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Baby Helmets
Ganluan
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Has anyone here had experience with the helmets used to help reshape the skull of a baby?
My wife just got back from an appointment where they said our son (who's 4 months old) may need one to help re-align the shape of his head. He was born a few weeks premature and has weaker muscles on one side, so he almost always sleeps on one side (even when we try to prop him up, turn him, etc.)
They recommended some exercises to strengthen the muscles but made it sound like without a helmet the shape can't be corrected. It's a few thousand dollars to do the treatment and insurance may not even cover it, so any experience people have had with them would be very helpful.
My wife just got back from an appointment where they said our son (who's 4 months old) may need one to help re-align the shape of his head. He was born a few weeks premature and has weaker muscles on one side, so he almost always sleeps on one side (even when we try to prop him up, turn him, etc.)
They recommended some exercises to strengthen the muscles but made it sound like without a helmet the shape can't be corrected. It's a few thousand dollars to do the treatment and insurance may not even cover it, so any experience people have had with them would be very helpful.
Ganluan on
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Sounds to me like this isn't something you are very familiar with, and therefor shouldn't be commenting on such an issue.
I know there are parents here on PA, but for something so specific I would reccomend a baby forum. You are more likely to get more than a response or two.
Yeah the company that makes the "head bands" has their own forums, but since they're all positive I have no idea if they're moderated strictly or what. I've been googling around a bit but I have seen information on surprisingly varied topics here before :P
It is called positional plagiocephaly and is only cosmetic.
In most cases the treatment is just repositioning the child during sleep or when putting them to sleep, and making sure they spend a lot of time not resting on their head during the day.
In this case, it sounds like the cause is probably torticollis, which is a condition where the muscles on one side are weaker. In this case the treatment is usually some physical therapy to try to strengthen the muscles. Helmets are usually only suggested in the most severe cases. If you can work (either yourself or with a physical therapist) to strengthen and stretch the weaker muscles, your child should be able to sleep more regularly, and with repositioning during sleep and minimizing the amount of time laying on that side/back of his head, the skull should reshape itself during it's normal growth.
So hopefully, with the right therapy, you can avoid the helmet.
We are friends with a couple who did have to get a helmet for their son. It was a pain, but they felt it was worth it.
One thing to keep in mind is that the sooner you fix this, the easier and quicker it will be. After too long, it can cause things that are irreversible...