Plagiocephaly...such a big word for such a little guy

Plagiocephaly.  That is what we were told.  What is it? we asked.  What did he call it? we asked.  What do we do now? we asked. 


I took Cash to the dr last week for his 4 month check up.  Checked his weight...14lbs9oz. (such a big boy!)  Checked his length...25 in.  Checked the little guy from head to toe and everything looked great.  Well almost everything.  The doc mentioned that the back of Cash's head looked abnormally flat. 

This was not new information to us.  I had noticed from the time we brought Cash home that he always wanted to lay towards the right and was a little flat on that side.  I read somewhere to start repositioning him, alternating what hands I used to lay him down, change the direction we laid him in his bed and to switch arms when holding him.  So we did.  And slowly it started to even out.  When I asked the pediatrician about it he said to increase tummy time and it will fix itself as he grew. 

At Cash's 2 month appointment his head was more flat across the back and not just on the right.  The doc again said lots of tummy time and it should start to fix its self.  So we did.  I even ordered these great little hats called Tortle's.  I think we would have had better luck with these if we had started using them right away.  People kept asking about his head and I kept telling them the dr said it will fix itself as he grew.  But when I was alone I worried and cried about it more than I should have.

So now we are back to Cash's 4 month check up.  We were seeing a new doctor this time and Tyler and I had made a list of questions to ask and his head was question number 1.  When the doc brought it up before I had the chance to I got a little nervous.  He started talking about what might be the cause of the flatness and mentioned that the sutures in his skull might have fused early.  He sent us for a x-ray and said he would call me the next day with the results.  I was a nervous wreck.  The dr did call the next day and to my relief said that his sutures were still open.  PTL!!  He then started throwing around this big word...plagiocephaly and said that his nurse would call a specialist in Dallas about helmet therapy.

Now my brain was racing.

What did he call it again?  playgeosomething.

Plagiocephaly [pley-jee-uh-sef-uh-lee]

What is it?  A deformity of the skull in which one side is more developed in the front, and the other side is more developed in the rear.  Flat Head Syndrome.  I spent the entire weekend online trying to figure this out and to see what we should expect. I had a hard time finding information. Finally I took to Pinterest and found some good stuff. I also began to see how everyone decorated their child's helmet. Tyler and I started talking about how we would decorate Cash's. This helped us to not be so worried and turned it into something a little more fun. 

Whats next & how do we fix it?  We go to meet with a Craniofacial specialist and make a game plan.   

Cash's flat head