Toby Kerr
Baby – Toby Kerr
Parents – Claire & Paul Kerr
Location – South Croydon, Surrey
Toby wearing his new Starband™ Helmet
Diagnosis – Severe brachycephaly (with mild plagiocephaly)
Age treatment started – 10 months
Age treatment finished – 18 months (finished)
Claire Kerr noticed that her baby’s head was becoming flat when he was less than three months old. “I talked to a couple of different health visitors about it when I went to the baby clinic to have Toby weighed. They said that it would eventually round out on its own and that his hair would grow to cover it in the future. This seemed perfectly credible, and because it came from health professionals, I had every reason to feel confident that it was sound advice. So I didn’t worry. In fact, I even repeated the advice to other mums whose babies’ heads had flat spots.”
The truth is, if the problem is not recognised early enough, the head may never round out on its own. Claire continues, “When Toby reached six months, and started sitting up during the day and sleeping on his front, I expected his head shape to gradually improve as everyone had said. But it didn’t. I was still concerned and so I did a bit of a search on the main UK baby websites. The problem was mentioned on a couple of them, but the advice was still the same – it will right itself over time. So again I felt reassured and put it to the back of my mind.”
But by the time Toby reached 9½ months, and his head shape hadn’t changed at all, Claire says she knew she had to do something about it. “I spent the whole day searching on the internet and found a couple of US Yahoo! groups where people seemed to know all about this problem. What’s more, I could finally give it a name – deformational plagiocephaly.”
With simple repositioning techniques, the severity of the condition can be reduced over time. But not many people are well versed in the practice. Says Claire, “None of the health visitors told me that I could use repositioning to stop Toby’s head from becoming worse – or that repositioning could even improve it. I wish they were better informed, but they just don’t seem to know anything about plagio.”
The aims of repositioning are to encourage the baby to rest his head on the non-flattened areas, to avoid any systematic pressure that will continue to flatten it. Until a baby is about seven months old, careful attention to repositioning can greatly improve head shape. While the advice to place babies on their backs to sleep is right - to help prevent SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) - during waking hours, they should spend as much time as possible on their tummies. Parents are encouraged to follow the “Back to sleep, tummy time to play” philosophy, so that pressure is taken off the flattened area, allowing time for the head to grow in the right places.
For Toby, repositioning wasn’t an option because he was already too old for it to work, but through her searches, Claire had discovered that cranial remoulding therapy would work to allow Toby’s head to gradually reshape as it grew. Comments Claire, “I had learned that time was now of the essence, and thankfully, within two days, I had an appointment to see Steve Mottram, a specialist orthotist who could fit Toby with a STARband.”
In advance of their appointment, Claire and her husband had discussed whether or not to progress with treatment should the specialist’s diagnosis recommend it. Claire says, “Toby was diagnosed with severe brachycephaly, a form of plagiocephaly where the head is flattened right across the back. We had no hesitation in going ahead with treatment. Our decision was further vindicated on the way home, when we saw a little boy of about seven or eight who had a very flat head at the back. I just didn’t want that to be Toby in a few years’ time.”
Toby wore his band for eight months and was always perfectly happy in it. Adds Claire, “Toby adjusted to the band very quickly, as did we. Family and friends came to see it as part of him. He grew quite slowly, so was in the band longer than most babies, but it was a really short time in comparison with a lifetime of problems that he might have had if we hadn’t gone ahead with the treatment. Instead of having a flat head for life, it has rounded out beautifully and we are thrilled with what the STARband has achieved.”
Toby’s specialist, Steve Mottram, is very pleased with his results too. “His was a severe case of brachycephaly when I first saw him, but he has seen excellent growth and has done really well. He now has a head shape that is within the normal range and he looks great.”