During her awake time we would try to keep her off her back but that was her favorite way to look around. When we would put her on her tummy she would scream and throw a fit until she would be back on her back. She learned to roll over very quickly so that she could get out of tummy time on her own. Once that started, we would have to turn to the Bumbo chair or have her sit on our lap to keep her from laying on her back. But still having her sleep on her back all the time gave her a flat spot on the back of her head, on the right side more than the left.
Dr. Albeik and Dr. Coleman both suggested we go to Hanger and get her a helmet to round out her head. You have to provide Hanger with a written prescription so Dr. Coleman faxed them one that day.
A helmet for plageocephaly is not covered by most insurances. Plageocephaly is considered completely cosmetic because there have been no researches done proving that having a flat spot causes any developmental delays or health issues in life. Plus our insurance is probably still upset about Bug's $38,000+ hospital bill from Cook Children's Hospital!
We went for her first appointment in November to make sure that she would be a candidate and get her measured. Jennifer is Bug's certified orthotist and did the measuring. She said that she is definitely a candidate but that her flat spot is really not severe. So much so that she has virtually no displacement on her face from the flat spot on the back. You can see examples of that if you look up images of plageocephaly on Google.
We went in for a followup appointment to get Rayleigh's head measured and scanned for the helmet. Jennifer put a little box on the top of Rayleigh's head and put a pantyhose sock over her head like a shower cap and used a scanner (like the ones used in retail stores) and clicked-and-dragged over Rayleigh's head in every angle. Then an image of Rayleigh's head popped up on the computer screen and looking from an eagle-eye view you can see the flat area on her head. Jennifer sent the image in to have the helmet made and we picked a fabulous leopard print for the helmet to be done in. From here, you have 2 weeks to decide if you are sure you want to get the helmet and when you are you call and give them the OK.
Michael and I debated whether we should get the helmet or not for about 3-4 days. The helmet costs $1,500 and we are already swimming in hospital bills. But we really don't want to give anyone down the road further reason to make fun of our beautiful baby girl! Plus we're always hoping that there is some miracle that rounding out her head will stop her seizures or at least help her development. Not likely, but it would be awesome...
Anyways, so we obviously decided to go ahead and get the helmet. I went and picked it up a couple of weeks later and it fits great. The way it works is that where her head is already rounded the helmet will touch the skin and it will hollow space between her flat spot and where the helmet is. It allows the skull to grow to its environment.
Rayleigh hates the process of taking it off and putting it on but once it's on she's just fine with it, thankfully!
At the 1-week checkup Jennifer said that Rayleigh is looking good, no red spots or anything like that. She also told me that because Rayleigh is small for her age (25th percentile) and her head is still pretty soft that she doesn't see Rayleigh wearing it as long as the average 8-9 months. We're shooting for 4-5! She has to wear it for 23 hours a day but she can take it off for special occasions as long as we keep her off her back during the time it's off.
It's only been a couple of weeks but Michael and I can already tell a big difference! Maybe she'll just hit a growth spurt quickly so her head will round out from it and she won't have to wear it long at all!
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