During the last week, life has settled down with Noah's helmet. He is now on his 7th day of wearing it for 23 hours and he is completely oblivious (it seems) to his cool hat!
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| Noah is 8 months old today - where has the time gone! |
We have a regular routine where we take it off for 15-20 minutes in the morning to dress him and clean his helmet. We then will take it off at bath time for about 40 minutes for a good splash (Noah not the helmet!) and then getting him dressed. We are now also finding it much easier to get it on and off, so there have been hardly any tears at all when putting it back on - a huge relief for us.
This week we did have an appointment booked with Rachel at the clinic. If we were having any problems it was a chance for us to chat things through or get anything checked. But we were feeling OK about Noah’s progress and were happy to not go pending one question which I was able to clear up in a phone call to Rachel. I was concerned that his helmet was too tight over his left eye. When he looks up, his forehead and eyelid are held down (so he looks like he is squinting in one eye). I did wonder if this is because the helmet is tighter here to hold this part of his head in position, giving the other side time to catch up. Rachel confirmed that yes, this is what is happening. She suggested some Vasaline to help with the sticking and also advised that over time the inner material will bed in a bit and it won’t be so tight. Since that call, we have actually seen some improvement in this area and it doesn’t seem to be so tight on him. We also sometimes lie Noah on his back once his helmet is on to reopen up the helmet a little to get it into a good position on the front of his head. This seems to really help.
We were a little worried that the helmet might restrict movement when he is asleep, as the side Velcro fastening catches on his sheet. However this morning we found him at the most unusual angle, His head was at the right end of his cot, but his feet were also up there too! We are not worried any more!
Over the last week we have had some wonderful reactions and brilliant conversations about Noah’s helmet and Flat Head Syndrome. One day we were spotted in the shops, a lady with her newborn saw Noah and knew his name (from reading the blog). The ladies on reception at the Chiropractors were interested to see him with his new hat! A girl stopped us in the library and said that her son had been through treatment with a helmet and that his head is perfect now, you would never have known it had been flat. We have also heard of 3 other babies (through friends and relatives) that went through the treatment, again all with great results. So it is really reassuring for us and also great to get more people talking about it. Even friends who already have babies commented that they had not heard of Flat Head Syndrome. So if we have just made a few more people aware then I am happy! We have also spoken to quite a few parents who’s children also have varying levels of Flat Head Syndrome. Some have grown out of it, some have not. And even a young boy came over to us at the doctors today to enquire about his helmet. He thought it might have been a cycle helmet - maybe he wanted one like it! So it is really interesting the reaction we have had so far and the conversations its started.
We have our first check-up at the clinic on Tuesday afternoon. It will be so interesting to see what they say. Has there been any change? Liam and I are thinking that is starting to look better already. It may just be wishful thinking, but by just taking the pressure off the left side of the back of his head must be helping. So fingers crossed, and I will update you next week with details of how we got on!
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