Life is Tough. I recommend getting a manicure and a really cute HELMET!

Pretty early on I noticed that Ada's head looked a little funny.  I think we asked the pediatrician about it at her 2 month appointment, and she said we just need to reposition her in bed, etc, and it should get better.  It didn't...and I also noticed that she really liked to look to her right.  In fact, it was pretty difficult to get her to look to her left.  So, we asked about that at her 4 month appointment and the doctor agreed there was a problem, and said we'd correct it.  Ada was referred to a pediatric physical therapist at HH, so off we went.  She had something called torticollis.  This basically means that a muscle in the neck is tight for one reason or another, and it needs to be stretched.  The PT figured she was probably in a position in utero that caused the problem, and we started a stretching routine.  Ada didn't like any of the stretches, but we did it as much as we could, especially when she was asleep.  As part of the physical therapy/evaluation there were also measurements taken of Ada's head that showed she had some pretty severe "wonkiness".  We were told that unless something miraculous happened, we'd be referred to a specialist for that too after a good round of physical therapy.  She was released from physical therapy just after Christmas, and has good range of motion in her neck now (she can also crawl, pull up onto things on her knees, and sit fairly well).  She's very strong, and if anything, ahead of the curve developmentally, just like her big sis.  Her head had grown during the 2 months of physical therapy too, and there had been some improvement, but not enough to save her from the referral to an orthotist.  She has a condition called plagiocephaly.  It sounds much worse than it is...she just has a misshapen head - a flat spot.  Since the "Back to Sleep" campaign started (I think in 1992), the incidence of SIDS has dropped dramatically, but the incidence of things like plagiocephaly has sky-rocketed.  A flat head sure beats the alternative, so I don't want to complain, but prevention of both would be even better!  The flat spot is caused from the baby lying with her head in one position too much.  And since Ada really preferred to have her head turned slightly to the right, she has a flat spot on the back, right side.  I don't think she spent more time lying on her back than Maddie did (they both hated tummy time), but it happened.  This is the general shape of a plagiocephaly baby head:

I think Ada really has more of this shape.  Her head is wider than it is long...

This is mostly a cosmetic issue, but it can cause some problems such as jaw misalignment, and make things like wearing glasses difficult.  And let's face it, we live in a superficial world, and looks do matter.  She's a beautiful baby girl, and when her hair comes in the asymmetry probably won't even be noticable, but it's best to go ahead and do what we can to correct it now.  So, we went to visit Thomas at Active Orthopedic Bracing here in Huntsville.  This is the only place in North Alabama that provides this treatment.  I was a bit apprehensive about it because they have their own facility to make orthopedic braces and these helmets are supposed to be FDA regulated, and what were the odds?  I made a back-up appointment at a Hanger Clinic in Nashville just in case...  So here's my little sweetie waiting to meet the orthotist here in town.

She looks a little apprehensive too...I guess I was rubbing off on her.  We were pleasantly surprised that they don't make their own helmets there, but instead use a well-known one called a STARband (Orthomerica).  Safety in numbers, right?  I just feel better knowing we'll have something that has been used on lots of other babies before mine.  No one likes to be a tool of education when it comes to things like this.  We were also comforted by the fact that he's been doing this type of treatment for years, and is usually treating multiple babies like Ada all the time .  He has a lot of experience, and seems nice and gentle.  I was horrified, however, to hear that instead of using the fancy STARscanner, we'd be doing a casting process...on our almost-7-month old's little head.  I'd read about such horrific experiences, so Josh and I braced ourselves.  Ada was being really resistant, and we were only in the taking pictures and measurements phase, so we knew this wasn't going to go well.  So when she FELL ASLEEP a couple minutes into the casting, we were all astounded.  And relieved.  This is what that looked like.

So, in a few more days, she'll have a helmet like this one.  But her's will be pink and we'll bling it up.  We'll slowly work our way up to her wearing this beautiful new accessory 23 hours a day...just taking it off for bath time.  I'm hopeful she'll have a nice round (er) head by her 1st birthday and won't have to wear it any longer, but she could wear it until she's 18 months old.  It all depends on her particular growth patterns, which can't really be predicted.  So, if you see us out and about, or any other kid wearing a helmet like this, now you'll know what it's all about!  I can't say I'm looking forward to this process, but Josh & I think it's the right thing to do, so here we go!

More information if you're interested:

http://www.abouttummytime.com/
 (I have this book if anyone wants to borrow it)

 Cranial Technologies - What is plagiocephaly?

http://www.babycenter.com/0_torticollis_10912.bc