Helmet Use Ineffective for Infants With Skull Deformation

[NoodleSnack]

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/824470?src=rss


Just want to share. Basically the study finds that the condition improves on its own for some with or without the helmet, those with helmets do not do better than those without. The sample is not that big though.

Helmet use was associated with numerous problems, including skin irritation (96%), parents being hindered from cuddling their child (77%), unpleasant odor (76%), increased sweating (71%), and perceived pain (33%).

"Based on the equal effectiveness of helmet therapy compared with the natural course, the high prevalence of side effects and the high costs of treatment, we discourage the use of helmet therapy as a standard treatment for healthy infants with moderate to severe skull deformation," they conclude.

The researchers emphasize that because only about a quarter of babies in either group fully recovered from abnormalities, prevention is key. The best approach was placing the child in varied positions during waking hours while sticking to tummy-up recommendations when the baby was asleep.

 

[fieryphoenix]

I bet this study was funded by insurance companies that don't want to pay for helmets lol I can't read the article, but I'm sure they wouldn't put kids in helmets if it didn't help

 

[Lovn.sunshine]

I am a firm believer that the whole thing is a scare tactic. Unless there is a severe deformation [or seizure/narcolepsy risk] I see no reason to put them in a helmet that in all reality is simply for aesthetics.

 

[scoobydrlp]

Can't read the article without creating an account, but I think that "for some" in your commentary is a key phrase. My LO was diagnosed with severe plagiocephaly with facial and ear asymmetry secondary to torticollis. We chose a DOC Band and saw great results. There's no way to know what would have been if we didn't choose to band her, but seeing as there was no way to keep her off the flat side of her head while sleeping (because of her torticollis) I can only assume it would have gotten worse before getting better. I also can't even begin to tell you the sense of relief I felt from not having to obsess about repositioning her ALL THE TIME to keep her off the flat spot. It truly consumed my life and I felt so much anxiety prior to getting her DOC Band. In our case (and many others) the prevention they recommend isn't possible. No matter how many times I repositioned my LO she would always turn her head back to the right because of her neck condition.

I'm not knocking the study (especially since I haven't read it), or your thread. But I do think people should be informed about all aspects of treatment before deeming it unnecessary or useless.

 

[steph.]

I can't read the article either which is a shame because it would have been interesting. In the extraxt you posted it says only 1/4 in either group recover fully, but I wonder if the ones that aren't fully recovered look better in the helmet group.

Dd1 had a very slight flat spot on her head when she was tiny and I was up at all hours of the night switching her head position (it evetually fixed itself), so I think if it was severe i would obsess about it even more, so Scooby I understand the feeling of relief you must have felt after the DOC band.

Lovn.sunshine what do you mean when you say its a scare tactic? Do you mean its something mums are made to worry about, but shouldnt? I understand that aesthetics may not seem like a big deal, but it may be a big deal for the child when s/he grows up. I know that if I had ended up with asymmetrical facial features I would have wished my parents had put a helmet on me when I was a baby. In saying that I know what you mean when we see some posts on here where mums are panicking about a flat spot that is hardly noticeable (as I did with dd1).

 

[Pearls18]

I had never heard of these helmets until being in baby club second time around by which time there were more posters from different parts of the world compared to a few years ago. I genuinely thought flat spots were just one of those things, that said, DS1 never had one and DS2 does so it does worry me a bit now I'm going to mention it to the HV, I won't be looking into a helmet though it's not severe.

 

[Noodlebear]

I can't read it either but after typing it into google there are lots of articles talking about it. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/276281.php

For those who can't click on the link or don't want to read it all -

84 babies with moderate/severe deformation were assessed. Half wore helmets, half did not. Their head shape was measured when they were 2 years old and 25.6% of those using the helmets made a full recovery while 22.5% of those who did not have treatment made a full recovery. This was deemed as 'no significant difference'.
(It also mentions all the points the OP has quoted.)


In an editorial linked to the study, Prof. Brent R. Collett, of the University of Washington School of Medicine, says that it is important that parents are aware of the implications of helmet therapy and that future research involving larger samples of children would be useful to investigate further.

"In particular," he adds, "it would be of interest to learn whether children with the most severe positional plagiocephaly and brachycephaly, who were excluded from this trial, show meaningful improvement."

 

[Noodlebear]

The babies who weren't given helmets and didn't fully recover might have made huge improvements had they worn them and if they'd assessed more children they might have found that the difference between the 2 percentages was more substantial or that 'no helmets' ended up being more successful. It's a good study but hard to formulate an opinion as the sample is so small and there are few details. I hope this gets looked into more. The helmets must be awkward and the thought of putting babies in them, if it transpires that they aren't really beneficial, isn't a nice one.

 

[scoobydrlp]

I wish they had been more detailed about improvements between the two groups rather than just reporting the percentage of those that had "full recovery". It would have been easy for them to report the average improvement in cranial vault asymmetry for those with plagiocephaly and improvment in cephalic index for those with brachycephaly. Just because they don't end up in "normal" range doesn't mean that one group could have had a more significant improvment over the other...but we'll never know that, for this study anyway. I wish someone would do a much larger group study and give us ALL the facts.

 

[randomrach]

I had never heard of these helmets until being in baby club second time around by which time there were more posters from different parts of the world compared to a few years ago. I genuinely thought flat spots were just one of those things, that said, DS1 never had one and DS2 does so it does worry me a bit now I'm going to mention it to the HV, I won't be looking into a helmet though it's not severe.

My situation is the same DD never had any flatness, DS is nearly 4 months and does. I do everything to avoid making it worse - holding him upright, barely using carseat and bouncer, tummy time (he actually sleeps on his tummy during the day) and have tried turning his head to the other side for his night time sleep but nothing really makes a difference as he turns his head back and sleeps 6-7 hours on one side still. I spoke to my health visitor and her only advice was turn his head the other way. Only possible if I wake every 5 mins throughout the night

 

[scoobydrlp]

My situation is the same DD never had any flatness, DS is nearly 4 months and does. I do everything to avoid making it worse - holding him upright, barely using carseat and bouncer, tummy time (he actually sleeps on his tummy during the day) and have tried turning his head to the other side for his night time sleep but nothing really makes a difference as he turns his head back and sleeps 6-7 hours on one side still. I spoke to my health visitor and her only advice was turn his head the other way. Only possible if I wake every 5 mins throughout the night

https://www.tortle.com Check this out, it's a hat that keeps them from turning onto the flat spot, very affordable. It would sure be worth a try!