Plagiocephaly
I honestly never knew the reason why some babies had helmets. I always guessed it was their head shape but it was just a guess. Well I can tell you I'm well versed on it now.
At his one month appointment his pediatrician noticed a prominent flat spot indicating that he was favoring one side of his head since birth. She gave us some ideas to re-position him and I faithfully did it. I tried my best to always have him on the other side except at night when there was really nothing I could safely do about it. At his 2 month appointment she said it was looking better and I saw Brooks looking both ways equally. Our next appointment with the pediatrician was at 4 months and she confirmed my hunch that he has plagiocephaly or a flat spot on his head. I saw it coming because as his mom, I look at him a lot and thought his head shape was off. His pediatrician recommended a free evaluation with someone who was more specialized in that area.
Between our appointment with the pediatrician and before our appointment with the specialist I searched the internet for hours. Of course you take everything on the internet with a grain of salt. I was looking up baby development, forums of moms with babies who needed helmets, costs, options, videos of the process- I absorbed anything and everything about the topic and it helped a lot.
To be honest I felt like it was my fault, I'm sure a lot of moms do. Thoughts of, 'but what if I had...' swirled through my brain. I knew it was caused by back sleeping (which SAVES lives) but I kept thinking if I had done more when he was awake maybe things would be different.
We went to Cranial Tech in Fort Worth and everyone was very nice and helpful. They took digital pictures of his entire head so we could clearly see the shapes and abnormalities. The doctor explained he has moderate plagiocephaly and some symptoms of brachycephaly (flat and wide head) too and would recommend their DocBand helmet. She explained that some babies start having flat spots in uteruo and that even with the best re-positioning you might just create another flat spot on the other side. She assured me it wasn't a result of my parenting and that it's more common than I thought.
Brooks' head shape has shifted his ears, face and jaw and when you see his face in greyscale, it made it more obvious. This can lead to under/over bites, balance issues and ill fitting helmets and glasses to name a few. They gave us a report and answered all our questions then contacted our insurance to let us know the cost with our benefits before we made the decision. Dan and I spent a lot of time talking, praying and fasting about the decision until we felt very confident it was the right choice for us and Brooks.
Brooks will get his helmet this week and will be the cutest helmet baby I know if you ask me. Average treatment time for his age is 6-9 weeks because their heads grow so much. The helmet is much lighter and softer than you think. It's plastic on the outside and foam on the inside. It hugs the places where his head is growing normally and the foam is carved out to leave room where the flat spots are so the growth is redirected to those areas. We'll have weekly appointments to make adjustments. Wish us luck as he adjusts to it and stay tuned to see him in it! Yes, OF COURSE I'm decorating it, any guesses?
TL;DR - Brooks is getting a helmet to fix the flat spot on his head. Otherwise he's perfectly healthy and happy.
At his one month appointment his pediatrician noticed a prominent flat spot indicating that he was favoring one side of his head since birth. She gave us some ideas to re-position him and I faithfully did it. I tried my best to always have him on the other side except at night when there was really nothing I could safely do about it. At his 2 month appointment she said it was looking better and I saw Brooks looking both ways equally. Our next appointment with the pediatrician was at 4 months and she confirmed my hunch that he has plagiocephaly or a flat spot on his head. I saw it coming because as his mom, I look at him a lot and thought his head shape was off. His pediatrician recommended a free evaluation with someone who was more specialized in that area.
Between our appointment with the pediatrician and before our appointment with the specialist I searched the internet for hours. Of course you take everything on the internet with a grain of salt. I was looking up baby development, forums of moms with babies who needed helmets, costs, options, videos of the process- I absorbed anything and everything about the topic and it helped a lot.
To be honest I felt like it was my fault, I'm sure a lot of moms do. Thoughts of, 'but what if I had...' swirled through my brain. I knew it was caused by back sleeping (which SAVES lives) but I kept thinking if I had done more when he was awake maybe things would be different.
We went to Cranial Tech in Fort Worth and everyone was very nice and helpful. They took digital pictures of his entire head so we could clearly see the shapes and abnormalities. The doctor explained he has moderate plagiocephaly and some symptoms of brachycephaly (flat and wide head) too and would recommend their DocBand helmet. She explained that some babies start having flat spots in uteruo and that even with the best re-positioning you might just create another flat spot on the other side. She assured me it wasn't a result of my parenting and that it's more common than I thought.
Normal head on the left, Brooks on the right.
his face cracks me up! He was looking at a light up wand toy
Brooks' head shape has shifted his ears, face and jaw and when you see his face in greyscale, it made it more obvious. This can lead to under/over bites, balance issues and ill fitting helmets and glasses to name a few. They gave us a report and answered all our questions then contacted our insurance to let us know the cost with our benefits before we made the decision. Dan and I spent a lot of time talking, praying and fasting about the decision until we felt very confident it was the right choice for us and Brooks.
Brooks will get his helmet this week and will be the cutest helmet baby I know if you ask me. Average treatment time for his age is 6-9 weeks because their heads grow so much. The helmet is much lighter and softer than you think. It's plastic on the outside and foam on the inside. It hugs the places where his head is growing normally and the foam is carved out to leave room where the flat spots are so the growth is redirected to those areas. We'll have weekly appointments to make adjustments. Wish us luck as he adjusts to it and stay tuned to see him in it! Yes, OF COURSE I'm decorating it, any guesses?
TL;DR - Brooks is getting a helmet to fix the flat spot on his head. Otherwise he's perfectly healthy and happy.
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