According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, placing a child to sleep on their backs decreases their risk of SIDS. So of course when Hannah was born, we’d do exactly that. However, we knew that this sleeping position would also increase the chances of her head developing a flat spot, so we’d do our best to turn her often. But little Hannah always favored sleeping on her left cheek. And we found that her head began to flatten on the back left side of her head.
At each of her wellness check-ups, our pediatrician would instruct us to have Hannah spend more time on her tummy, not only to strengthen her upper body, but to help her head round out as she grew. Despite our efforts and all of the tummy time, it didn’t help. Her head just wouldn’t round out and she continued to favor sleeping on her left cheek. Honestly, we didn’t think much of it, believing it was something she would eventually grow out of.
At Hannah’s 4-month check-up, our pediatrician pointed out to us the effects of this flat spot -- it was causing slight asymmetry in her face. Being the adoring parent that we are, I can’t say that we had ever looked at her head objectively, looking for anything out of the ordinary. So when our doctor pointed this out to us, we were quite surprised and honestly a little skeptical. But when she told us that continued growth creates the possibility for the asymmetry to become even more apparent, we just imagined Hannah as a young woman, completely self-aware of any flaw and realizing it was something that had the potential to be corrected at some point. And we were convinced to explore what else we might be able to do to correct what I affectionately call her “crooked little head”.
Upon our pediatrician’s referral, we took Hannah to Cranial Technologies in Dallas. There they did an evaluation of her head, taking pictures and measurements and asking questions. She was quite a trooper and smiled and talked to all of the staff, who was very nice. In our consultation, the clinicians concluded that Hannah preferred sleeping on her left cheek because she had torticollis -- stiffness of the neck muscles -- and her neck muscles had yet to be stretched out properly since birth. And as a result of this stiffness, she developed a condition called plagiocephaly, which is a common, treatable condition often caused by external forces applied to an infant’s soft skull. We learned that it ranges from mild to severe, causing effects such as skull deformation, facial asymmetry, misalignment of the ears and bulging of the forehead. Possible long term effects could affect more than just her appearance, but it could cause jaw and vision problems or make it difficult to fit her for a bike helmet or glasses. Hannah’s condition appeared to be mild to moderate.
So Cranial Technologies prescribed in-home physical therapy for us to stretch her neck daily. And within a day, we noticed increased mobility as it made it easier to flip back and forth from her backside to her tummy. Also, they determined that Hannah was a great candidate for orthotic treatment in which a device customized to her head would be placed on her head called the DOC Band.
The DOC band is a 6-ounce device consisting of an outer plastic shell with foam lining that looks quite similar to a helmet. It works by applying mild holding pressures to the prominent areas and encouraging growth in the flattened areas.
Because treatment can take a few months, Chris and I were uneasy about putting her in a helmet for that long. After talking it over and checking with our insurance company, though, we decided to move forward with treatment for Hannah. We knew that she would probably be fine without it, but if we were able to provide her with this option, we should do it.
So we scheduled a follow-up appointment to have her head measured for the band. Cranial Technologies uses a machine called Digital Surface Imaging® that takes a complete 3-D image of an infant’s head. Hannah did so well at this appointment. Before her head could be scanned, they put a mesh stocking on her head that covers her face. This enhances their capability to get a smooth 3-D image. We weren’t quite sure how she would take to the stocking. In fact, we had just heard a child scream bloody murder during his scan just because of the stocking. Yet, Hannah seemed to think it was the funniest thing ever. The scan was fast, and she charmed the pants off of all of the clinicians.
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