Plagiocephaly
Our sweet little Sammy has plagiocephaly (a funny shaped head). We noticed it pretty soon after he was born and brought it up with our first pediatrician in VA but he said it wasn't really anything to worry about. He just told us to stretch his neck. (Plagiocephaly is caused by a baby favoring one side of its head over the other. Sam was doing that because of a tight muscle in his neck on the right which means he would just look to the left a lot.)
When we got to TX I told our new doctor and she told me to take him to a physical therapist. That was back in August. I called the PT and they said they don't see babies who have plagiocephaly and that I should take Sam to a neurologist. So I called the one and only pediatric neurologist's office in Houston and they told me they could only see him if we got a referral (even though our insurance technically doesn't require a referral). So I called the pedi back to ask for a referral. They said they'd do it right away. I called and called and called and finally about a month later they sent the referral. So then I got to schedule the appointment with the neurologist. His earliest availability was TWO MONTHS away. I took it.
Sam saw him in December at almost 6 months old and it was determined that Sam would have to wear a head-correcting helmet like this:
But I had to see another guy for that. And that took almost another month. Anyway, long story short, or not so short at this point, Sam is finally going to get the helmet! I took him in today for the final head scan and next week the helmet will be fitted to him. It's going to be a big commitment. He'll have to wear it about 23 hours each day (1 hour off to bathe, etc.) for about 5 months or so but in the end it's going to be worth it. We don't want him blaming us about his head shape when he's older.
For our own records, and to be able to document his progress, we took a shot of his head. Can you see the big bump on the back-right side of his head and how it's flatter on the back-left? There is a little bit of a shadow, too.
In preparation for the helmet, we cut his hair last night. A bittersweet experience. I love his locks!
Before:
After:
10 comments:
Sam is such a sweet little guy! A chip of the old block I might say.
Save those locks. They'll go for big bucks on eBay one day. Stinking doctors. They're so isolated from market sources that they can do things at whatever pace they want and you just have to take it.
I like his hair short it's cute. Good luck with the helmet. good thing he's not used to sleeping on a pillow.
poor baby. but i'm glad you finally cut his hair! it looks cute! are you going to decorate his helmet with rose/barbed wire stickers, his name, etc?
rose and barbed wire stickers??? decorate his helmet? what color will it be? can you accessorize it? what if the back said "eat my dust" and the front said "lean mean sam machine"
or the front said "You talking to me?"
and the back said "What are you lookin at?!"
or "take a picture, it lasts longer"
Love the new hair cut! He looks a lot like Dan. We hope everything goes well and that he can adjusts to wearing his new accessory! Call me if you ever need support. It's hard raising kids as it is!
Good luck! Keep us posted on the progress.
He's such a cute little guy. His hair cut makes him look tough. Like, "Yo, who do you think you're messin' with?"
His hair looks cute short. Good luck with the helmet, I've had a couple friends who had to do that. Hope it goes well.
I'm sure that was hard to cut his hair--I treasure every hair Clara has because she doesn't have much. I agree that he looks super cute no matter the length though! That is so interesting that a tight muscle causes that! Good luck!
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