Nora's Helmet Journey

We have debated the helmet for a few months now and we finally decided to just do it. The only problem is that its going to be during the hottest months of the year:(

So when Nora was 2 months old my mom actually pointed it out to me that her head looked kinda asymmetrical, and I had noticed that she only slept on the right side. I brought it to the attention of my pediatrician and she said that some babies just prefer one side sometimes and to try to get her to look the other way with toys. She said that her head would be fine and that it would go away.

A couple months went by and her head still was very asymmetrical and my dr wanted me to come back in a month to see if it had changed any. We went back and she said it looked ok to her but she referred me to a head specialist. Nora was 5 months old when we saw the specialist and she told us that she had Plagiocephaly, which is a persistent flattened spot on the back or side of the head usually caused by  torticollis, it also means twisted neck. It's caused by position in the womb or a trama during birth (which they did have to use forceps to get her out.) This also made her face asymmetrical. She gave us stretches to do with her neck and told us to go see a physical therapist.

So we have now been doing stretches at home for 2 in half months and she still has torticollis so we are still going to physical therapy and are working on it at home. We have to do the stretches at every diaper change, also she hates the stretches haha which makes it really fun to do.

At her 6 month app with the head specialist she told us that it was up to us if we wanted to get a helmet, and we were just a little annoyed because we were paying this specialist to give us her opinion and she just kept saying that theirs not enough data to say if she didn't get a helmet that it would fix on its own. Anyways, mike I just decided to do it so that we dont feel guilty later for not doing something about. I think in the long run its the best thing to do.

We made an appoinment to get her head measured and scanned for the helmet and yesterday we got the helmet. At first she screamed and kept touching it but after awhile she didn't really notice it much. The first week is getting her used to it so a few hours here and there and then by day 7 she will be wearing it for 23 hrs a day for 3 to 4 months! Hopefully she sleeps ok, thats the only thing I am worried about. I just feel grateful that this is not a major medical thing and that we will be able to fix it. I went out today with Nora and she was loving all the attention from the helmet. She loves when people come up to talk to her. I think the things I will miss the most over these next few months are kissing her forehead at night and snuggling at bedtime cause you cant really snuggle with a big hard helmet, but it will all be worth it in the end. So here we go on this little helmet journey!