If you are in your late 20s or early 30s, chances are you learned half of what you know about life, love, and growing up from watching
Boy Meets World. It just so happens that I have an episode playing in the background as I begin typing this post. In this episode Cory gets some advice from his older brother, Eric. "Life's tough, get a helmet." Pretty simple, but very valuable advice. Well Little L has quite literally had to get a helmet this week. Not that her life is that tough, but I can imagine it's no fun wearing a helmet 23 hours a day in the middle of a Texas summer!
What do you do when life gets tough? Do you gear up, put on your helmet, and get in the game? Or do you sit on the sidelines and watch as life passes you by? Well Lilly Grace didn't really get to make the decision about
putting on the helmet, but she still has to decide at a very young age how she is going to handle her situation. I have to say she has adapted wonderfully so far and doesn't seem to mind a bit (it has only been a few days though). Mama L is staying positive and I think LG is going to do just fine!
After all, she has always been a pretty happy baby.
So you may have seen babies wearing helmets, or cranial bands, and thought to yourself- What happened to them? Did her mom drop her on her head? Did he bump his head on something? These are things that have been said to me or to other parents that I know. It wasn't too long ago that I began to understand the reason why little ones were wearing these helmets. If you have seen a child around 6 months to a year old wearing a helmet, the likely reason is that he or she has
plagiocephaly. That probably doesn't help you out much so I will explain. Plagiocephaly, also known as flat head syndrome, is characterized by a flat spot on the back or one side of the head. It can be caused by remaining on the back too long or be related to muscle tightness in the neck.
Disclaimer: I am not at all claiming to be a professional on the topic- just want to share our experience. The
Back to Sleep campaign encourages caretakers of infants to put babies to sleep on their backs. Therefore, babies are spending more time on their backs than you and I probably did when we were babies. Anyway, tummy time is encouraged from a very young age and I was even given a DVD at one of Little L's first baby well visits. The DVD explained all about plagiocephaly and how to prevent it. Of course, like any first time mom, I watched the DVD and filed it away with all of the other information and advice I had recently received. There didn't seem to be anything to worry about at the time. Looking back, there were a few things that should have stood out to me as red flags. As I mentioned, plagiocephaly could also precipitate from related muscle issues or tightness called
torticollis. Torticollis is simply a tight neck muscle and when babies have torticollis they prefer tilting their head a certain direction and laying on one side of the head.
Lilly Grace was only 4 days old here. She is so adorable here but you can already see how she tilts significantly to the left.
If I recall accurately, it was at Little L's 1 month baby well visit that her wonderful pediatrician noticed a significant tilt in the way Lilly Grace positioned her head. If my mom wasn't there, I probably would have just brushed it off because I really hadn't noticed- must have been the blind love for my child or the actual blurriness of my vision due to lack of sleep. But my mom noticed it too after the doctor pointed it out, so I figured she must be on to something. Dr. Diana showed me some neck stretches to do at home with LG. Hopefully her torticollis would improve without going to physical therapy. I was determined to fix the problem on my own and avoid the physical therapist. I didn't even want to think about the fact that LG may have to end up wearing a helmet or
Doc Band if we didn't resolve the issue quickly. That seemed so far down the road that I was convinced we could stretch Lilly Grace's neck out at home, the problem would resolve, and we would never need a helmet.
I stretched Lilly Grace out at home for a few weeks and reported back to the pediatrician to evaluate our progress. Turns out she was still tilting significantly and our pediatrician referred us to a physical therapist. At this point I'm thinking, "Great! A Professional. She should be able to fix it." I had all of the confidence in the world that going to physical therapy once a week and continuing to stretch LG at home would prevent us from getting the Doc Band.
Our physical therapist is terrific and Lilly Grace just loves Ms. Mallory. She made so much progress with the range of motion in her neck and we could see improvement each week.
Little L working hard and having fun at physical therapy.
Unfortunately, we were approaching 4.5 months of age and the flat spot caused by LG's torticollis wasn't really improving. It was recommended that we go see Cranial Technologies in Dallas for an evaluation. I figured it couldn't hurt anything to hear what they had to say, but if I'm being honest, I really didn't have the best attitude. I really didn't want to resort to getting the helmet. The visit went well and everyone that worked with us was so patient and wonderful with Lilly Grace. The results of the evaluation determined that Lilly Grace fell in the moderate category and...A Doc Band helmet was recommended. I still wasn't convinced, but felt better after talking it over with Mike, Ms. Mallory, and Dr. Diana. Being a mom isn't always easy and it's hard making decisions that are going to directly impact someone else's life. I was worried that Little L would be uncomfortable and miserable wearing a helmet 23 hours a day. I'm still new at this parenting thing, but one thing that helps is putting myself in my daughter's shoes. I think about what I would have wanted my parents to do for me in that situation. I couldn't stand the thoughts of LG's head never rounding out and all of the possible issues that could cause in the future. I would feel horrible if we didn't do anything about her flat spot and one day she asks why we never tried to fix it. We decided to go ahead and get the Doc Band helmet and not look back.
Lilly Grace got her helmet on Monday and is adjusting well. For now we will have weekly visits to evaluate her progress and make necessary changes to her band. I look forward to her next visit and can't wait to see the progress I know she is making!
LG loving her new look!
Life can be tough sometimes. We just need to put on our helmets and face the obstacles, inconveniences, or problems that come our way. I encourage you to stay in the game- you will be better for it in the end!
Do you have experience with a cranial band? I would love to hear about your story and I am always looking for advice and tips to make my little one as comfortable as possible.
