Lincoln's Deformational Plagiocephaly

I'm sure many of you have noticed Lincoln's helmet in our pictures over the last few months. I want to talk about this for a bit. I know I would have plenty of questions as to why he was wearing a helmet... so here's the story of Lincoln's Dinosaur helmet. 

During Lincoln's 4 month checkup in September I mentioned to our Pediatrician that Lincoln seemed to prefer holding his head to the right more often than the left. Our pediatrician said, yes he does have a little deformation- he'd be a good candidate for a helmet. So that was it. The doctors office set us up with an appointment at Children's hospital in St. Louis. So, off we went about a week later. Not having a clue what we were in for. 

The first visit consisted of Lincoln getting an x-ray of his lil noggin'. This confirmed that he had "Deformational Plagiocephaly"(Deformational (or positional) plagiocephaly refers to a misshapen (asymmetrical) shape of the head (cranium) from repeated pressure to the same area of the head. Plagiocephaly literally means "oblique head" (from the Greek words "plagio" for oblique and "cephale" for head).

The doctor gave me 2 options. 1) Do repositional exercises to help it correct on his own. 2) Go ahead and get fitted for the helmet. I opted to go ahead and get the helmet for 2 reasons. The first was our insurance covered it so we might as well and the other was we better play it on the safe side and get the helmet just in case.

So off we went, to the Center for Advanced Medicine which was connected to Children's Hospital. We saw the doctor there and he took measurements of Lincoln's. He said that it took about 1-2 months to get approved by the insurance because they typically like to see at least 2 months of measurements before approval. We got lucky and got approved the first month. So at our next appointment Lincoln got fitted for his helmet. They do this by plastering his little head. He actually did amazingly well during this part.  I got to pick out the design for the helmet, which obviously I chose the dinosaurs. 

We went back about 2 weeks later to get his helmet and to make the final adjustments. Lincoln looked so cute in his new head gear. His measurement came in at 15- which is considered severe. The doctor said that ideally he would like to see Lincoln's measurements get down between 5-7. He would more than likely have to wear it for 3-6 months. Obviously, we were aiming for 3 months. 

Well, here we are at month 3 of wearing the helmet. At his last appointment in December (month 2), Lincoln measured in at a 5! A 5!! He was perfect. But the doctor (not our normal one, he was gone for the day) suggested that we leave it on for one more month since his head is still growing and we didn't want him to regress in his progress. So, that's what we did. This past week we went back for his checkup. Lincoln measured in at 7. Really!? I couldn't believe it! But our doctor assured me that there is always room for error for a few different reasons. 1) Each doctor measures just a little bit different than the other. 2) Despite my best efforts to keep Lincoln still during measurements, he still moves. This can also cause differences. Anyway, we were still in the range that we wanted to be. I thought, YES! we're finally done! But no, our doctor wanted us to keep it on for one more month- just to be on the safe side. So that's what we're doing. And honestly, that's perfectly fine with me. I don't want him to regress in his progress and since he's crawling and standing more, I like that he has the helmet. It keeps his head safe! :) 

Now, I won't lie. Jesse and I both had a very hard time dealing with the helmet in the beginning. There was that initial thought of "What will people think of my child?" But we got used to it and Lincoln adjusted very well to it. And quite honestly, I'm glad we did it. I would rather my child have to wear a helmet for 3-6 months now than to get made fun of later in life for having a deformed head. I really couldn't tell that anything was wrong with his head when we first started this adventure, but now looking back through pictures I can see a difference. Now my little baby boy is going to have the most perfect shaped head ever! :) 

First Day with the helmet