My baby has to get a helmet :(

jkssmith696

Hi everyone, my little girl has torticollis which caused a flat spot on the side of her head. She's been in physical therapy for a few weeks now which has helped with her torticollis but she still has a flat spot. My little girl is three months old, and will probably be getting the helmet in a few weeks. Does anyone else have experiences with this ? How does your baby do with it? How long will she have to wear it ? Will her hair fall out?. Any info is greatly appreciated!

SmrBrd2012

My son got a helmet at 6 months. The fact that she's getting hers so early is great news. Usually they don't need it as long if it's caught early since they go through so much growth in the first few months. My son has had his for 2 months but he has at least another month to go. He has a lot of hair and none of it has fallen out. Usually babies take very well to the helmet after the first few days. It may need to be adjusted if it's too tight it leaving red marks so pay attention to that. There's also a very useful FB group that you can join and ask questions on. It's called plagiocephaly something or other...I can look it up of you're interested. Good luck!!

jkssmith696

Thank you so much ! That makes me feel a lot better, I will look up the Facebook page. Thanks again !

Bigboobsmcgee

Don't be sad about this OP! You're doing a great thing for your baby and I bet you'll think she's adorable in it!

My daughter also had torticollis and was in PT from 4 weeks old to 4 months old. She got a helmet when she was 7 months old and wore it for a little less than 2 months. No hair fell out, she slept just fine and it didn't bother her one bit. People stopped and gawked at her everywhere we went because they thought the helmet was so cute!

It sounds daunting and stressful but it's not. Don't even worry about this.

Bigboobsmcgee

I think it's pretty cute!

Knottie1442268460

We had the helmet until 12 mos. the hair doesn't fall out but the helmet is worn 23 hours a day so you don't really see much hair.

Livvyloo87

My daughter had a major flatspot at three months. In NZ they did a major study on the use of helmets and found they didn't really achieve anything and hindered babies neck muscle and head movement development so they don't recommend them any more. Instead they had us sleep on her side during the day and at night place a thin rolled up cloth under the opposite shoulder to get the baby to turn her head the other way.

This has really been working and at four months her flatspot is rapidly diminishing.

Bigboobsmcgee

Livvyloo87 said:

My daughter had a major flatspot at three months. In NZ they did a major study on the use of helmets and found they didn't really achieve anything and hindered babies neck muscle and head movement development so they don't recommend them any more. Instead they had us sleep on her side during the day and at night place a thin rolled up cloth under the opposite shoulder to get the baby to turn her head the other way. This has really been working and at four months her flatspot is rapidly diminishing.

This is definitely NOT the case in the US and for many, many babies, changing the side they sleep on won't do anything to round out a misshapen head. There's a difference between a small flat spot and plagiocephaly which is something some babies are born with (my DD included).

Not quite sure how it hinders movement or neck muscles since it's a lightweight Styrofoam type material that literally just sits on top of their head. Doesn't make sense.

SmrBrd2012

Bigboobsmcgee said:

Livvyloo87 said:

My daughter had a major flatspot at three months. In NZ they did a major study on the use of helmets and found they didn't really achieve anything and hindered babies neck muscle and head movement development so they don't recommend them any more. Instead they had us sleep on her side during the day and at night place a thin rolled up cloth under the opposite shoulder to get the baby to turn her head the other way. This has really been working and at four months her flatspot is rapidly diminishing.

This is definitely NOT the case in the US and for many, many babies, changing the side they sleep on won't do anything to round out a misshapen head. There's a difference between a small flat spot and plagiocephaly which is something some babies are born with (my DD included).

Not quite sure how it hinders movement or neck muscles since it's a lightweight Styrofoam type material that literally just sits on top of their head. Doesn't make sense.

Agreed. Although many pediatricians still aren't properly educated about this in the US. Mine was on the fence about my son needing one and only gave us a referral when he was around 5 months. When we went in to see a specialist he was immediately categorized as severe plagio. Also, trying to move LO's head is useless if they have torticollis.

Also, my LO can move extremely well in his helmet too. No problems with crawling or rolling or turning his head anymore.

missliz53

My lo had torticollis too and was starting to get a flat spot. We started taking her to a pediatric chiropractor who is also trained in cranial sacral therapy, which is basically very gently manipulating the skull. Both of these worked wonders and we have been able to avoid a helmet so far.

dramaphile

A friend of mine's LO had to get a helmet and her mom painted it to make it cuter.
Her name is Grace, hence the Amazing Grace