Aaron's Article!

I am posting this as you cannot access Aaron's article without purchasing it now. Too bad I can't get the pictures posted too. :(


Shaping up baby12/03/2007 - Erin Hemme-Froslie
To ward off curious stares, sometimes Aaron Andreachi wears a T-shirt that states: “Don’t mind me. I’m just reshaping my head.”
The 9-month-old has been wearing a helmet since October to treat a flattened spot on the right side of his skull.
“You get a lot of stares, but it’s not big deal,” says Aaron’s mother, Jennifer Andreachi.
The American Academy of Pediatrics kicked off its “Back to Sleep” campaign in 1992 to prevent sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Placing babies on their backs to sleep saves lives, but it has an unintended consequence. Since then pediatricians have seen an increase in the number of babies who develop asymmetrical skulls, a condition called plagiocephaly.
Because a baby’s head is still soft and pliable, some newborns develop a flattening of the head when placed on their backs.
Most of the time, the flattening is harmless and easily treated with simple stretches to strengthen neck muscles, said Dr. Christopher Tiongson, a MeritCare pediatrician. Occasionally, a baby will have to wear a molding helmet to round out the skull.
The asymmetry doesn’t affect brain development.
Tiongson said about 5 percent of babies develop a noticeable asymmetry or flatness.
“We’re good about telling people to lay their babies on their backs, but we also need to remember to stress tummy time and mixing head positions so they’re not always lying on the same side,” he says.
Babies born too early and those with tightened neck muscles are at a higher risk of being diagnosed with the condition, Tiongson says. Premature babies often have delayed muscle development so they take longer to sit up and roll over, two skills that reduce the chance of developing plagiocephaly. Tightened neck muscles restrict head movement.
At Aaron’s 2-month checkup, everything appeared normal, his mother says. But over the next month she observed that her young son never looked to his left. Aaron also had a noticeable flat area on the right side of his skull.
Chris and Jennifer Andreachi say they never treated Aaron any differently than their other three children. They placed him on his back when putting him to sleep. He spent time in a bouncy chair, swing and car seat.
By the time he was 4 months old, Aaron was diagnosed with tightened neck muscle that caused his head to tilt to one side.
A physical therapist worked with the infant and coached the Andreachis to stretch Aaron’s neck muscles.
Chris and Jennifer Andreachi learned how to gently roll his head to each side while holding his shoulders steady. They increased the amount of supervised time he spent on his tummy each day and positioned toys on his left side, encouraging him to look in that direction.
“Stretching his neck every diaper change got old,” Chris Andreachi says.
After a few months of physical therapy, Aaron’s neck muscle loosened but his plagiocephaly had not gone away. To help reshape his skull, doctors recommended a helmet. He has been wearing it for 22 hours a day since Oct. 1 and will continue to wear it for another month or two, his mother says.
The helmet doesn’t look all that different from one worn while riding a bike. The Andreachis decorate it with seasonal stickers, the most recent depicting snowmen, sleds and “Merry Christmas” motifs. They wash it daily.
And even if the helmet draws a few curious stares, it serves a secondary purpose, Jennifer says.
“Now that he’s crawling and walking, it’s kind of nice,” she says. “He doesn’t have as many bangs and bruises.”
Most babies’ flattened skulls will round out naturally by the time they’re 6 months old if they spend adequate amounts of time on their tummies and lay on both sides of their heads, Tiongson says. If not, a helmet may be prescribed.
“Studies show that if parents are vigilant about head positioning, those kids likely do as well as they would with a helmet,” he says.
As a result, a lot of times the helmets are not covered by insurance, he says.
Two or three cases a year, however, require a helmet because the babies’ heads are so flat that they naturally roll in that direction.
Still, parents shouldn’t let the fear of plagiocephaly stop them from placing their babies on their backs to sleep. The risk of SIDS is too great.
“It’s relatively too dangerous to stop doing that,” Tiongson says.
Tips to prevent flattening of head
Pediatricians recommend placing babies on their backs to sleep, but you can usually prevent flattening from occurring by taking a few simple preventive steps:
- Hold your baby upright when he or she is awake.
- During close supervision, place your baby on his or her tummy to play. Make sure both you and the baby are in the same room and both awake when doing this.
- When you place your baby on his or her back to sleep, change the direction your baby’s head faces. Or, alternate which end of the crib you place the baby’s head – this will cause the baby to look both left and right, which helps round the head.
- It also may help to change the position of the crib or the location of interesting objects, such as mobiles. That way, your baby won’t consistently look in one direction.
Once your baby is old enough to sit up, head flattening becomes less of a concern.
Source: www.mayoclinic.com
Readers can reach Forum reporter Erin Hemme Froslie at (701) 241-5534