Plagiocephaly

Since Nathans 4 month check up we have noticed Nathans head shape changing. At first he had a flat spot in the back of his head and our doctor told us to make sure he lays on his side to sleep... so, we have. Since then the shape has become more oblong. At his 6 month appt I brought it to our doctors attention and she diagnosed him with Plagiocephaly. Which essentially means mis-shapen head. After reading online I found that 1 in 10 babies are diagnosed with it. It used to be seen in only 400 babies a year but ever since they found that putting babies to sleep on their backs decreased the chance of SIDS and decided to encourage back sleeping, there has been a huge increase. To rule out that the plates of his head have started to grow closed prematurely, Dr. Lisa ordered a skull x-ray. If the plates (sutures) start to fuse, surgery is required to separate them. Thankfully his had not closed yet. She did say that the right side of his skull was thinner and wasn't sure why but we would do another x-ray in a couple of months. In the meantime to correct the shape of his head and to prevent any more malformation, Nathan is going to be fitted for a custom helmet that helps mold his head back into place. Online I have read of children with severe cases only wearing it for 2 months 24/7 but also of cases where the child wheres it for a year 24/7. So we will see how long he will have to wear it. Next week we go to Prevail Orthotics to get a "casting" done of his head shape. We plan on updating as much as possible so feel free to stop by our blog and check it out. As you can imagine this has been a scary time and difficult for us to believe... after all we see our little guy as perfect! But we appreciate all your thoughts and prayers. Here are some of his pictures... we will call these his "before" photos.