Infant Torticollis

Yesterday Nathan had a trip to the doctor downtown to a pediatric cranial facial plastic surgeon. i was a little nervous. The reason Nathan needed to see the specialist is because of his head shape. He has a flat area on the back right side of his head. I have been trying to get him to lay differently and am constantly repositioning him to correct the problem, but it wasn't getting better, enough. So, the pediatrician told me to take him to the specialist. I had heard that once you go to the specialist it is a guaranteed helmet. I didn't want that. So, I took Nathan to another pediatrician and he agreed with the first.

No, Nathan does not need a helmet, yet. He has Infant Torticollis. It just means his head leans to the side. All I have to do is stretch his neck muscles throughout the day and give him a lot of tummy time. They will reevaluate him in six weeks and decide whether or not he needs physical therapy. They don't think he will need that, what I am doing should work. A helmet would be used if what I will be doing AND the physical therapy didn't work. I think that all will be well. I was just relieved that it wasn't a definite "yes, he needs an expensive helmet" simply because I saw a specialist.

I tried to get pictures of Nathan's flat head. I'm not sure how well you will be able to tell, but here they are. See how on the left side it is flatter and on the right side it bulges out pretty far?

This is just a regular picture, but see how he leans to the left? It is just slightly, but enough to make him have a flat spot.

And, as a side note. They weighed my baby boy. He is five months and weighs 19.5 pounds (he was 6 pounds 10 ounces when he was born)! Danielle was 16 pounds at a year and both Taneal and Camie were 18 pounds at a year. He has all my girls beat at 5 months! Spencer was 22 pounds at a year. I think Nathan is going to beat them all.