A Whole New Head

After just two months of wearing her helmet for 23 hours a day, our Mallorie "graduated!" I am glad that we made the decision to place a helmet, despite the numerous headbutts to my face, sore collar bones, and inconvenience during a clothes change. I am grateful for her sweet temperament and tolerance of the apparatus during those months; she was a trooper! She made it out of the helmet just as the temperatures in Boise were soaring to the 104s. Whew!

July 2013

Her final head scan revealed an overall symmetry of 0.93...the goal is to get these little guys in the 0.9- range. She started the whole ordeal at 0.89; many babies are more in the 0.82 range when they begin their time in a cranial molding helmet. One study I read stated that since the 1992-93 decision by the pediatrician specialists to place babies on their backs to sleep (combined with the increasing busy-ness of parents and increased time in bouncy chairs and carseats) as many as 45% of babies have a noticeable head-shape abnormality. Wow!

This is the image that is created during the laser head scan - which, by the way, Mallorie did NOT tolerate well. The minute we placed her on her back in the scanner, the tears started to flow and the wailing commenced. We got the final scan by showing her a video on my phone of Morgan singing...luckily the scan only requires two seconds of absolute stillness. Turns out that can be hard to achieve in an unhappy infant!

The red line is from her first scan in April...the blue line where she ended in June. The orthotic technician was impressed with the speed with which her head changed. Most babies are in the helmet for 3-6 months or longer. The people at Sawtooth Orthotics were great!

From my point of view, the only downfall to not wearing the helmet in a busy little person learning to negotiate her environment is the lack of head protection when head meets underside of chair or table.