Just Fixin' His Flat

Since month 1 of Griffin’s life I had thought that his head was getting flat.  I brought it up to his pediatrician and she didn’t think it was bad and told me that it should shape itself out over the next few months. 

I tried my hardest to rotate him and make sure he got enough tummy time even though he despised it.  I am glad I paid more attention to his head shape early on.  I have family that works in the orthopedics field so I think I was more aware of things early than others might be.  It was something that was on my mind a lot and some might of said I obsessed over my son’s head.  I did.  All that I could worry about was that I did something wrong to cause the flatness and I should of paid more attention from day one and not wait till he was 1 month old.

At Griffin’s 5 month checkup, I stated to the doctor that I was still worried about his head and that I didn’t see any improvement over the past months and that I started noticing that he preferred to look to his left rather than his right.  She referred us to a Pediatric Physical Therapist to see more of what was going on.

His PT said that he had a mild case of plagiocephaly due to a mild case of torticollis.  Torticollis is tightening of the neck muscles, and in Griffin’s case he was tight at the base of his neck on the right side.  This resulted to his plagiocephaly and flattening on the left side of his head.

 

His PT then referred us to a Hanger Clinic to get his head scanned to see just how bad his plagiocephaly was.  He agreed that it was mild but that he could benefit from having a cranial band.  Griffin would wear the helmet for about 8 weeks, give or take, to reshape his head and help with making his facial features more symmetric.

Now, I’m going to be real honest here.  I did not want the helmet.  I would do anything and everything to help Griffin’s head, but having the “baby helmet” was a hard one to swallow.  I wondered how he would do wearing it and dreading him having to wear it for 23 hours a day and I also didn’t want the stares and questions from people.  I felt like I was going to go from people telling me how adorable he was to questions on what was wrong with him and overlook the adorable smile behind the helmet. 

Our first outing with the cranial band is behind us now.  I got the first stares and questions on what was wrong with him, and now I feel more comfortable with it now.  I guess I was just eager on what people would actually say and question me.  So far so good.  I am honestly just happy that he is going to benefit from the cranial band and that it is going to fix his flat.

Griffin is a champ with his helmet.  We have a little moment of unhappiness when we put it on and take it off, but the time that he is fully wearing it doesn’t seem to bother him.  His sleep hasn't been affected by wearing it at night either.  Thanks goodness!

We had the option of painting or wrapping his helmet to jazz it up a bit.  I wanted Griffin to have a custom piece so I found a lady in North Carolina who does amazing work.  I mailed his helmet to Leigh at Treasured Interiors, and she overnight it back to me the next day.   

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How adorable right? 

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 I am so thankful for his helmet and I am thrilled that it is going to benefit him by wearing it.  The paint job is a plus!

I hope parents with children that need a doc band get it and don't worry about the small stuff like I did in the beginning.  It is well worth it for your child and the weeks will fly by.  Before you know it, I will be kissing this blonde hair, blue eyed baby's perfectly round head 24/7!

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