Miller's helmet

I've talked before about how Miller has torticollis and plagiocephaly (flat head syndrome).   He has been seeing a physical therapist for several months now and recently got his cranial band (helmet).

There is a "breaking in" period where he wears it for a little while and then takes it off for a little while.  Each day, you increase the time he wears it and start adding in naps and then nighttime sleep.  Eventually, he will be wearing it for 23 hours a day.  The hour that it is off will be during his bath time.  We also clean his helmet during that time.

We had to start the breaking in process all over again after his hospital stay, since he did not wear the helmet while he was sick.  So now we are back up to 3 hours on, 30 minutes off throughout the day.  Today he will wear it during naps and tonight he will sleep in it.

The cranial band does not put pressure on his head, instead it leaves a space where we want to encourage his head to round out.

About a month ago, we took him in the the Orthotics and Prosthetics office and they did a mold for the cranial band.

Declan wasn't too thrilled about what they were doing to his little brother. 
Miller didn't mind it one bit.


A couple of weeks later we got a call and went back to get it fitted.  They put the cranial band on him and made some marks to adjust it.  Then they took the cranial band off and trimmed it up around the edges so that it fit Miller better.

We were given instructions about the breaking in process and how to keep it clean.

                       Miller looks so big in the picture above!


After we got the helmet, I took it upon myself to decorate it.  I bought some vinyl stickers made specifically for cranial bands.  We got an airplane set and a dinosaur set.

And let me tell you, it took forever to apply the stickers.  I had to cut each individual stickers out, apply it, smooth it with a card, and apply Mod Podge to seal it.  The bigger stickers weren't that troublesome, but the little dashes that go with the airplane were a pain!

Last week we went out in public with his cranial band for the first time.  We had a doctor's appointment for Miller.  I was interested to see how people would react or what they would say.  No one made any comments that day, but people sure did stare.  I wasn't sure if they realized that he was wearing it for medical reasons or if they just thought I was a very overprotective mother.

So far he is adjusting fairly well.  Each day he gets a little more tolerant of it.  He goes about his normal activities like before.  Here he is eating with his cranial band on.

Sleeping with his cranial band made me extremely nervous for some reason.  The orthotics and prosthetics office assured me it was completely safe and there was no reason to worry, but I still did.  The first nap he took with it on, I sat there and watched him almost the whole time.

All in all, things are going well with the cranial band.  Some people may not understand why we chose to go this route, as doctors are split 50/50 on whether they think it truly works.  Our thought process was that if we had the issue and our parents could have done something to correct it, we would have wanted them to.  And Miller's measurements showed a significant difference, as far as the left side of his head protruding out further than the right side.  And left untreated, it can cause misalignment in the jaw which is not something we want for our child.