Henry's Helmet

So, here's the scoop on the helmet. First of all, it's technically called a DOC band, or Cranial Band. He needs it to round out his head/make it symmetrical. You might need to know this for the future in case you have the same situation some day. The some what long story behind it is this: For the first month of his life (when babies sleep ALL the time) he only ever put his head to the right. I noticed this, and tried to move it to the middle or the left. Whenever I did this, he'd push it right back. I asked my sister about whether or not this was a problem, and she said that some people say that it can create a flat spot, but her babies did that too, and their heads are perfectly round, and so it'd be fine. The theory behind this, as well as things I read from other moms online, was that, as the baby gets older, and sits up more, and moves more, it justs rounds out. Well, unbeknownst to Robyn, and to some other moms, this isn't nessecarily the case. It really depends on how soft/moldable your baby's head is, and how much time they actually keep their head to one side (or with some babies, in the middle). With Henry, he wanted his head to go completely to the right all the time, literally. No matter how much we moved it, he'd move it right back to where we liked it, even in his sleep. I wonder how this trait will work out as a child or teenager...hmmm...? When I took him to his 1 month appointment, Dr. Bhuskute (awesome ped. by the way) was checking him out, and when she looked at his head she says "Well, I can tell which side he prefers." I responded "Oh, is his hair flattened on one side?" She said "No, his head is." I then looked at his head from the same angle she was looking at, and sure enough, the post where he always liked to lay on, was indeed flat. I almost cried. I couldn't believe it. I always thought babies with that kind of thing were these poor neglected babies who were never held or played with, which was definitely not the case with Jason and I. I told Dr. Bhuskute how Henry always puts his head to the right, not matter what we do. This includes while we're holding him, playing on the floor with him or while he's sleeping. So she checked out his neck to see if he had torticolus (I probably spelled that wrong) which is a condition where one side of a baby's neck muscle is shorter and so they can't easily turn their head. He didn't have that. So, the Dr. said that in the last few months he was in the womb, his head was probably forced to be turned that way, and that's just the most comfortable position for him, AND, that it was our job to in essence, get him out of his comfort zone, to get him comfortable on both sides. She gave us repositioning techniques and tricks for when he was awake or sleeping and said that she'd check his progress in the next month. Oh hahahaha. Yah. Those things might work on other babies, but not Henry. When we tried to roll up a diaper, or tea towel, or whatever behind him back to prop him up while sleeping, so that at least he wasn't on that side even if he pushed his head to the right, he'd just wiggle and wiggle until he was laying somewhere else in the crib, comfortably, on his back or side, head to the right. When we tried getting up during the night and just repositioning his head (when he was dead asleep), 5 min. later, it'd right back to the right, or he'd wake up crying. Trying to reposition him during the day was just as useless and frustrating. And I mean FRUSTRATING. It's really hard being a first time parent, trying to do everything right with your child, knowing that you ARE going to screw up sometimes anyways, and then when something like this happens, knowing that even though you are doing everything you can to fix a problem you didn't think would happen, feeling that all your efforts are futile. I remember just feeling awful about it that whole period of time. Nothing I did worked. So at the 2 m. appointment, she referred us to Hanger Prosthetics to see about getting a cranial band to help reshape his head. They measured his head, and conceded that he did need one. But, he couldn't get one until he was at least 5 months old, so that his neck would be strong enough to support his head with the helmet on. So for the next 3 months, we continued to reposition. Seriously I felt like all I did was reposition him all day. I'd move his head to the left, and he'd move it back to the right. I'd push it back to the left, and he'd push it back to the right. I'd hold it to the left, and he'd just cry. Grrrr. But we kept on doing it. It's a good thing I'm just as stubborn as he is. We also busted out his new born head holder for his car seat, so that he had to keep his head to the middle.
You don't have to watch the whole thing if you don't want to-but I only had a video showing this. All the things we were doing had 2 purposes: #1. Getting him to feel comfortable with his head in any position.
#2. Getting him off of the right side so that it could round out.
Getting to the end of this, by the time he was old enough for the helmet, we were moving across country, which was a good thing in more ways than one since our insurance in AZ wouldn't cover the cost of the helmet(around $2,500.00 + doctor's visits). ps. If you read up about it, which naturally I did, it's not mainly for vainity purposes. A child's development (phys. and mental)can be greatly affected by a misshapen head, because the skull pushes on a part of the brain that it shouldn't, basically. The problems that it can causes don't show up until later in childhood if it isn't fixed. So we needed to fix it.
We had to wait to get him a helmet until after our insurance started up out here, and as a huge answer to prayer, Med. Mutual is covering 90% of the total cost! We feel so grateful for this. He didn't get it on until about 8 months old, but the skull totally hardens around 18 months old, so we're in plenty of time. As to how long he has to wear it, the doctor at Hanger said that he can't really say how long it'll be on. It depends on how old they are when they get it on, and how soft their head is. Every baby is different though. I wish he had been able to get it at 5m. so then he'd probably already be done with it, but at least he has it now! :)
Beautifying the Band
It came plain white and looked like a head brace. We were allowed to paint it, sticker it, color it with markers or whatever was non-toxic. After looking at many others on the internet, (there are 20,000ish other babies with them)we decided to go with paint. So here are the photos of the process.

