Coming Soon...Juliet's Pink Helmet

At Juliet's 4 month check up the doctor suspected Torticollis, which is a twisting of the neck due to muscle tightness from the position she grew in utero.  She had a very slight tilt to the right, although she could certainly turn her head to the left (it just wasn't her favorite thing to do).  With this preference, she started to develop a flat spot on the right side of her head after always laying on her favored side.  It wasn't until Juliet was starting to hold her head up well at 4 months that we even noticed this.  The doctor did a quick test of holding down the baby's shoulders and forcing her to turn to the left that we saw just how uncomfortable it was for her.  After 4 months of not fully looking to the left, her muscles had actually shortened.

We were referred to a specialist who confirmed the Torticollis and Plagiocephaly (fancy word for flat spot on the head!).  Her thought was that by fixing this stiffness and lengthening the muscles, Juliet's preference to lay on the right side would go away and so would the flatness.  The flat spot itself poses no developmental issues and can usually correct itself with repositioning.  This means keeping baby off her head as much as possible, which is not an issue with Miss Juliet who rolls herself over to sleep on her tummy at night and HATES laying on her back even for diaper changes.  However, in cases where you've also got the muscle issue, sometimes it can only be fixed by wearing a corrective helmet. 
We were given specific neck exercises to work on and then were scheduled for a series of scans to see how the flat spot was growing.  The first scan showed that the asymmetry between the flat side and the good side was 9mm and she was rated a 3 on a scale of 1-5.  A measurement of over 6mm is usually when a helmet is recommended and also where insurance typically agrees to cover some of the cost.  After 3 months of exercises and 4 scans, her neck muscles are almost perfect although the flatness hasn't gone away.  Juliet had her final scan last week and it looks like her asymmetry measurements are still unchanged.  Her head is growing but the flat spot is not filling out. 

It was at this point we had to decide on how to proceed.  Leave it as is and risk a permanent flat spot (and have an unhappy self conscious daughter) or go with the helmet that will absolutely fix it (but that she has to wear all day, every day for 12 weeks).  I want my baby to have a perfect head and while we have the perfect window, we're going ahead with the helmet.  Other than a funny head shape, she is a beautiful, healthy and happy baby and we are so blessed that this is the only issue to deal with.  It will be over before we know it, although we have lots of swimming & beach time planned that we'll have to work around.  It seems that everyone I talk to knows someone else who has gone through this...it's more common than I thought.

We'll get the helmet in 2 weeks and we've ordered pink (with plans to decorate it).  Amelia has informed me that babies in helmets are not cute, they're just funny looking.  She also told me that I shouldn't bring Juliet into her preschool class because her friends are going to make fun of her!  Thanks for the empathy, big sis!

Trying Amelia's bicycle helmet!