Post Helmet Questions

[nycmomma]

Hi, my son has had a cranial helmet for a mild case of plagiocephaly and in 8 weeks has gone from 10mm asymmetry to 4mm (within normal range), but his head is still lumpy. It's like his head "popped" above (where they take the measurement) and below the ear, but there is still an indentation. It's been like this for almost 3 weeks now but we've kept the helmet on to see if this last spot will pop too.

When your LO got his/her helmet off, was their head perfect or was there still some asymmetry and/or lumpiness? Should I leave it on longer to see if we can get even better results?

Also, he wasn't mobile when the helmet went on. Now he can crawl and pull up and he seems sorta careless about falling and hitting his head. It's like he's learned that bumping his head doesn't hurt. I'm afraid of what's going to happen once it comes off. Did any of you experience this?

[mrs_sid31517]

Hi.. we havent started helmet therapy yet, we pick Parkers up nov 18. The chief orthotics/prosthetics guy told us that Parker would definitely get used to bangin his head around.. and then when it was time to be done with it, he wouldnt realize that it would hurt! He said it would be just like a normal baby bumping his head... and after he did it intentionally the first few times, he would learn lol.. I hope we see results as well as you did! Our lil man is plagio too!

[AuburnLocks]

That's a big difference in a short time. Congrats.

Patrick's head was definitely still lumpy and a bit asymmetrical after finishing the helmet. The asymmetry is still there and didn't improve further, but he has a lot moreh air now so it isn't noticeable except in the shower. the lumpiness improved a lot as he grew however. It's much more rounded now.

I would think that as long as the helmet still fits him, it can't hurt to keep going. My son outgrew his first one in about 10 weeks and we still had a ways to go so we got a second one. I'd keep it on until he's too big for further adjustments, just to make sure you get as far as you can with it and don't end up with regrets.

And yes, we also experienced the lack of fear to head bumps. He figured it out pretty quickly though.

[melissag]

We actually liked that the helmet protected Mark from bumping his head all the time. It protected him from many injuries. Once it was off he quickly learned not to bash his head and to be more careful.

When Mark got his helmet off (after 6 months) it definitely wasn't perfect. He still has some assymetry and a flat spot at the back. Our dr felt that it was within the normal range and that he would not see much of a benefit from wearing the helmet any longer. Our ortho felt that there was still room for improvement and wanted us to buy a second helmet and use it for another year. We felt that the tiny amount of improvement we would see was not worth another year of the helmet.

So in the end, his little head is not perfect but I really doubt that it is visible to anyone but me.

Good luck!

[Leighasmom]

Same thing happened to us as Melissa. We still had some lumps and bumps but if you feel your own head who doesn't have lumps and small flat spots? Leigha's concern for me has always been her forehead. It is a little indented in the middle where the surgeon joined her newly molded forehead(We are bicoronal so Leigha didn't have a forehead and her ocipital bones had to be built up.) and the helmet did wonders for shapimg things more and more round. We saw improvement. The few things I still notice so far it doesn't bother her and she never says anything about it. No one has ever teased her (in fact she has a couple of boys that tell her poems in class ). The helmet won't get you to perfect but I believe you'll be happy with its outcome. I know I wouldn't have been happy without the helmet shaping her more.