What did you say about my
Big Flat head?
My younger twin boy, Niel, was heads up during pregnancy. His head in the uterus was pressed against my ribs, and was born with a very wide head. I was advised that this will fix itself after time, if he rolls his head to the sides when he sleeps, but I must make sure that he turns equally, so it will not become lopsided as well.
At 4 months old, we noticed that his head shape got worse as his temples start to grow out, side ways, and the back of his head was completely flat. He doesn’t turn his head much when he sleeps, as his head got flatter, he enjoys sleeping on the flat spot more and more. My GP continue to assure us that it will fix itself when he starts rolling, so we waited another couple of months, also trying to keep him off the flat spot as much as we can by wedging and tilting his cot to one side. When he is 8 months old, we finally got an appointment at the Plagiocephaly clinic of the Royal Children Hospital, and Niel was prescribed with a helmet therapy.
I have done my homework and researched about the helmet to prepare myself. I saw photos of children wearing them, what results they got, how it fixed their heads, and so on. We did anticipate that there will be a tough adjustment period when he starts putting it on but we decided to will stick with it hoping we are doing what is best for him. Hopefully when he is older, and his friends at school are not teasing head shape, he will thank us for doing this.
The first appointment to the Orthotist was fun. Niel sat on my lap, both of us wearing a full body apron so we will not plaster cast on our clothes. Next, the Orthotist wrap a piece of clingwrap around the back of his head from ear to ear, and closed around his forehead. This will help to keep his hair clean from the plaster later. A piece of white stocking like material then placed on his head, a big hole was already cut out of it for his face. The Orthotist mark the stocking where Niel’s ears are and where he will want to put pressure points on, etc. Then, he wrapped the stocking with a long piece of gauge already soaked with plaster. After a few minutes the plaster set, and the mould was taken off. The Orthotist will use this negative mold to create a custom fit helmet for Niel.
The room where we did the casting was decorated with posters of cartoon characters and superheroes who have unusual shaped heads or helmets. It was clever and smart, and didn’t look bad at all. When I get to pick a colour and pattern, we settled for a plain light blue colour. I will be able to personalize it later myself (yeah, right!). As we leave the reception after making another appointment the next week, we were completely surprised that the helmet did not cost us a cent.
Big Flat head?
My younger twin boy, Niel, was heads up during pregnancy. His head in the uterus was pressed against my ribs, and was born with a very wide head. I was advised that this will fix itself after time, if he rolls his head to the sides when he sleeps, but I must make sure that he turns equally, so it will not become lopsided as well.
At 4 months old, we noticed that his head shape got worse as his temples start to grow out, side ways, and the back of his head was completely flat. He doesn’t turn his head much when he sleeps, as his head got flatter, he enjoys sleeping on the flat spot more and more. My GP continue to assure us that it will fix itself when he starts rolling, so we waited another couple of months, also trying to keep him off the flat spot as much as we can by wedging and tilting his cot to one side. When he is 8 months old, we finally got an appointment at the Plagiocephaly clinic of the Royal Children Hospital, and Niel was prescribed with a helmet therapy.
I have done my homework and researched about the helmet to prepare myself. I saw photos of children wearing them, what results they got, how it fixed their heads, and so on. We did anticipate that there will be a tough adjustment period when he starts putting it on but we decided to will stick with it hoping we are doing what is best for him. Hopefully when he is older, and his friends at school are not teasing head shape, he will thank us for doing this.
The first appointment to the Orthotist was fun. Niel sat on my lap, both of us wearing a full body apron so we will not plaster cast on our clothes. Next, the Orthotist wrap a piece of clingwrap around the back of his head from ear to ear, and closed around his forehead. This will help to keep his hair clean from the plaster later. A piece of white stocking like material then placed on his head, a big hole was already cut out of it for his face. The Orthotist mark the stocking where Niel’s ears are and where he will want to put pressure points on, etc. Then, he wrapped the stocking with a long piece of gauge already soaked with plaster. After a few minutes the plaster set, and the mould was taken off. The Orthotist will use this negative mold to create a custom fit helmet for Niel.The room where we did the casting was decorated with posters of cartoon characters and superheroes who have unusual shaped heads or helmets. It was clever and smart, and didn’t look bad at all. When I get to pick a colour and pattern, we settled for a plain light blue colour. I will be able to personalize it later myself (yeah, right!). As we leave the reception after making another appointment the next week, we were completely surprised that the helmet did not cost us a cent.
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