She has the helmet to correct a flat spot on the back right side of her head. She will have to wear the helmet 23 hours per day for about 3-5 months. Right now we're working her up to wearing it all day & night, but as you can see from her picture, it doesn't bother her too much.
We've ordered some cool decals for the helmet, and we'll definitely post more pictures once we get them.
If you're interested, here's some information on what Zoey has and why she has to wear the helmet.
To start from the beginning...
We noticed that Zoey always slept with her head to one side, but we didn't think much of it. Until her Daycare provider also mentioned that she had noticed it and recommended that we bring it up with our Pediatrician, which we did. The Pediatrician didn't see any troublesome signs, but gave us a reference to see a Physical Therapist.
Zoey had a lot of fun at that appointment, because she got to play on a big bed with lots of toys! The Physical Therapist told us that Zoey has a condition called Torticollis, which is where the muscles on one side of her neck are shorter than the other side.
Torticollis is fairly common, and can sometimes cause a head tilt, but in Zoey's case it just slightly affects her range of motion. It mainly causes her to sleep on only one side of her head, and she can't look as far over her left shoulder as her right.
The good thing is that it's pretty easy to treat before the age of one. We just have to do some stretches with her every day, which she tolerates, for the most part. :)
Because she slept with her head turned one way, it caused a flat spot on one side of her head. A little flat spot usually isn't a problem, but if it gets bigger, it can cause issues. The way they can tell if it's big deal or not is by measuring her head.
First, they measure her head from one corner to the other. Then the other corner to the other. And then see what the difference is. (See the image to the right).If the difference is less than 7mm, it's considered to be cosmetic. Zoey's difference was 11mm, which is beyond cosmetic, and is called Plagiocephaly.
So we had two options: wait and see if it corrects itself, or get her a helmet.
The only problem with waiting is that around 1 year of age, there's not much the doctor can do to fix it, because the skull is too hard. And the best time for correction is between 4 and 7 months.
Plus, it could get worse, and Plagiocephaly can cause complications like facial asymmetry, vision problems, and jaw problems.
Here's a Before & After picture of another child who has Plagiocephaly that is similar to Zoey's, although Zoey's isn't this severe.
So we decided that, in the long run, getting a helmet would be the best thing for Zoey. It's pretty easy, painless, and she looks pretty cute. :)
~ Jay & Lindsey
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