A desperate young mother finds herself in a race against time to ensure her baby’s head is not left deformed for life.
Shanielle Tawney, 25, from Caringbah in Sydney’s south, gave birth to Adaliya in mid-December last year.
Weighing 3.023kg, Adaliya was a healthy and happy baby and mother and daughter left the hospital within 24 hours.
But when she was about a month old, Ms Tawney noticed Adaliya couldn’t turn her head to the left and would only sleep on her right side.
“He was a very long baby, which meant that when he was in the womb he couldn’t move his head much, so the muscles in his neck became very tight,” Tawney told Daily Mail Australia.
‘This meant she could barely turn her neck to the left, so I had to go to physiotherapy for six months and now we have full movement on the left side. But all that time lying on her right side has left her with a flat head on that side.
‘I’ve been told that a baby’s head is like play dough, so when you put pressure on it and make them sleep on one side more than the other, it can cause their head to become flat.’
Shanielle Tawney, 25, from Caringbah in Sydney’s south, gave birth to Adaliya in mid-December last year (pictured: mother and daughter together)
Adaliya, who weighed 3.023kg, was a healthy and happy baby, and mother and daughter left the hospital within 24 hours. But when she was about a month old, Ms Tawney noticed Adaliya couldn’t turn her head to the left and would only sleep on her right side.
This is due to the baby’s fontanelle, which is the name of the soft spots on a baby’s head where the bony plates that form the skull have not yet fused together.
It is normal for babies to have these soft spots, which can be seen and felt on the top and back of the head.
Adaliya’s condition, called deformational plagiocephaly, usually does not affect a baby’s brain development but, if left untreated, can leave the baby with a deformed face and head.
Varying the position of the baby’s head can help to balance it, but if this is not achieved by four months, then a specially moulded helmet will be required.
Adaliya, now eight months old, has been categorised as an “extreme” case, but Ms Tawney has been told Medicare does not provide a helmet.
Adaliya, now eight months old, has a flat side to her head.
Her case has been classified as an “extreme” case, but Ms Tawney has been told that Medicare does not provide helmets.
The single mother, who used to work as a cafe manager but now relies on Centrelink, is desperately trying to scrape together the nearly $3,000 it costs to make a helmet for Adaliya, and has only a three-month window in which to be able to work.
Ms. Tawne, who has started a GoFundMe Page In an attempt to cover the costs, she said she was unwilling to accept the idea of not giving her daughter the treatment she needs.
“I try not to stop thinking about what will happen if I don’t get the money,” he said.
“I’ve already raised $700 and I can probably put some of my Centrelink money towards that so I don’t have to feed myself. I would do anything for her.”
Adaliya would have to wear a helmet like the one in the photo, but it costs about $3,000.
Ms Tawney encouraged other mothers to keep an eye on their babies when they are lying on their side and to act quickly if they discover this is the case.
“Go see a private specialist immediately rather than trying to fix it yourself,” he advised.
‘Then you will have a margin of time to save the necessary money because the treatment can only work for a very short period, up to 18 months at most.
‘He‘It’s really until the little soft spot on their head, the fontanelle, closes.’
Deformational plagiocephaly is quite common, affecting up to one in five babies to varying degrees.