Website Designed by Barry Mitchell with the assistance of Mandy Muir








Babies name Robbie Jack Allan
Age Born 14th May 2005
Mothers name Claire McCready

About Robbie Jack Allan

Robbie was born at St Johns Hospital, Livingston on 14th May at 10.58am and labour lasted about 5 hours. Robbie was born with a perfectly round head but only weighed 4lb 15oz. Robbie had low blood sugar level and had to be admitted to Special Care for 2 days and nights. He was tube fed with glucose and milk until his sugar level had risen.

We returned to St Johns hospital when Robbie was 9 weeks old as he had breathing difficulties. At that point we questioned his "strange shaped" head. We were told by the paediatric doctor "don't worry it will fix itself". No mention of plagiocephaly and also no mention of repositioning.

We also noticed around this time that Robbie would not look to the right. We would try to get his attention to the right side, he would look quickly then turn his head back. We now know that Robbie suffered from torticollis and although we questioned this with our GP and Health Visitor - it still went undiagnosed.

We returned to the GP to ask about Robbie's head on another 2 occassions and on our second visit we managed to get the GP to refer us to Edinburgh Sick Kids about his head. We waited 9 weeks for the appointment and in November 2005 we took Robbie to see a Paediatric Doctor about his headshape. The doctor confirmed that Robbie had Deformational Plagiocephaly and stated "His headshape will fix itself by the time he is 5 years old" and "Don't worry as his hair will grow in and cover the deformity". Again, I listened to the Doctor (thinking he knows best). Still Robbie's head was getting worse!!!

Between Christmas and New Year I was at a local shopping centre and bumped into a mum with her baby in a helmet. I stopped her and asked about the helmet and she explained how they work etc. I told her what the doctors had told me and she explained that everyone gets the same story and not all baby's heads fix themselves. That night I went onto the internet and booked an appointment to go to London to have Robbie assessed.

We caught the train to London to have Robbie assessed by Dr Blecher through Headstart4babies. Robbie measured at 15mm assymetry and had a casting done for his helmet that day. We returned on 6th February 2006 to have his helmet fitted. Our first review was 6 weeks later and Robbie's measurement had reduced to 7mm, we then returned 9 weeks after that and his measurement had reduced to 3mm. At Robbie's final appointment on 29th July, Robbie's helmet came off for good. His final measurement was 0mm. We are eternally grateful to Dr Blecher for treating Robbie, his head looks amazing now - it is now lovely and round. We are certain that Robbie would have to live with an abnormal shaped head for the rest of his life if we had not travelled to London and gone ahead with the helmet treatment. We would like to thank everyone who has helped us during our plagio journey. Getting Robbie fitted with his helmet was the best decision we have ever made, and his head looks amazing now. I have NEVER doubted that getting his helmet was the right decision and would do it again in an instant!!!

I feel that we are so fortunate to have found out about plagiocephaly and helmet treatment in time to have Robbie treated. There are so many other children out there who are too old for helmet treatment, and may be left with misshaped heads for the rest of their life. So many people out there may not have the resources or funds to travel for helmet treatment and this is why I created the petition which went to Scottish Parliament in May 2006. The petition received over 15,000 signatures and is being considered by the parliament now. Hopefully this will see changes in the NHS nationwide with regards to plagiocephaly. There is a leaflet on plagiocephaly being produced in Scotland which will be given out to all new parents fromm October 2006. Hopefully this is the start of changes regarding plagiocephaly and torticollis. You will be kept up-to-date with all changes on this site.