I mixed these two colors together to get a medium, bright blue (to match his eyes).
We got some cute stickers to put on it.

I put on a little airplane sticker with Mickey and Pluto on it (like a pilot's helmet) and primed it.
Unfortunately, nothing I read on the net said anything about the paint coming off when you wash it. You have to clean the helmet every night since he sweats in it and it gets gross. Every other night with baby soap, and every other night with rubbing alcohol. And all that work came peeling off. Grrrrr.
So I started again, this time, putting on many layers of primer. However, by this point, Henry was wearing it all day now, and so having time to paint it and let it dry got tricky.


On the left is the helmet painted with a couple layers. But not sealed. On the right are all the little places that I had to prime it again, because the paint got scratched off with Henry just movin' around. There were plenty more scratches on the other side of the helmet that you can't see too.
So what were you doing on the night of the 28th of September? Because I was pointing a DOC band, again.


3 layers of paint (a little lighter blue this time) 4 layers of sealant later...and it's done. This time we just didn't do the sticker (long story not worth going into). Maybe we'll put one on sometime. I also filled a clean baby jar with it this time, so that I have extra for touch-ups later. Also, to sleep up the drying process, having done this in 2 nights, I used a blowdryer on cold setting after each coat.

In the end, it turned out well, and Henry's cool with it. He really doesn't mind it or even pay attention to it. It's really awkward to take on and off, and he doesn't cry about it. Doesn't he look like Maverick in the ending scene of Top Gun. Ok, maybe not. :)
People have said it looks like:
-a football helmet
-a hockey helmet
-a pilot helmet
-X-Men helmet on the Magnito
-race car helmet
Do you have any to add?
People have asked me or said:
*Does he fall a lot? answer: "Yes. We're very over-protective parents." But then I told them the truth.
*Does he have epilepsy, and need that in case of seizures? answer: No. But that would be a good reason too. And then I told them the real reason. I'm an over protective mama. Just kidding. And then the truth.
*(Little 3 yr. old boy at church, every Sunday that he sees him) Hey! Mommy, is that baby wearing a helmet? Mommy: Yes he is. Boy: Can I get one?...or...Boy: Hey Mommy, that baby has a cool helmet!
*(Often at the grocery store, the cash register worker)What a cool helmet you have! Answer: The better to fix my flat with dear. j/k. I don't really say that. I just smile.
*Is that for his Halloween costume?
*(Very carefully) I hope you're not offended, but I was wondering why he has to wear that?
So, there are other variations of those, but those are the basics. Some people just stare and whisper. That's dumb. I like it when people ask. It gives me a chance to teach them.
Helmet Schedule
1st week 1st day-on an hour, off and hour during the day.
Each day we doubled the amount of wearing time during the day (ie: 2hrs. on, 1 off, 4 hrs. on, 1 off) By the 7th day, he wore it 8 hours straight during the day, and all night. Starting the 8th day until he's done with it, 23 hours a day. So we take it off around 5:30pm, feed him, play with him, night routine of bath, (then he gets it back on) massage, stories, and then he goes to sleep. It definitely helps him stay warm during the night and day. Thank goodness he wasn't wearing during the heat of the summer.
Our favorite time of the day is when we get to take it off and see his whole face. The helmet hides a lot of it and squishes his right eye (left to the camera) down a little. You can tell in this picture. We also like to kiss his cheeks and put our cheeks to his which is near impossible while he's wearing it. We also love to see his pretty hair. The helmet covers up all but a little tuft at the top.
All in all, we are very happy he's able to have it to help fix his flat spot. He's only had it on for a little over a month now and it already is showing improvement. From what I read on the net from other moms, it seems like the longest most babies have them on is 4 months. We're really hoping that he's done by his 1st birthday. That'd be the best present!

ps. sorry for the goofiness of some of the pictures/text in the way they are placed.