Seeking Advice with Helmet?

Hi J.,

Sounds like a very similar situation we went through with my son who had torticollis when he was born. Which meant he favored laying his head on one side versus the other. My son had to wear a helmet for 3 months (originally told 4 months). We were very pleased with the results and my son really had an easy time adjusting to the helmet. Cleaning the helmet was easy, a damp cloth for the outside and rubbing alcohol on a cotton pad or paper towel for the inside.

Good luck.
M.

my nefew had one at about the same age, he wore it all summer, it was kinda cute! My sis-n-law cleaned it with rubbing alchol once a day.
The only prob they had was head banging AFTER he didn't need it anymore...he had lots of fun banging the helmet on diff things, when he got it of he still wanted to bang on things with his head.LOL.
Good luck,and don't worry about what others think about the helmet :)

YES!! My son had to wear a medical helmet for almost 7 months. His reason was because he had corrective cranial surgery and as his bones healed the helmet kept things in place. he had to wear all through the summer and it bothered me way more than it bothered him. He was a little older than your child will be. He got it at 10 months. It took a while for it to actually start stinking because of sweat and all that. But we were allowed to take the helmet off 1 hour out of the day and in that hour i just really wiped it down with soap and water. It seemed to be fine with just that. Also, another tip is to go to www.cappskids.org Its and entire website and message boards (similar to this) for parents of children who have to wear helmets and all kinds of other issues such as the issue with my son, but their is a section on there for helmet care. You can ask anything and get the best advice from people who have been there done that.

Not personally, but two friends have (one for medical reasons, one for head shape) and had GREAT success with it. Plus the kids quickly adjusted to having it on. In fact they were both a wee bit more rambunctious because of the head protection :)

My son had the helmet for several months. It's amazing how fast they get used to it. They tell you to have them wear it 23 hours a day and use that 1 hour to clean and dry it with rubbing alcohol. My son ended up having some dry scaley skin on his head from it which we treated with baby oil. Wearing the helmet, they start to think their heads are indestuctable. Good Luck!

J.:

My Grandson had the same problem along with many children now because Doctors have now advised to have babies sleep on thier back's due to SID's. When my son was a baby (27 years ago) we put the babies on their stomach's and they lifted thier heads up and it strenghed the muscle in the neck when they did that now a days they do not do that and usually one side is flat.

The helmet was worse on us and his parents. The first day it bothered him after that he was used to it. It is amazing how kids adjust to just about anything really fast. My daughter-in-law cleaned it out every night with rubbing alcohol that seemed to really help.

Hope this info helps you. Good luck the time goes by so fast before you know it she will be out of it.

D. V

My daughter too had to wear one. She favored the one side of her head and it started to get very flat. We went with the Hanger company in waterford. Eric Ortel is wonderful. Our insurance company did not cover it, they saw it as cosmetic. if you ever want to talk, please email me. Cleaning it is easy, when we gave Maegan her bath, we would take it off and wash it with shampoo and rise it very well and let it dry completely. We decorated it with stickers of all kinds. She probably will get hot at times. Maegan had her's last summer also, you just need to be very aware of the temperature.

C.

My son was diagnosed with torticollis (favoring one side) and plagiocephaly (misshapen head) at 3 mos. We did physical therapy and manipulitive massage from 3 mos to 10 mos of age. He got his helmet at 6 mos and only wore it for 3 mos. It was amazing how the shape of his head evened out. We cleaned our every day with baby shampoo per our orthotist recommendations and let it air dry. He tolerated the helmet fairly well (amazing how they adapt to wearing it 23 hrs a day). It is well worth going through sweaty heads that smell like tennis shoes. The results are wonderful. I am so glad we had the helmet. The big thing is to watch for pressure spots on your daughter's head once she starts wearing it. Any spot that is reddened when you take off the helmet and the redness does not go away after 30 minutes is a concern. We were at the orthotic office often getting "fine tuning" done where they shave off alittle on the inside of the helmet to relieve the pressure. We went to Mary Free Bed (saw Rex Brown) and they were awesome about getting us in for adjustments promptly (he even came in on a weekend). They are great there. Good luck, it will be well worth it!!

Hi J.,
I work in a daycare and we had a child who developed a very flat slope on the back of their head (almost like a ski slope). The doctors of this child did scans of their head to check for problems. They didn't find any, but did have them wear a helmet for a couple of months. When you see this child now, you would never have guessed there had been any issues with their head shape. The main time the doc wanted the helmet to be worn was during their naptime so that if they preferred to lay on the flat area/side, the helmet would provide room for the head to grow. The helmet had felcro straps which made it easy to put on and remove if they got overheated which this child did. As far as I know, the parents bathed their child like they always had (hair washing as well) and would remove the helmet to let it air dry. The outer shell was made of a hard plastic, and the inner shell had foam like a regular bike helmet but not as thick. Hope this helps.
E.