After much deliberation, tons of stress, and lots of fighting, Matt and I have decided to stop helmet therapy.
When Tycho developed the rash from treatment, we really struggled with letting it go altogether. He was absolutely miserable -- his skin not only reacted poorly, but his demeanor did, too. He was not the happy baby we knew, trading in his smiles for screams, his dancing legs for fists that beat at his head. Even his bodily functions changed, as he was no longer eating, sleeping, or pooping as he was before the helmet. We considered it all a stress reaction, and it was really starting to take a toll on him (and on us).
But we decided to give it a few more days. And, well... we had a harrowing weekend. Two days of a miserable baby and parents at their wits' ends. I had actually thrown the helmet, rather forcefully, onto the couch after I had to adjust it for the fourth time while putting it on him and Tycho's screams only increased in intensity. And heaven forbid when it was finally on!
In short, we missed our baby. We missed his smile, his playfulness, his ability to sleep more than a few hours before being woken up terrified and clawing at the plastic beast surrounding his head.
So we decided to stop. I'm sure STAR Cranial will be thrilled with that decision when we see them tomorrow. :P Currently, our plan is to wait until he's 6 months, then reevaluate; we likely won't resume treatment even at that point, but we thought it'd be better to not leave out the possibility. Personally, I'd rather not even consider it, but all that time and money...
Anyway.
Our decision feels even more right after looking for pictures of kids with brachycephaly whose heads righted themselves once the babies became more mobile. While it's only one example, we've read several other accounts about brachycephaly at least diminishing to a point where it wasn't noticeable anymore, especially in kids whose brachy was moderate or better.
[caption id="attachment_1941" align="aligncenter" width="500"]
(click the story on BabyCenter)[/caption]And let's face it, we'd much rather enjoy our absolutely perfect baby boy, who is four months old today(!!), while we could, not lament or be stressed over whether his head will be perfectly round or not.
Tycho certainly deserves the same. :)
[...] course, you all know the story I posted yesterday about a mother on BabyCenter who decided not to helmet her baby, despite his obvious brachycephaly, and instead let it work itself out. While there is no guarantee [...]
ReplyDelete[…] 13 August, we decided to stop helmet therapy and continue with repositioning, in the hope that Tycho’s head shape would start to improve on […]
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