Denise, you've raised an excellent question. Yes, using different postures
for feeding and sleeping would reduce or eliminate post-birth plagiocephaly.
Plagiocephaly can be caused by repeated positioning in one posture in a bed,
deformation during birth, or even prenatal wedging in the pelvis. It's more
common in twin & multiple-infant pregnancies. And asymmetry is not limited
to the occipital plates.
In many cultures, babies are carried upright, in arms, on backs, in slings
or tie-on carriers, for many hours a day. (Note: in-arms & on-body carrying
has many developmental advantages to the infant, besides keeping the baby
close to mom for breastfeeding!) The "back to sleep" campaign to reduce
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome encourages supine placement for sleep, which
has the unfortunate side-effect of triggering more plagiocephaly, especially
if the infant is rarely put in any other position.
I see only breastfed babies in my practice, and the ones with the poorest
suck often have some degree of plagiocephaly. Osteopathic Manipulative
Therapy seems to be effective and gentle treatment for this condition. One
pilot study on this treatment that was done in Australia specifically for
sucking problems: Fraval, Maxwell MPR. A Pilot study: osteopathic treatment
of infants with a sucking dysfunction. Journal of the American Academy of
Osteopathy 1998; 8(2): 25-33. Sucking helps the cranial plates move back
into place, especially normal sucking on a breast. So does carrying the baby
upright and jiggling her a bit, like we usually do after a feed when we
carry the baby upright on our shoulder, looking toward our back. (Picture
classic "burping" position without the back-pounding.)
I discussed this issue at length in my chapter on "Physics and Forces" in
"Impact of Birthing Practices on Breastfeeding" published by Jones &
Bartlett http://www.jbpub.com/catalog/0763724815. Disclosure: as co-author,
I receive royalties on the sale of this book.
Linda J. Smith, BSE, FACCE, IBCLC
Bright Future Lactation Resource Centre Ltd
6540 Cedarview Ct, Dayton OH 45459
937-438-9458 / fax 937-437-3229
www.BFLRC.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Denise Punger [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, January 05, 2005 4:41 AM
Subject: plagiocephaly
I have diagnosed a two month old with plagiocephaly, a misshapen shaped head
(a flattened occipital parietal area, noticable prominence of frontal area
with secondary tightening of neck, shoulder muscles) thought to be do always
positioning baby on the same side to feed, sleep, etc... This baby is
formula fed and each family member feeds baby from same side and puts baby
to sleep on same side. I am curious if anyone has seen this condition in a
breastfed baby. it seems unlikely since the positioning on both sides would
be preventative, but I am curious anyway. Denise
Denise Punger MD FAAFP IBCLC
Fort Pierce, Florida
http://denisepunger.tripod.com
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