Plagiocephaly

Jake's gonna start a new trend, I swear it...

Although my precious baby boy is of course perfect, his poor little head was a little less than perfect. Pretty soon after he was born, I started noticing that he always turned his head to the right when sleeping or sitting in his infant seat or swing. To keep his head from getting flat on one side, I always tried to reposition him, only to have him turn his head back to right. I brought this up to the pediatrician and he diagnosed him with torticollis (his neck muscles were tight and shortened on one side). He gave me suggestions on how to reposition him and instructed me on how to do baby torture - I mean, neck stretches - on Jake in hopes of avoiding more serious corrective steps.

Well, let me tell you, the next couple months, I was a woman obsessed... I watched our video monitor incessantly at night and was in his room 10+ times every night repositioning him over and over and over, only to have him turn his head back to the flat spot each time. Argh! I did the baby torture faithfully and started Jake in physical therapy, but it wasn't working. Finally, the doctor said he thought Jake would be a good candidate for a helmet to correct the plagio and referred us to Cranial Technologies.

At Cranial Tech, I learned a little more about plagio and that there were many different causes of both the plagio and the torticollis. The technician said that she would guess that plagio as severe as his started in the womb, especially since Jake's head was engaged early and the I was in and out of labor for five weeks while in the hospital. My stupid uterus causing more problems.

Well, today he got his DOC band and so far is doing well with it. The only time he fusses is when I'm taking it off or putting it on or when he wakes up from sleeping and finds his head a little harder to move around. I was a little sad today, mostly because I find myself going to kiss him on the head only to find my lips in contact with hard plastic (it's only hard on the oustide...the inside is comfortable foam). It is hard to cuddle with him, and nursing is very uncomfortable. He will probably only have to be in it for about eight weeks while the band directs the growth of his head, so we can all deal with it until then.

It was hard for me to accept the fact that he needed this treatment, but I'm glad we are doing this now and it will be taken care of. Plus, he is really kind of cute in his new little helmet.....

.....and when we're all done, he will have the most beautiful head we've ever seen:-)