Re: Newbie Plagiocephaly Q Regarding Swings/Chairs: please be careful of these

[Guest guest]

Hi,

Just wanted to comment about the repositioning in swings, bouncy seats etc.

Although it is difficult, I would urge people to really use these products very

little.

Anytime a child is placed in one of these reclined seating arrangements an

upward

pressure is put on the skull. Prolonged and repeated use of these can lead to

increased posterior head height. A few minutes here and there is not an issue,

but I

would really not allow them to sleep in it. We were not aware of this issue when

repositioning our son. We knew not to use a swing or carseat because they are so

hard but a bouncy seemed o.k. because it is softer and so as a result often

placed

him in a bouncy seat with a towel under his left shoulder to reposition him to

the

right. This was great for getting him off his flat (left) side but caused a

little bit of

increased head height on the right (which I guess more or less matches the head

height on the left from the plagio but the right is a little worse) as we let

him nap in

the seat. He was hard to reposition in the crib because of his tort so we

eventually

just wedged him on his side at night but continued to do some naps in the bouncy

when we weren't holding him since we were not aware that these devices can cause

increased head height. Overall, his head height is really not too bad, just a

bit of it,

but it is present and it was avoidable mostly.

Just as a side note, we recently saw our son's cousin and it was immediately

aware to

us that she had spent too much time in these inclined seating arrangements as

she

had some increased posterior head height uniformly across the back (had no

obvious

plagio, just a bit of brachy with increased height). Her mom commented on how

much

she( the mom) had loved those car seats that double as carriers, she could bring

into the house and let her keep on sleeping :-(. Oh well, we figured it

was no

use saying anything if it too late to do anything about it, it would absolutely

kill the

mom if she was aware of her child's deformity and it really wasn't too bad,

probably

just obvious to us.

Mark (dad to , DOCbanded 10/14 at 9.5 months)

> Hello,

> Are there any chairs/swings available that are specifically designed

> for the infant to be placed on his/her side in the chair/swing? Or

> any positioning products designed for babies with plagiocephaly?

>

> Thanks,

> Mike

[Guest guest]

Mark,

Thank you for your post cautioning that repo'ing while in these

devices for an extended time raises the risk of molding the non-flat

side! Your experience is another good reason to keep time spent in

swings and bouncies to a minimum while repo'ing if you can't eliminate

the use of them altogether. I would really appreciate it if you would

be willing to speak to this risk of using swings and bouncies while

repo'ing if other parents post asking about repo, and what part the

swings and bouncies should play -- it's an important learning!

We literally removed the swing and bouncie seats (we had two) from the

house completely, and never used them again after we began repo when

Remy was 5 months old. Once they were gone, I realized how much we

relied on them... Remy had plagio/brachy before we started repo, with

an increased head height. It's very visible in her 5 months side view

progress photo in the PHOTOS section.

Thank you again for your post,

Christie (Mom to Repo'd Remy)

> > Hello,

> > Are there any chairs/swings available that are specifically designed

> > for the infant to be placed on his/her side in the chair/swing? Or

> > any positioning products designed for babies with plagiocephaly?

> >

> > Thanks,

> > Mike

[Guest guest]

Hi Christie,

I would be glad to bring it up if I see other repo posts talking about it but I

don't

usually read all the posts so I may miss them.

Our swing and bouncy are banished to the basement. If we have other children we

may use the bouncy but no more than 10-15 minutes per day if we need to. I

wanted

to destroy our bouncy seat (male aggression I guess :-)) but my wife would not

let

me.

There really needs to be education at ALL hospitals before moms go home. They go

so far as to even tell you what color the baby's poop is going to be, so why do

they

not educate about plagio, rotating the head, watching for turning preference, to

limit

bouncy seats, swings etc., no car seat time unless in the car (I know the answer

I

think, it is because they don't know about it at the hospital). Anyway, enough

of this

rant. :-)

Mark

> > > Hello,

> > > Are there any chairs/swings available that are specifically designed

> > > for the infant to be placed on his/her side in the chair/swing? Or

> > > any positioning products designed for babies with plagiocephaly?

> > >

> > > Thanks,

> > > Mike