Reply to 8 week old with uneven head at the top, tips?

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[quote=Anonymous]Get an evaluation for torticollis and plagiocephaly. It could be one, the other, or both. They very often go hand-in-hand. The good news is in the vast majority of cases, early intervention fixes things rapidly.

For torticollis it would be physical therapy to strengthen the weak muscles and widen the range of motion; for plagiocephaly it would mean lots of attention to positioning and possibly early helmeting before the plates of the skull fuse (around age 1).

Some doctors are very blasé when it comes to head shape, and there is research that points to many cases where slightly misshapen heads do round out on their own. However, this isn’t the case for all, and there could be issues beyond appearance. With Plagiocephaly, there are sometimes rare, serious underlining issues associated with misshapen skulls. Of course, getting assessed earlier than later is key. And with torticollis, it really doesn’t get better without PT, and ignoring the issue can lead to restricted range of motion, muscle tightness, uneven limb use, and appearance issues like asymmetrical eyes/ears.

With either issue, and between now and when you can have an evaluation and potentially get a referral, you will want to:

1. minimize how often your baby is placed on his back to avoid extra pressure on the skull, which can impact skull shape

2. minimize time in containers in general (cribs, swings, car seats etc)

3. maximize tummy time even if he hates it to strengthen core and neck muscles and relieve pressures on skull from prolonged prone placement

4. if the baby seems to favor facing one direction or looking in only one direction, place them down to sleep in the opposite way to promote more evenness, dangle toys just within their line of vision on the unfavored side to get them practicing looking that way etc.

I know this all can seem very scary, but both of these issues are surprisingly quite common and getting evaluations now when your baby is so young is going to be key to addressing whatever the issue is while you have the short window to do so before skull plates fuse. Good on you for raising the issue and getting another opinion! Good luck. [/quote]

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