I’ve mentioned it a few times on his monthly updates, but Sonny has finally been fitted and received his Doc-band helmet for head re-shaping. It’s thrown me off a few times while holding him when I go in for the head kiss only to be met by the helmet but other-than-that it’s been a seamless transition.
Sonny has a ‘moderate’ case of plagiocephaly, which I could probably tell you more about if I took the time to consult google but there’s really no point. It’s quite common (so common in fact that the cynical part of me wonders how much of it is gimmick versus necessity) and I feel it most likely developed in utero, when his 10lbs frame was cramped in my tiny frame. Very early on, he preferred to have his head turned to the left (again, I think this was his positioning in utero) and, as a result, a flat spot developed on the back of the left side of his head.
His condition was never associated with torticollis, which is when an infant displays a head tilt to one side or shows difficulty in turning the neck to one side. Rather, he was able to hold his head up straight and turned both ways with ease, but whenever he’d go to sleep, he’d always turn his head to the left. He simply favored that side (again, most likely – I think – based on his position in utero).
In any event, Willy insisted we get it looked at. I was more on the ‘nothing’s wrong’ committee but after his initial visit, where his measurements defined his case as moderate over mild, I started to wrap my mind around the idea of treatment.
Treatment consists of head re-shpaing via the Doc-band, or helmet. The amount of time needed in it varies from case to case. When we took him in to be evaluated at 5 months, we were told to expect 7-10 weeks of treatment. We’re in our 7th week now and because he didn’t actually start treatment until he was 6 months, we’ve been told to expect another month or so of helmet wearing. He’s adjusted to it fine and despite a smelly head come morning, we’ve all adjusted well to him being in it. And with two wild brothers, I figure safety first anyway. In fact, it’s saved him more times than I care to admit. There’s even been times I’ve found myself relying on the damn thing; like when he’s in his jumper and jumps so hard he thrashes himself into the door frame. The other day I took him shopping and left the helmet in the car (he wears it 23 hrs / day) and giggled as he threw his head into the handlebar in a fit of excitement stemming from a stranger smiling at him; he looked up to me as if to say, “why has that never hurt before?”. Perhaps we’ll keep it around longer than is necessary cuz, ya know, added protection.
If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask! I chose these two images (take prior to treatment) so you can see the roundness on one side in comparison to the flatness on the other though it’s most noticeable when viewing from above.