In August 2019, Cuddles Day Nursery raised £3000 towards a special helmet for a little girl called Luna. Luna is the grand-daughter of one of the Cuddles staff and was diagnosed with Positional Plagiocephaly

Plagiocephaly is a disorder that affects the skull, making the back or side of a baby’s head appear flattened. Positional plagiocephaly is produced by pressure from the outside on part of the skull. It can occur while the baby is still developing in the womb but in recent years, flattening occurring after the baby is born has become much more frequent.

The skull is made up of several ‘plates’ of bone which, when we are born, are not tightly joined together. As we grow older, they gradually fuse – or stick – together. When we are young, they are soft enough to be moulded, and this means their shape can be altered by pressure on it to give part – usually the back – of a baby’s head a flattened look. There are different ways to treat Positional Plagiocephaly and in the more pronounced cases, a helmet to be worn 23 hours a day is sometimes required. This helmet is not supplied on the NHS.  

Cuddles raised the money for the helmet and Luna started wearing the helmet in September. Fast forward a few months and the helmet has made a drastic improvement for Luna. This is something that will have benefitted her for the rest of her life. Now Luna will be able to wear standard bicycle helmets, go swimming, have various haircuts without any worry about a very uneven head shape. Her ears are now aligned which means she will be able to wear any sunglasses or normal glasses she wishes without any discomfort. 

Luna’s parents and family have sent a big Thank You to Cuddles for such a generous donation. It’s been greatly appreciated and will be something they will always remember.

For more information on this condition, please click the link below.