Fixing His Melon

Silas received his helmet (cranial cap) today.  He did better than expected - much better than he did when he got the plaster mold done of his head. He fussed a little bit, but that was because he wanted a bottle.  The folks at Rebound are so nice and very knowledgeable. After our appointment today, I am very happy with our decision to go with them for Silas' helmet.

Silas with his helmet

Not knowing how people will react to Silas wearing a helmet is a little nerve racking.  Will they stare or point, or will people be supportive?!?!  I remember seeing kids wearing helmets before, but I didn't know what it was for and thought they had some disorder or had epilepsy.  Everyone keeps telling me that they know someone that had their kid in a helmet, but I have yet to find someone that has experienced this themselves.

Josh and I made the decision to correct his head because we knew that this is the perfect time to do it since the plates in his head are still pliable.  Silas will wear the helmet for at least two months, but it will probably be between 3 and 4 months.  It will depend on how quickly his head grows and how fast everything rounds out. When he is done with this whole process, he'll have a perfect head - even though I think he looks pretty good right now but that's b/c I'm his mom. :)  He won't remember any of this and he'll thank us (well maybe) for this someday.  At least I know that Josh and I are making the right decision. 

Silas will start out wearing the helmet for just a couple hours a day.  In a few days he'll be wearing it for 23 hours a day.

Interesting articles that helped me:
StarBand Helmets
StarBand Video
CranioCap® FAQs

The Plaster Mold

Well we had Silas’ helmet appointment yesterday afternoon.  They determined that his head shape isn’t severe enough to cause medical problems; however, his dimensions are bad enough that insurance will cover the helmet.  The guy did say that it was our choice and that it would be more for cosmetic reasons but we do live in a cosmetic society – which made me feel guilty for wanting him to have a round head since its to make him look better.  Josh and I knew we wanted one before we had the appointment anyways, so we went ahead with getting one.  Silas will be more confident when he’s older if he ever wants to buzz his hair. We’ll be glad we did it in the end. 

  

He screamed the entire time, didn’t help that he has an ear infection….here are some pictures so that you can see the process to get a plaster mold of his head.  It took about 20 minutes.

They first put a mesh ski-mask like hat on him. He didn’t like that at all. Notice his lip hanging out.

Then they put Silas in the bumbo -  he’s not fond of sitting in those these days (maybe it was b/c it was purple). Then they started putting the plaster o the side of his head.

Ones the sides were done, they put the plaster on the top of his head….still not a fan and still crying. He really started to move towards the end and got plaster all over his sleeper and his face.  Doesn’t he look like a Chinese warrior with all that plaster on his head?

Torticollis

At Silas' two-month appointment, I asked the pediatrician about the flat spot on the left side of his head. I didn't think it was really anything, and I asked about it at the very end of the appointment. I almost didn't want to bother the doctor, but I am glad I did!

That day we discovered that Silas has torticollis, which seems pretty common in babies. He favors looking to the right. Due to favoring the right side, Silas developed a flat spot on that side of his head. We've been doing physical therapy to help him increase his range of motion. We have seen so much improvement in the last couple weeks that he now favors looking to the left and not the right. Now we are fixing his mishapen head.

When Silas has four months, we brought him to Rebound to get fitted for a helmet. After getting measurements done on his head, we discovered that his head was not severe enough to cause medical issues (very thankful for that) but it was severe enough for insurance to cover getting a cranial cap.

Here are some different angles of his head before getting the cranial cap.