Re: no helmet?

[Guest guest]

Rick,

Please keep us posted on how your son's repositioning and headshape

is coming along; I'm wishing some rounding your way!

I wanted to post back very quickly to mention that the AAP

acknowledges that the dramatic increase in plagiocephaly occurred

concurrently with the launching of the back-to-sleep campaign and

the change in recommended sleep position. That campaign just

started in 1996, with compliance rates steadily increasing after

that. I wouldn't think that, statistically, plagio would appear

with anywhere near the frequency in adults today, since current day

adults most likely all slept on their bellies as infants. I'm not

sure that the fact that not many adults manifest noticeable plagio

is a good indicator of how plagio might self-correct in light of

this fact.

Recent prelimary research is also showing that back-sleeping is most

likely changing en masse what is a normal cephalic ratio (ratio of

head length to width) for the entire population. The current

generation of children overall appear to have wider heads than their

parents, and a higher cephalic ratio.

I would also love to see photos of headshapes that represent 1,2,3

standard deviations as well! What a wonderful idea! I don't know

of any such photos that exist, but there is the plagio assessment

sheets from Cranial Tech with drawings of severity; I wonder if they

could clarify approximately how many sd each one represents? I'll

try to email Cranial Tech to see if they might be able to help us in

this matter. Excellent idea, and would be a good addition to the

reference material at our site.

Take care,

Christie (Mom to Repo'd Remy)

>

>

> From: " redlocks2003 " <redlocks@i...>

> Date: 2004/12/27 Mon AM 01:02:52 EST

> Plagiocephaly

> Subject: Re: no helmet?

> Rick,

>

> Likewise, whether or not a baby will round out naturally or with

> repo is impossible to predict! Owing to this, it's important to

> routinely monitor the baby's headshape during the time that you are

> repo'ing or just waiting for a head to round out, so that you can

> move on to a helmet/band in a timely fashion if you detect that

> improvement has stalled or maybe even regressed.

>

> > I've decided to take photos every week based on >recommendations

from this group.

>

>

> Did the plastic

> surgeon take photos or measurements?

>

> > No! I wish he did. Our pediatrician wasn't even going to >refer

us out. We had to ask for it.

>

>

> How will he know at your son's

> follow-up in 2 months if his headshape has improved, stayed the

same

> or worsened? Will he be relying on memory or perhaps your

opinion?

>

> >I'm guessing the latter, so the photos should be useful.

>

> There are some interesting studies you might want to check into in

> the Links/Plagio Studies and Research/Studies about Natural

Rounding

> and Repo you might want to read. Study author's conclusions should

> be read with care, however. An example would be a recently

> published study showing most cases of plagio/brachy resolve

> themselves by age 2; in this study, the threshold for " normal "

> measurements was an extremely generous 3 or more standard

deviations

> off the mean.

>

> > I guess it would depend on what a standard deviation is, >no?

Are there any photos of what 1 SD looks like compared >to a

perfectly round head anywhere on the net? It may be >the case that

1 SD is not noticeable to the naked eye

> >in which case maybe 3 SD really does look " normal " to the >naked

eye.

>

> We didn't use a helmet or band to treat our daughter Remy's

> plagio/brachy - we just used repositioning! We started when she

was

> 5 months and continued up until she was about 13 months. We set a

> deadline of 8 months of age to make a final decision on whether to

> helmet or not (later than I would recommend to others.)

>

> > I think we are going to use 7 months.

>

> Her

> progress pics are in the Photos/Before and After/Repo folder. Our

> repo philosophy blended the obvious one of keeping her off of her

> flat area, with " holding " the bulging area as much as possible.

>

> >I looked through all the pics in all of the folders with my

>wife. Most kids seem to have made nice improvements with >helmets

or repo (no guarantees I know). I was reading one >article on the

net from a doc the other night talking about >how plagioc is very

rarely noticed in adults, so maybe the >condition is eventually self-

correcting? Come to think of >it, I've never noticed a

prominent " flat head " on an adult. >Anyway, I know one way or

the other things will be OK. If >we don't like the improvement by 7

months, we will just get >a helmet.

>

> >Thanks!

>

> >Rick