Re: [Plagio] Helmet or no helmet?

Hi,

Well at our 2 month appointment for our daughter I brought up that i noticed her head was a little "out of shape". She told me to start doing positional therapy and come back in a month, which we did by placing her to sleep on the opposite side. This didn't seem to help because she would always turn her head onto the other side. So after taking her back in a month she referred us to a Neurosurgeon and he did notice she too had Torticollis. He showed us exercises to do with her every time we change her diaper and referred us to a place who specializes in the Starband helmets....he said she did have plagio as well. After having a consultation with the helmet place we were so comforted to know a lot of children go through this and it is fixable! After doing a scan we could definitely see that other parts of her head were being effected such as her forhead was starting to bulge and her ears were slightly starting to be uneven...I believe that even if it's just a "cosmetic" issue and even if nothing else such as TMJ or inner ear problems (which there is not really any data to state would happen, just basically hypothetical) who wants there baby to have an uneven head or other slightly odd features? After going through our insurance we went to a place that we knew we didn't feel comfortable with and so we decided to go back to the place the neurosurgeon suggested (they didn't take our insurance) so we paid out of pocket to have the helmet made knowing we felt very comfortable with the process and company and knowing it would benefit in the long run.

She just got the helmet at 4 months and 3 weeks of age and I do know that the window of opportunity starts to close as there head growth slows down which essentially will make them have to wear the helmet for longer to fix the issue, only because the head is growing slower, but it can still be fixed all the way up to like 18 months or so.

I am grateful that the doctors we went too didn't push us off as "it will go back" because even in as little time as a month it was rescanned and had gotten worse, even though we knew her Turtocollis was MUCH better.

So my suggestion is to pursue what you as a mom feel in your gut. Some doctors just may not have had too much experience with it and others do.

I do not live in PA but in CA so I can not suggest a place, but I can tell you that I am glad with the choice my husband and I have made for our daughter and know that it will get better. I do trust our Neurosurgeon who is from Children's Hospital LA, as well as the Prosthetics and Orthotist who we are seeing, who specializes in Starband helmets.

Don't be too stressed, as my doctors Say's "it's not life support, it is just making something that is alittle off in shape that much better."

Hope this helps, let me know if you have any questions.....don't worry.

jaimlee11 <jaimlee11@yahoo.com> wrote:

Hi,

I was told my son had plagiocephaly at our 2 month pediatrician's
visit. The pediatrician did not seem that concerned and told
us, "there is not much data on use of a helmet vs. no helmet, so I
wait and see if his head rounds out. Most children will round out on
their own by one year of age." At our 4 month check up, I told our
pediatrician I didn't feel my son's head was getting any better and
I wanted a referral for a neurologist, which he gave us. Upon seeing
the neurologist, he basically stated there is no prospective data on
the use of a helmet and he felt there was not much difference in
kids placed in helmet versus not using one. Our son is almost 5
months old now and I really don't see much change. After ready a lot
of blogs from Mom's who have used the helmet, I am concerned by
waiting, we are not doing the right thing. I'm also concerned that
our window of opportunity is closing if we decide to do a helmet. I
really don't want to look back and feel as if I could have done
something, adn didn't. Although, I don't want to place him a helmet
if we see no results! I just feel so stressed out about all of this.
Has anyone decided not to use the helmet and their child's head
eventually became round? We live in West Chester, PA and I would
also be interested in hearing on a good place to take him, if we do
decide to go with a helmet. One other factor, he also has
toricollis, and we are having a PT come out and do excercises with
him. Our ped also seems to think this will help his flat head. But,
I'm not sure if I can totally trust our ped's advice. Any
suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

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