Friday, August 30, 2013

Plagiocephaly

Sharing all of your personal life for someone to read is sometimes hard. I’ve always been open about our infertility journey. I knew at times that people wouldn’t agree to what we were doing, or even how I viewed things. Although most of our feedback was positive thoughts, prayers & support, we did receive somenegative comments along the way. For the most part, I was always able to look past the negative. However those comments were about ME…it’s easy to look beyond and ignore harsh statements when they are about you. But what if they are about your baby?

That’s where I am now. I’ve gone back and forth about sharing this information,should I or should I not? What if people talk about him or make rude comments…I can handle someone talking about me, but I don’t think I will be able to if someone talks about my child. (honestly I don’t think anyone will, but I do know from experience there are very opinionated people out there, and when you put your information out there for the world to read you have to accept that not everyone will agree with your choices…again, we’ve always received so much love from everyone with very little negative feedback-but we know it ‘could’ happen…and that’s where I, as any parent, just want to protect my child from any harm.)

So with that said—

Miles has Plagiocephaly. There are three types of Plagiocephaly-Miles’s has the brachycephaly type, where the back of his head is flat and he’ll most likely have to wear a ‘band’ (which is a baby helmet). Miles had a small flat spot when he was born due to how he was sitting in the womb, which gradually got worse while he slept through the night (he wouldn’t sleep on his side or with his head turned-he loves sleeping with his face straight up and hands behind his head)….we didn’t notice just how bad the flatness was until he started losing his hair.



A baby’s skull is so soft and malleable until the sutures fuse around two years of age. For this reason, any external forces, whether during the pregnancy or in the infant’s daily life, can contribute to the head shape. The good news is that the shape can be redirected into a normal head shape using a Band. If untreated he could have a flatter head than normal, he could be at a great risk for ear infections and this could affect his vision later on down the road.

When I heard that he will most likely have to wear a band I cried…a lot!! It took me a couple days to realize MY BABY IS FINE. This does NOT affect his brain by any means. When someone tells you something about your child it’s devastating…and of course the first thing I could think of was his brain and his life. I wasn’t very educated on Plagiocephaly and what all it entailed. I knew the importance of tummy time and rotating your baby, but never knew the details or even thought about the possibility of having Plagiocephaly. This was never mentioned to us, and honestly in the baby books (all the baby books) I’ve read there wasn’t a big topic on it. I’ve carried a lot of guilt; I’ve always put Miles on his stomach supervised for tummy time even though he hates every minute of it, but did I do it enough? Should I have rotated him more than I did? Was this something I could have prevented or fixed? It took a lot of convincing from his doctor and a lot of researching for me to realize I could nothave prevented this—and even though I know in my heart this is NOT ‘our fault’ I am still for some reason carrying guilt. This is just the shape his skull wanted to grow—would it be as bad as it is if SIDS didn’t recommend back sleeping, probably not, but when you look at the bigger picture I CAN fix his head, I can’t bring him back to life. Would I change anything…NO!

One of the hardest parts of all of this was accepting that we as parents didn’t do anything wrong, that he IS ok, and that unfortunately there are going to be opinionated judgmental people out there who will stare and will make comments(although he is just a baby and I don’t understand how anyone could—we are aware this could happen). This band willnot hurt him, yes there is a small percentage of babies with bands that have reactions or get a rash from it, but it’s nothing serious-- most babies don’t even know they have it on…and there is a chance he might NOT have to have it at all—however we are fairly certain he will.

We will go to see a specialist at Cranial Technologies soon to get him scanned and to access the severity of his skull—they will let us know if he has to even have a band or if this will fix on it’s on with time—if he does which type of band will he have and how long will he have to wear it for. 

We are beyond grateful nothing is ‘seriously’ wrong with our son, this is fixable. But any kind of bump in the path is hard—especially when you are uneducated-the unknown can be scary! But just like anything else we have gone through-we will get through this. We have a perfectly healthy baby boy who willpossibly be rockin’ an adorable little band soon. :)

19 comments:

Amanda said...

Aww...being a mommy is tough for many reasons. You guys are doing great and Miles will be just fine. This is a bump in the road that he will conquer.

Hang in there!

Shannon said...

I have been there. My little girl wore a helmet for 4 months. It seems like a distant memory now and I absolutely have zero regrets. It was definitely the right decision for us. Let me know if you have any questions about our experience. I will be happy to help!

Christi said...

Erin at Blue-Eyed Bride youngest son had it and had to wear a helmet. She wrote some great posts about it so in case you'd like to read them for information or to have that common support.

The time he wore it seemed to fly by and Hayes is doing great now. So I thought in case you don't read her blog that she might be able to help you.

Kelly said...

Sweet, sweet Tiffany! I hope you got my text message. I wanted to let you know again that we are praying for you. You both are doing AMAZING!! Like I said in my text, nothing you put on Miles is going to change his cuteness factor..he's simply too cute!! :)

Lots of love and hugs,
Kelly

Unknown said...

Stay strong mama!!! Y'all are awesome parents and Miles will rock that Band (: (:

Toni :O) said...

