STOP... Helmet Time! - A 6-month update

On 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 its own. After doing a ton of research, we were pretty confident we were making the right choice, but that didn't make us any less nervous for our 6-month visit yesterday.

The cephalic ratio, by the way, is the difference between the head's length versus its width when looked at from above. Anything under 100% means the head is longer than wide, and anything over 100% means it's wider than it is long, with 100% obviously being equal.

Our previous appointment was in August when we decided to stop therapy. At that scan, his cephalic ratio was 100.1%, or just slightly wider than long. We admit that we were trepidatious about whether we were doing the right thing, but we decided it wasn't worth the trauma to continue. He showed no sign of asymmetry at that appointment.

The new scan from yesterday (and the one we're going to have when he's a year old) was just to see if there was any improvement with what repositional and other therapies we've been doing. Despite not having a helmet, his head actually improved to 98.2%!



While not perfect (the highest "acceptable" cephalic ratio is around 93%), it's definitely improving, and the specialist said we may continue to see improvement before he's a year old, possibly to the top end of "acceptable". We're pretty hopeful, and if anything, as the specialist reassured us, his head shape is not going to affect his brain development.

The back of his head is slightly rounder than before, too; we thought we were seeing improvement there, but the scan really showed how much better the curvature looks.



Tycho's head still does look a little flat, but we didn't expect huge changes overnight. We're confident that we'll continue to see improvement, though, and that no one will even know he had this issue when he's a toddler. :) In the meantime, we'll continue with physical therapy, repositioning, getting him upright, and so forth.

So thrilled! :)