canuckguy

Well I've just been through my first parenting scare! My 4 month old daughter went into the doctors for her second round of immunizations, standard stuff. Anyway the doctor noticed she had a flattening of once side of the back of her head. It is noticable and we have mentioned it to him before at the 1 month check up. Anyway he decides she should have x-rays done to insure nothing is wrong. not telling my wife anything about what he suspects or how to get her off the flat spot (we are not morons just would have been nice for him to even say "hey u might want her to lay in a new position when sleeping")
Takes 5 days for them to get back with the results (after much nagging on our part). Nothing is wrong just have to adjust her sleeping position to get her from rolling on to that particular spot. My wife and I had been talking about the flat spot for months now trying to get her off it when we can. I am glad the x-rays were fine and its just a postional flat spot but the doctors effing lack of concern for 4 effing months, then to order a x-ray total freaking my wife out is just unacceptable. He barely looked at her head and everytime we pointed out the flat spot he fluffed it off with oh it will go away. We called them on friday for about 30th time to get the results each time either leaving a message with no return call or just no news yet. I can take the no news yet but when we finally did get the results it went something like this:
-called the doctors, spoke with the nurse. stated x-rays were still at the hostipal and x-ray doc has yet to see them
-1 minute later different nurse calls back from the same office stating they have the results and they are negative. clearing indicating the first nurse was just lying or clueless.
Fast forward to now and we have a new doctor
, who when we took our daughter in to register with his office, he does a standard check up on all his new patients. anyway first thing he does is talk about the flat spot and gives us some info on how to get her off it and so forth.

sorry rant over. although it was something so simple and not a major issue, it was my first look into health of my so far health little girl. made me feel powerless and so out of control. oh and sometimes the internet is not a good thing to have as you can look up some stuff that will NOT put you at easy when you are wonder what maybe wrong.
now lots of tummy time, new sleeping position and a new effing doctor who is more worried about his patients than his golf score.

raeanna74

It is so totally frustrating when the Dr seems unconcerned about your worries. I am pleased to say our current Dr for myself and my daughter is excellent and takes the time to ask plenty of questions and listen to my concerns. Her husband is hubby's Dr as well and he is just as conscientious. They are both aware of our choice of lifestyle as well and neither have been judgemental in any way.

Hubby did have a Dr once when he was dealing with nail fungus. The Dr asked if he had any medication allergies and the answer was yes. He is allergic to Nafcillin, an intravenous antibiotic, which he recieved to treat pneumonia and staph in his lungs. The Dr insisted that Nafcillin was an oral antifungal medication and refused to give hubby any oral antifungal medications. The only reason hubby had gone to see the Dr in the first place is that we had tried every possible topical treatment on the shelf and asked the pharmacist's advice in dealing with this. This same Dr just prescribed the same treatment that we had attempted on more than one occaision. It did no good. Finally hubby went back and got a different Dr and got the results he wanted and needed.

A good patient is one that mentions ALL concerns and insists on getting those concerns addressed to their satisfaction every time. If your Dr doesn't satisfy that then you just have to search for another one or be the more hardheaded patient around.

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canuckguy

i am still having mini-rages every now and then still.....grrrr

agball

I had the same issue with my son when he was about the same age. His head was getting flat in the back from sleeping in the same position as well. Anyways, we brought him to a neurosurgon who basically told us that he is fine, aside from the flat look, which wont go away. He told us that he could wear a helmit at night to stop it from getting worse, but the helmit would not make it better. We elected to go against getting the helmit, due to the fact that almost the same day he started rolling over. now that he was more mobile he was moving around more in his sleep. It never got any worse, he is 3 now and since his hair grew in, you cant even notice it.

I can definately relate to the stress that it put us though when this was happening & even switched peditricions. Stupid Dr's change the damn rule every year (First sleep them on the stomach, then SIDS, now sleep then on the back). Its all a bag of Bullshit in my opinion, to prevent lawsuits.

Well guess what when my second son was born, we sleeped him on his stomach & it worked out perfect. I Don't believe that SIDS crap.

Well good luck & dont stress, your daughter will be just fine.

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cj2112

I had a sister die from SIDS. So let me make sure I understand you correctly. Are you saying that my mother murdered my sister?

Averett

I'm not sure how much this will help, but for what it's worth...

I knew a guy in college who had this perfectly shaped round head. Apparently his mom used to gently smooth her hands over his head when he was a baby, sort of shaping it. Maybe his head would have been the shape it was had his mom not done that, or maybe it made a difference. Who knows. Something to think about though.

And as for agball... oh come on now

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Redlemon

For anyone reading this thread who is about to have a child, I recommend the Head-n-Back To Sleep Positioner, which is a curved pillow and side bolster combination to help keep your child on his back without developing too much of a flat head. It worked well for our child. I'd include a picture, but I can't find one that doesn't have a kid in the image.

xeem

My dad always put me on my side when I was a baby so my head would be round

extra space for my brains. haha

Derwood

My mom tells a story about when I was very little and was napping. She was in the kitchen and then suddenly had a really bad feeling that something was wrong with me. She came upstairs and I was totally blue in the crib. She picked me up and I suddenly inhaled really deeply and my color returned.

In other words. I was very close to being a victim of SIDS as well. This was back in 1975 when the common philosophy was that you WANTED your baby to sleep on it's stomach so it wouldn't choke if it spit up. Quite a different philosophy from today.

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analog

How long have humans been on this planet? And we're worrying about flat heads. I'm sure there have been many flat heads in the past, and we all seem to be doing OK despite it. Who knows what aspect of developement or perhaps some future event you've now changed because you had to mold their head, rather than leaving it alone? A point to ponder, for sure.

canuckguy

what am i not suppose to worry? development? are you kidding me? you should reread my original post. btw thanks again for caring what did you think it was about looks? it was not. did you ever think that it could be a sign of something much worse? i can see you having this conversation "gee what's list huge lump on my leg, its grown 3 times in size in just a month, na, probably just cancer, should wait a year or two to get it checked out, maybe i can let it spread to my brain too because i think we should not change the future...."

agball

Sorry if I offended you cj & for the loss of your sister. Im not saying thats the story in every case, but I believe in many. Infants die all the time in there sleep, regardless of the postion & I think the Dr.'s just say whatever they have to to pervent lawsuits.

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synic213

My 15mo old son has a flat head. My wife and I still think he is the most beautiful thing in the world (and so do most other people). Once the hair grows in you can barely notice.

MrsRight41401

Oh good Lord. First of all - my son had a flat spot on his head because I - being a first time inexperience mommy without anyone around her to help her - didn't know that BELLY time during PLAY time is best. Sleep on the back - play on the tummy. Make sure your baby is getting at least 1/2 hour of tummy time every 2 hours - and increase that as he/she gets older.

Second - As long as you START giving tummy time during play time and then as your baby gets older more and more time NOT in their bouncer, playpen, crib and on their tummy before they are 6 months - when the majority of the bones in the skull fuse - the flat spot will go away. My son, who had the flat spot, is now nearly 3 years old and has a perfectly normal round head.

Oh my gosh.

A mother of 2 boys under 3 years old.
Rachel

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