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Baby's Sleep Position May Not Affect Severity of Head Flattening

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Leastproject of 6:50PM December 06, 2009

does putting babies to sleep on the stomach have anything to do with the back (the spinner cord) especially a male child ? if yes, can it affect the babies sexual life ?

lanre adewara 1:15AM August 22, 2009

Regarding the following:
"The truth is that we did find a statistically insignificant trend towards less cranial asymmetry in infants who slept prone or in alternating positions."
Can I assume you mean that the p-values were between 0.05 and 0.10 for these trends? If possible can you let us know what those p-values were.
Thanks.
Tom

Tom of NJ 4:07PM April 01, 2009

The issues raised by Dr. Kelly on 3/28/09 are valid. I, too, am concerned by some of the media's interpretation of our study, and the title of this article is a perfect example...
I will address Dr. Kelly's points in order: First, he underscores that our study examined the severity, not causes, of deformational plagiocephaly (DP). Supine positioning is a well-established risk factor for the development of DP, and the results of our study should not be used to modify the recommendation for infant supine positioning by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Second, Dr. Kelly is correct in stating that we did not assess the treatment of DP. Nevertheless, we did find that the severity of DP at presentation was not affected by the use of orthotic pillows and other positioning devices. Lastly, as stated above, I am also concerned about the title of this article. The truth is that we did find a statistically insignificant trend towards less cranial asymmetry in infants who slept prone or in alternating positions.
I invite Dr. Kelly and any other interested persons to read our article in the Journal of Craniofacial Surgery. The article, which is the result of rigorous peer-review, is a more reliable source for interpretation of our results.

Albert K. Oh, M.D. of RI 1:17PM April 01, 2009

I have several concerns about Dr. Oh's study. First, it is important to remember that Dr. Oh and his colleagues studied the severity of the DP. They did not study the causes of DP -- all of the children in the study had DP. Second, although the news article implies otherwise, Dr Oh and his colleagues did not assess the treatment of DP. They did look at the association between the severity of DP and the use of devices to treat DP. However, that does not tell use whether the treatment was effective. The lack of a relationship simply means that a wide range of severities were treated. Finally, I am concerned about the story title "... position may not affect severity..." Dr. Oh is quoted at saying "We found a trend toward less flattening in infants who slept prone [face downward], or in positions that were alternated." When I read Dr. Oh’s statement I am inclined to conclude that “sleeping position does affect the severity of flattening.”
Kevin M. Kelly, Ph.D.
www.Plagiocephaly.Info

Kevin M. Kelly of IA 6:35PM March 28, 2009