When Parker was about two months old, we noticed his head flattening on the back, and this is where our head shape journey began! There are various reasons babies’ heads get flat or lopsided. For Parker, we were told his head was flattening on the back (brachycephaly) and a tiny bit to one side (plagiocephaly). This happened to Parker because 1) he has been an excellent sleeper, thus spending a lot of time in one position, 2) he was born with a big, heavy head in the 93 percentile (birth=ouch!) which pushes his head down harder on the mattress, 3) Parker was born “sunny-side-up” which placed his head in the birth canal at an odd position which puts pressure on the head shape, and 4) because he was “sunny-side-up,” a vacuum was used to help get him out, which creates more of a “cone head” with more sloping at the back, bottom of the head. Also, I’ve learned most babies who wear helmets are the first born boy because their mother’s uterus hasn’t been stretched from prior pregnancies. This crams the baby in the stomach and puts more pressure on their scull.
Here is a timeline of our journey pre-helmet:
- 2 months old: Noticed head flattening. Right away I upped Parker’s tummy time and tried laying him on his side with a blanket tucked under one side.
- 3 months old: Since Parker was started to sit while assisted, I began keeping Parker off of the back of his head every waking moment, by holding him or having him sit in his Bumbo, play gym, or door jumper. We purchased a Boppy Noggin Nest pillow to use in his carseat and a Babymoov Lovenest to use on his changing table. We switched the way his head laid in the crib at every sleep and switched his head on the changing table. This allowed him to look toward his left to even out the lopsidedness.
- 4 month checkup with pediatrician: Our pediatrician recommended we see a neurosurgeon who would assess the severity of his brachy and plagio.
- 4.5 months old: Met with neurosurgeon and had Parker’s head scanned by Hanger Clinic, who works with the neurosurgeon. Parket’s Cephalic Index (measurement used to determine whether or not a helmet is suggested) was not high enough to be recommended a helmet at his current age. The neurosurgeon suggested we use baby safety pins to pin Parker’s clothing down to his mattress to force him to sleep on his tummy. He only recommended this because Parker started rolling from front to back at three months so he was strong enough to begin sleeping on his tummy.
- 5 months: I was reluctant to pin Parker down but I started putting Parker to bed on his tummy and stood there for 5-10 minutes to keep flipping him on his tummy until he fell asleep.
- 5.5 months: We went back to Hanger for a follow-up and while they saw improvement, he was still in the “severe” category and they suggested we start with treatment in three weeks.
- 6 months: Two things happened:
- Re-visited Hanger and because he had so much improvement, they no longer suggested treatment. What a relief! But now the decision to helmet or not gets really hard!
- Visited Cranial Tech (another helmet company) for a second opinion. According to their measurements which are stricter than Hanger’s, Parker fell into the severe category and they suggested treatment.
- 6.5 months: After many hours thinking whether to helmet or not, we decided to move forward with the helmet therapy with Cranial Tech. Parker was fitted for the helmet at this time.
- 6.75 months: Parker received his helmet. He was all smiles and even fell asleep in it on the way home! He had no problems adjusting to the helmet and even slept in it all night on the very first night.
Mommy & Munchkin 