I have been concerned about the ever growing flat spot on the back of Blake's head. I have also noticed that when laying on his tummy, he isn't able to hold his head up as well as he use to. And, the range of motion in his neck I felt was lacking. I know you are laughing right now and thinking to yourself that I am just an overreacting new mom.
I talked to my pediatrician about it and she sent us to a pediatric physical therapist. So off we went on Tuesday. After the PT looked at him for about 15 minutes she told me he had Torticollis. WHAT??!! Something is actually wrong?? I thought I was just being an overreacting new mom.
Blake has a very mild case of Torticollis. All it means is that he has weaker neck muscles on one side of his neck; therefore, he leans slightly to the right. There are 2 different exercises to do to help with strengthening his muscles. They are super easy and take all of a minute to complete. I have to do them every time I change his diaper. He is really good about it, just not crazy about being restrained. But, my sweet boy loves to be sung to, so with my beautiful voice (do you hear the sarcasm) I sing and he is perfectly happy. We will also be attending physical therapy every week for a while.
Now the scariest part. I also had reason to be concerned about his flat spot. Because of his Torticollis, he has a much flatter spot on his right side than his left. If his right side keeps pushing forward it could also push his face. Making his eyes or ears uneven or worse. So, the possible solution to this might be a helmet.
Enter Kim trying to not have a breakdown in front of the PT.
I know if it is the best for Blake then of course we will do it. I also know that the helmet is so light weight and doesn't effect the babies at all, just their mamas. This isn't a definite yet, he may not need one at all. We will just have to wait and see.
The more I think about it and convince myself that it will be okay with him wearing a helmet, the more I think how cute he will look. Just picture his big round head, chubby cheeks and huge blue eyes standing out at you with this little helmet around his head. He will be precious no matter what.
Moral of the story:
Husbands-don't make fun of any concerns the mother of your child has. They may be legitimate.
Moms-if you feel something isn't right, act on it!!
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6 comments:
Amen to that!!!! Intuition is God's gift to women :-) I know it'll be hard if he has a helmet, but you are right in that it will look so cute on him! My friend's daughter, Jenna, had to wear a helmet as well and she would put bows on it...she always looked so cute ;-) I will be praying for the weekly PT (for baby AND mom).
I completly understand what you are going through. Gavin has Torticollis as well and did end up having to get a helmet. It truly is not that bad. Let me know if you have any questions. I will be glad to share my experience. Also which PT are you seeing? We were going to Aspire PT.
Just more proof that you are a wonderful mother! It is amazing how God gives us such great intuition.
A mother's intuition is always right! Leah had a slight case of that when she was a baby. We have so many pictures of her with her poor little head leaning to one side. They told us to feed and change her in the opposite direction to help build her neck muscles on the other side. Eventually it went away and she is fine now.
Try not to worry!
You're a fantastic mother.
I saw your blog link on your facebook page. My son had a pretty flat head and wore a helmet for 3 months when he was little. He got it at 8 mos and wore it until he was 11 mos old. It felt so overwhelming when we were first learning about it and what would be involved. In the end, the whole helmet process was positive and we were glad we did it. Plus, it was really cute :) We got him a white helmet so I decorated it with stickers and changed them out every few weeks! I joke now that he has a designer/coture head!
Good luck. You're boys are lucky to have such a caring mother who acts on her instincts. Funny how your instincts are always right when it comes to your little ones!
Molly (Vardaman)
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