational plagiocephaly and torticollis: seeing the craniofacial center by Mrs. Jump Rope
3. Deformational plagiocephaly and torticollis: navigating Early Intervention by Mrs. Jump Rope
4. Deformational plagiocephaly and torticollis: getting measured for a starband helmet by Mrs. Jump Rope
pomegranate / 3225 posts
She is so beautiful! Can’t wait for another update.
pomelo / 5789 posts
I’m guessing this is still TBC, but we went through that with B. I wrote a loooong post on our experience. Hope it can be corrected!
apricot / 391 posts
I hope you found the football hold stretch! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tErfrboIxyo Our tech at Cranial Tech in Chicago showed it to us and it was so awesome!
guest
I highly recommend that you bring your baby to an osteopath for cranial-sacral therapy. Look for an osteopath that specializes in pediatrics and newborns (our lactation consultant recommended ours)! We brought our son to an osteopath because he had posterior tongue-tie (we had it clipped) and his head was tilted to the side. The osteopath was able to treat him and helped him nurse better. We felt the osteopath helped so much especially in his physical development! Good luck.
eggplant / 11861 posts
My baby was just pre cautionary diagnosed with torchicollis by our pedi, he seemed not to worried about it, but I am now OCD since she favors one side I am trying to make sure she does not continue to make a flat spot, he did refer us to a PT to start exercises….we go Wedneday
honeydew / 7968 posts
can’t beat mother’s intuition! and mom’s spend the most time with the babies. glad u caught it! =)
persimmon / 1128 posts
My youngest was diagnosed with both at about 2 months. He was breech for the last few months of my pregnancy, and his therapist’s guess was that after birth, his neck was just so used to being in that same position in utero that he continued the pattern.
We were immediately referred to a pediatric neurosurgeon on the slight chance that his plates had fused together too soon which would have required immediate surgery. Surgery wasn’t necessary, but we did see a physical therapist for months, did exercises at home, and changed his sleeping positions {inclined mattress, tucking a huge, rice filled tube sock under him, always holding him in the opposite position he preferred}. Over time the scans showed improvement of his plagiocephaly and his neck muscles, so he never required helmet therapy and by about 6 months his head and neck were deemed {relatively} perfect.
blogger / nectarine / 2010 posts
P has several issues mostly with eating. As you may know I have seen several doctors and specialists over the past eight weeks. The most helpful so far has been an osteopathic doctor DO. He found some asymmetry and basically just compressed nerves and tight areas that were causing him to be very fussy and have sensory issues. One of the things he works on his kids with torticollios (sp?) The work he has done on pax over three visits has been quite amazing. It’s completely non-invasive, which is great. I highly recommend going to see a DO who is a pediatric specialist – ours is a family practitioner who treats kids in his practice. P.m. me if you want more info. I imagine you’re like me and have tried everything, this is one thing that I didn’t know of before and I’m so happy I fell into
pear / 1696 posts
My son had torticollis and plagiocephaly and I am so impressed how early you noticed Charlotte’s symptoms. I didn’t notice anything at all until my LO was 6 weeks old! Thankfully my pediatrician confirmed my concerns and we got treatment (physical therapy) right away.
coffee bean / 35 posts
My son was also breech and was born with torticollis. Our pedi noticed quickly as well and we were doing PT twice a week plus home exercises. Luckily, he did not need a helmet. With PT, most of the head leaning resolved itself by time he was walking.
kiwi / 558 posts
My best mommy friend’s daughter had torticollis from birth and was able to do pt exercises with her LO everyday by stretching her neck and head so that by 5 months it was gone and the side favoritism was gone.
Trust your instincts and get more help when you need it! You always know what is best for Charlotte!
guest
Have you tried cranio sacral therapy?
guest
Folks have really had wonderful success with craniosacral therapy. Seems to long to wait 6 weeks, that is eons in newborn time.
blogger / coconut / 8306 posts
@wheres_c: it is – she’s almost five months old, and this first installment was written when she was about 8 weeks. So, it’s old but.. There’s more I promise!