opnions please.

[Anonymous]

Trace is almost 5 months and we have just now determined that we can afford either the ar pillow or tucker sling. i was reading though that several moms were done with these devices around this age because the babies became more mobile. so what do you do then?
would it be useless to get one of these at this time? i dont know what else i can do-his swing only contributes to his torticollis and flat spot (which he has a helmet for now).

[Anonymous]

Have you ever let him sleep on his stomach? Colt has slept on his belly since he was about a month old. There have been a few mom’s on here recently who got one of those foam beds made for babies with reflux. Is that what the ar pillow is? Maybe they will post. He is so close to the age of being able to roll either way that you won’t be able to keep him in a tucker sling. I think at this point it might be a waste of money but maybe others might have different opinions on this.

[Anonymous]

yeah 🙁
the ar pillow is like a wedge and sling combo. http://www.arpillow.com/

[Anonymous]

i was going to suggest sleeping him on his tummy, too. even though i slept my first 5 kids this way, i was still nervous about doing it when they changed the recommendations. when i told our ped gi that i slept sylvia on her tummy, he said, “that is the best way to sleep her, but i’m not supposed to tell you that.” i assume the torticollis is part of what is causing the flat spot? tummy sleeping might even help with that.

how did the docs determine that he needed the helmet? i see alot of babies with mis-shapen heads since the back to sleep program started. i was just wondering how and when they decide that it is going to resolve on it’s own, or when an infant needs a helmet.

i will see if i can find you the link about tummy sleeping from the american college of pediatrics—or maybe someone else knows where it is.

[Anonymous]

basically bc his whoe head became affected:“From this
angle it looks as if half of the head has been pushed forward, often accompanied
by misalignment of the ears, facial asymmetry and bulging forehead.”
and the sooner u treat the faster the helmet works.

http://www.cranialtech.com/MedicalInfo/plagiocephaly.html

maybe we will do tummy sleeping..

[Anonymous]

I can’t find the link but the AAP does actually recommend tummy sleeping for severe reflux. I’d definitely try it. He’s getting to an age where he’s going to roll over and sleep in whatever position he wants to so he may end up on his tummy anyway. Tummy sleeping would probably help reshape his head, too.

I’m sure your ped is up on this, but just to make sure ask or check to see if his soft spots (fontanels) are still open. A severely mishapen head can also be caused by the fontanels closing too soon. This is called craniosynostosis. My niece had it and her forehead was protruding badly. When Liza’s plagiocephaly was bad they did x-rays to make sure her fontanels were still open. I don’t want to give you even more to worry about it…..but I’d just ask the ped to make sure.

[Anonymous]

Here’s the link for tummy sleeping.

http://www.aap.org/new/sids/question.htm

It’s what saved us with Kaelyn.

[Anonymous]

Aidan started sleeping on his tummy with the crib flat at 5 months, well actually he slept on his left side, it helped his reflux. I just put him on his side, and he’d usually stay like that, until he really learned how to roll and crawl. Aidansmom792006-10-3 23:4:25

[Anonymous]

I work at a physical therapy clinic, and we see many babies whose mommies

are trying to avoid the helmet for their little ones. We have an incredible

success rate, especiallly with one little guy who was scheduled for the

surgery to ‘correct’ his flat head. The therapy is called Cranio Sacral, and it

is very gentle work.

[Anonymous]

My husband is a craniosacral therapist (he’s not trained in infant therapy yet though) and it can help plagiocephaly, but it’s best if you can start early. Our son has a helmet right now. We unknowingly waited too long, and now there’s too short of a time-frame that his head can be reshaped, so we chose the helmet because it works faster. If I could go back in time though to when it first started, I would totally choose the craniosacral therapy route. Much more gentle and less restricting.

Bryce’sMom2006-10-7 16:7:12

[Anonymous]

heather—would you start a thread about craniosacral therapy in the stuff i want to talk about section? i’d be interested in learning a little more about it. could it help my fibromyalgia any?

the back-to-sleep campaigne started sometime between my twins (15) and molly (11). now we are seeing so many kids with mis-shapen heads—-a problem we hardly ever saw before. we really don’t know if there might be some sort of long term effect from this that is as yet unknown. do any of you ever wonder if we are trading one problem for another? kevin and i have had alot of fussy babies, but after they started recommending back sleeping, our babiaes got fussier in the early months and we had more sleeping problems. could be coincidence, but i still wonder about it a little.

[Anonymous]

my son has a helmet because PT will do nothing for his misaligned ears, forhead and jaw. he has only had the helmet for 3 weeks and his head has changed drastically.
PT isnt doing a whole lot for him, we jsut started a chiro. and its been excellent for his neck and posture.

[Anonymous]

Natalia,
I’m sorry – I hope you didn’t think I was commenting on your choice of a helmet for your son or anything. I was mainly just replying to Sarah’s post because I knew about craniosacral therapy. I definitely think the helmet is the best choice for some babies. (Mine included)

I’m so glad to hear that Trace’s head is changing so well. Bryce has the misaligned ears, & forehead problem too. I haven’t noticed a huge change with him yet, but we’ll see.

[Anonymous]

Yes, we are trading one problem for another with the back to sleep campaign. I feel sorry for today’s babies. I think babies sleep so much better ontheir tummies. And not only are we seeing all these problems with plagiocephaly, but babies’ overall gross motor development is slower than it used to be. Not enough tummy time.

[Anonymous]

I absolutely agree, helmets very well may be the best and only option for

some babies. Too often though, doctors are quick to recommend the

helmet without knowing that manual therapy can work.

[Author]

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