One of my friends had a set of twin daughters. One of them had to wear a helmet for a bit and it went super fast and all turned out great. Miles will do just fine and it's probably harder on Momma and the idiots that stare but it's for his well being. Stay strong, stay positive and at least you'll get many snuggles and love during the process.

Carrie said...

Awww...I totally understand your being upset about this. All parents want their kids to be healthy in every way and when something shakes that, it is scary. BUT, like the other commenters said, it will fly by and before you know it, he'll be out of the band. My good friend's son had to wear one and like you, she was upset at first, but then decided to make the best of it and went to Hobby Lobby and got all kinds of cute stickers to decorate it with. She made it match the season :) I also feel like it is more common these days to see a baby with a helmet and it's just not as big of a deal. Plus, when YOU see a baby with one, you should just go up to that mom or dad and offer support to them!

Emily said...

My daughter got a band right before she turned 5 months old. The good thing about getting a band younger is that their heads are growing more quickly so them time spent in a band is not nearly as long. I, like you, was so worried about how others would react and scared of them making comments about my baby. We were fortunate enough to not have many instances of this, and the whole experience went so much more smoothly than I thought it would. I got some adorable decals from a lady at blingyourband.com and found that having her name on the band kind of helped to break the ice when people would talk to us about it. Like another said above, it was totally the right decision for us too. We are so happy looking back that we chose to get the band, and it really went SO much faster than I thought it would when we were just starting out. There was nothing you could do to prevent this possibility. You are doing a wonderful job with that sweet boy!!

Sarina Coffin said...

Awe, I think he will look cute rocking his helmet! :) My son was born with a tag on his ear, that half circle part of cartilage where some people get pierced. I was so worried about hiding it for the first few months, afraid of ridicule or comments. Neither happen. I found it was always me bringing it up. To make sure to say we were getting it cut off in time. They really didn't care. At least they put off they didn't care. He had surgery a year ago to remove it. I didn't even notice it the last few months (had it for just over a year) and I forget now, a year later that he even had it. Miles will do great and you will have some extra fun pictures to show off when he is older! :) If anything were to go wrong, this is probably the best thing...he is not sick, just extra cute! hehe

Jennifer said...

Your son is beyond adorable! This too shall pass! Thanks for sharing your family with us out here in blog-land.

Melissa said...

Aw Momma! First sending you hugs! My 3 yr old wore a helmet for about 3 months. I cried and cried wondering why did I do wrong!?! Did I hold her too much? Did I not give her enough tummy time? What!?!

But know this, what you're doing now, giving him treatment is the best thing you and your hubby can do. And yes, you'll bet stares and maybe a few questions from people who just don't know what's going on with your sweet boy. Ignore it.

I know, looking back, that the decision for her to wear the helmet was the right one. I look at my now 3 yr old and thank God that the doctors saw it and we're able to fix it before she was out of that certain age range.

Good luck and god bless!

Unknown said...

Awww you and your son will be just fine! You are a great momma and don't let anybody tell you different! The process of getting the band made is a little heart breaking so make sure your hubby is there to help! I have seen a lot of babies have to wear the band. Honestly, what baby isn't absolutely adorable in a little helmet? You can decorate it too! One of my friends painted their sons to look like a football helmet and put the last name on the back of it and everything. I also had a child in daycare whose parents did a count down of how many months, weeks, and days she had left to wear it! It'll be a.o.k!

Ashley said...

I can't imagine why people would give negative comments. I know it happens though. Stay strong and from reading some comments it looks like there have been a few babies that have had to wear the band. I hope it is only for a short time but if it takes a little longer it does. Whatever it takes to help Miles! Like I always say, it could be worse. This is just a little bump. You are a Great momma:)

~Shelly~ said...

Aw! Sweet boy! He will be just fine & I hope he adjusts well to wearing this! He will be so cute in his little band that I'm sure mom will decorate all cute!

hitek said...

Your family is truly blessed. You are a great mother and all we can do is what is best for our family.

grace said...

Hi Tiffany, I've been reading your blog for several years but never commented. Congratulations on your healthy baby boy! He is beautiful. We struggled for years with infertility too but were able to get pregnant with gonadotropin injections. We now have a 10 month old boy. It helped reading you story while I was struggling to conceive. Anyways, I wanted to write this time because our Zach had plagiocephaly too. He wore a helmet for 2.5 months because of a flat spot on the right side of his head--he always slept on the right. There wasn't really any way to prevent what happened-we even took him to physical therapy. Miles will be fine and if he has to wear one, it will just be for a short time. In my opinion, babies with helmets look super cute. :). God bless you and your family!

Jennie said...

sending prayers and lots of love your way!! he will look so cute, even with his band on!

Jaimee Granberry said...

Oh, I bet this is so hard- as a mommy, you just want your baby to be okay!! And he is!! It was nothing you did and this seems to be so common now! My BF's little boy had a band and it went really well! Are you by chance getting his band wrapped with Wrap Buddies on the 18th?

Unknown said...

Hi there, my son just started wearing his helmet a week ago. His head sweats so bad and now he is developing Eczema on certain areas of his head and face. Did anyone experience this? Any suggestions on how to comfort him? Last night he just cried and cried and tried to rub and scratch the side of his face that he couldn't reach because of the side of the helmet. I felt so helpless because I didn't know how to comfort him.





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