Re: Tim's comments about causes of Plagiocephaly

[Guest guest]

I would be careful before you speculate on AFP being linked to

plagiocephaly. The AFP test is innacurate at best and is prone to

many many false positivies. My wife's sister has three kids, all very

normal and no plagiocephaly -- with two of her pregnancies she had

false positives on the AFP test.

The AFP is useful I suppose... but from talking with mothers and

friends of my wife, it appears that mostly the AFP test creates

needless anxiety in pregnant mothers.

Just my opinion.

> I am new to this group, so this is my first email. I read Tim's

response

> with great curiosity to see if he mentioned a possible cause that I

believe

> was an early warning sign. That early sign for me was a positive

AFP test

> during my pregnancy. The test showed high levels of AFP which

usually mean a

> neurological problem like spina bifida or some other type of defect.

Well, I

> went through another test and had a level II ultrasound to see if in

fact my

> son had spina bifida (he didn't). So basically I was told " gee, we

aren't

> sure what the problem is " . Anyway I am convinced that that high AFP

test has

> something to do with my almost 8 month old son's plagiocephaly. Has

anybody

> else had a similar experience?

>

> Marka (mom to )

[Guest guest]

Anyway I am convinced that that high AFP

test has

> something to do with my almost 8 month old son's plagiocephaly.

Has

anybody

> else had a similar experience?

>

> Marka (mom to )

Marka,

I had the AFP test and was very relieved to have a normal result. My

son was born with plagio. I'm convinced that it was a result of his

position in utero and the fact that my pelvis is misshapen (the bones

slant the wrong way around the birth canal and the opening is too

narrow). The situation was made worse by our very difficult (forceps

and suction) delivery and back sleeping.

I also wonder about the amount of exercising I did (a lot) thoughout

the pregnancy, but the neurosurgeon told me that had nothing to do

with causing Conor's plagio. About a month before he was born, Conor

kicked me in the ribs after I sat down and did one rep on a thigh

machine I'd been using forever. I quit immediately and stopped the

use of all lower body weight machines. Now I can't help but wonder if

exercise--exercise that was cleared by my ob/gyn, by the way, who

only told me to slow down in the last couple of weeks--wasn't a

contributing factor. That powerful little kick still haunts me-- " Mom,

you're squeezing my head! "

The craniofacial guy my son saw last week said that there was no way

for me to guarantee that if we have another child, he/she will show

up without plagio. Of course, if there's a next time, I'm having a

c-section, but even that, the dr. said, won't make a difference.

That's really annoying, and that's why we're all so interested in our

own experiences and theories and Tim's research-based conclusions.

Anyway, I'm still curious about other people's AFP results. I'd not

thought about plagio as a genetic thing but a structual thing

affected by outside forces. My birth mom tells me I have a first

cousin who had what she now knows is plagio; he's a grown up man

who's had a fine life (I've never met him). The problem is, there are

just so many different factors at work here. I wonder if we'll ever

know exactly what causes it.

, Conor's mom in Central PA