Noah's first few months

Our gorgeous boy, Noah Eric Donovan was born May 27th 2011. Mum (that's me) and Dad couldn't be happier. Noah had a great birth, it was a water birth as I had hoped for and he arrived within 4.5 hours of being in the pool. Trauma free, we felt he had a wonderful arrival into the world. 

As far as we were aware there were no problems with the shape of his head at this time, although he did like to keep his head tilted to one side most of the time. (I think alternating his head whilst asleep might have been briefly mentioned once, in a fleeting conversation, but that was it).

So, still covered in lots of vernix and a little bruised, everyone was happy for us to go home.

Once at home, we had trouble with feeding and Noah had turned quite yellow within 48 hours. Thankfully the hospital were not concerned and his colour improved over the next few weeks. Noah was tongue tied and so struggled with feeding, but that is another story!

Life settled fairly quickly into a routine and we actually had to set an alarm in the night to make sure he fed enough, he was happy to sleep and sleep and sleep! We did try to turn Noah's head, but it was always hard to do so and so the majority of the time he slept on his left. We hadn't heard of Flat Head Syndrome at this point.

We used socks as scratch mittens, they were the only things that would stay on!

 

 

This was Noah's usual sleeping position. Looking back, it seems obvious this wasn't right.

3 Months

At Noah's 3 month check up with the doctors (first injections) we mentioned to the doctor about his favourite side and how his head looked flatter on the left. We were told that this would sort itself out and that this was nothing to worry about and that was it.

Already Noah is too big for your moses basket!

So I went home and had a look online, I read about encouraging play on the other side, tummy time and trying to alternate his head when asleep. Over the next few months we did all we could to try to encourage Noah to look to the right and to not lie him on his back when possible, although this is difficult when at this age sleep still forms such a huge part of his life. 

After reading about the simple steps that can be taken to help avoid Flat Head Syndrome, we felt so upset. Why hadn't we heard about this before? We knew about tummy time, but not that this would help with his head. And we could have tried to reposition his head more when asleep. It was just so upsetting.

5 Months

Learning to suck his left fingers gives Noah comfort but adds to his head being tilted to the left.

By about 5 months we felt that infact his head had got worse rather than better. We were doing as much tummy time with Noah as we could, but it was hard as he never liked this. Even with Boo (our cat) in front of him, entertaining Noah, it was always a struggle! So as soon as he was able we did lots of sitting up playing. 

At around 5 months we talked to another doctor who this time advised that there are two types of Flat Head Syndrome and that Noah didn't have the type that can be serious and rather that he had Positional Plagiocephaly. He referred us to a colleague who also confirmed the same and that the NHS do not do anything for this, time would heal it. But we didn't feel convinced.

After looking this up online we found that whilst there were cases where a child's head did change back more to its natural shape, there were plenty of cases where this didn't happen. We purchased a special pillow at this point to try and help as repositioning whilst asleep was so difficult and thought this was worth a try.

6 Months
Noah is growing so fast and we are starting to see some improvements, however we know his head growth is slowing now and so we are feeling even more anxious. His head is quite lopsided at the back and sometimes when looking at him from behind, you think he is looking to the left, but actually his face is forwards.

After talking to a friend we decided to go and see her Chiropractor about Noah's condition. The Chiropractor, Alastair, advised that Noah had tension in his neck and spine and so this would not be helping him to turn his head and therefore could have contributed to his head now being flatter on one side. 

After our first session we couldn't believe how easy it now was to turn his head once asleep - it was one extreme to the other. Although it was never been diognosed, I am convinced he had some Torticollis in his neck. 

Now when we go to check on Noah, once he is alseep, we sometimes find that he is already looking to the right - completely unheard of until we started seeing the Chiropractor.

We have also had a consultation with the London Orthontic Consultancy and have decided to have a LOCband helmet made from him. He has an asymetry difference of 15mm (Plagiocephaly - flattening to one side) and also has Brachycephaly (flattening at the back) as well as his ears being out of line and the front left side of his forehead is moving forwards slightly. We were stunned to see the scan as it highlighted so clearly the shape of his head.

When Saeed took Noah's two diagonal head measurements, I didn't want to know how bad the difference was. It was like it was going to be found out that I have been a bad mother and have not taken care of Noah. It was so upsetting.

And that brings up to date.  Tomorrow we head to Bristol to get Noah's helmet fitted.

Whilst the next 4-6 months are going to be tough (he will have to wear the helmet for 22-23 hours a day), I'm sure Noah will take to it like a duck to water. And ultimately we know we are doing everything we can to help his head return to its more natural shape, so it will be worth it.

Cuddles on Boxing Day