Been away for more than a year!

In Hongkong Botanical gardens

To all the people, parents, who came across this blog for information on plagiocephaly and posted questions, i apologise for not having been able to reply to your comments in due time. I've somewhat neglected this blog for many reasons. I just hope you were able to find the information you were looking for on the web, and from the stuffs i've mentioned here on this blog.

Kate discover how to blow bubbles on her own

As for Kate, she's now almost 3 yrs old, a smart, sweet, funny, and happy child.

We weren't very successful with the helmet treatment we sought the last time perhaps due to factors, like my daughter's age before her treatment, the weather in this country, our patience to follow it through, my daughter's tolerance with the helmet, and i guess the expertise of the orthotists here in treating plagiocephaly.

As for her head shape, which i've now stopped monitoring since she was 2, it may still not be the perfect symmetrical head that all parents want for their child (though i've not really checked). But it's something we can live with. I could sweat it out all over again, but i'll probably miss out with a lot of things about my daughter which are more important.

I'm thinking, in 5 or 10 years from now, this concern will be the least of my worries. I could be wrong, but take me on it in ten years time.

So for the parents who are worrying, do what you can while you can. If your child's plagio affects the health of your child, then by all means do what is necessary and what you think is best.

If it is within your means geographically and financially to seek the orthotic helmets from DOCband or STARband, go ahead and maybe you'd have better success than we did.

But if it's just cosmetic and something you can live with, then maybe, just maybe, there's really no reason to be worked up so much. That or maybe i'm the one whose head needs examining. Cheers and i wish you all the best.

The only hat/helmet she's fond of right now. :)

Kate's 2nd helmet

Kate's 2nd helmet. This was done in August after our 4th visit with the orthotist, when i have previously expressed my concern with the first helmet's shape. I must say i'm impressed with this one, though now we still struggle with making Kate to wear it as much as possible. Not easy at her age since she is now asserting herself more, and forcing it on her is a difficult thing to do, for us and her. Posting this for the benefit of a fellow parent in the same boat as us from India.

Kate on helmet

Day 2 with the helmet: She's now slowly getting used to wearing her helmet. At times she plays with it, treating it as a basket for her toys. I tried painting it with acrylic today to make a ladybug design, but it seems the paint can't adhere to the material. So now we'll probably find some stickers we could design it with rather than using paint.

Clip happy!

More clips? :)

CarmenBand

No brand cranial helmet of Kate done by a local orthotist named Carmen. Looks good, except for the slanted side at the back which i'm still asking with the orthotist if it can be tweaked or if there's a special reason for it. I'll know when she gets back at my email.

Update: According to the orthotist, the slant at the back was intentional since it will aid in restricting the rotation of the helmet when worn. She added that it can be tweaked if it puts too much pressure on that side.

Kate's plagiocephaly

Two views from top

It's been a while now that we've noticed Kate's head shape as assymetrical. Since she was 6 months old we've already noticed her irregular head shape. We've tried positioning her to lie on the side away from the flat spot of her head but even after months of doing this positional therapy, it didn't improve her head shape that much, contrary to some success stories from the internet.

During her 10th month, we went to a craniofacial specialist in KKH and he ordered a CT scan, which we didn't get to do since during that period, Kate also got sick and hospitalised, and had bouts of diarrhea, hence, a follow up visit also fizzled.

It's only now, at Kate's 15th month, we're picking up on treatment options available for her head shape. I know it's only cosmetic, but if you're a parent, you would know our dillema. We actually had a schedule this morning for a CT scan again, but we canceled it for fear of radiation side-effects based on what we read in some websites. I'm now thinking we should've just had it done and get on with it. Guess we'll have to reschedule again next week and meet the specialist again as well.

There's a treatment in the US called the DOCband which we can try, but since it's only available in the US or Spain, we'll have to go there for her to be fitted with it. I have yet to find a conclusive answer if the treatment is available here in Singapore, so i've been enquiring in Australia too.

The other option available will be corrective surgery, which can be done here, but i have yet to justify to myself why we should consider an invasive procedure for my daughter's condition.

Fingers crossed, hopefully we'll have answers soon.