I have three sons. I had always hoped that they would be involved with sports in school. I played a lot of baseball with the neighborhood kids, but never did any in school. My two oldest boys played T-ball and baseball for a short time, but they never pursued it further. Neither one was interested in football either, unless it was a family game of touch football.
My youngest boy will be 6 months old in just a few days and he’s already got his helmet – although it isn’t a sports helmet. This helmet will help insure that his head is shaped properly.
I have never been one to doubt my wife’s intuition. I’m not exactly how she saw it or exactly what she saw that made her ask our pediatrician for a referral, but she was right. Andrew’s head is a little off. This could be because of the way he sat in the birth canal, or a variety of other things.
This has been quite a process to get evaluated, fitted, molded and receive the helmet. My wife went to pick it up yesterday. While she was at the appointment, they went over the meticulous instructions of what has to happen over the next week, month, and afterward. To say that it is overwhelming is an understatement.
For example, to start he has to have it on an hour then off an hour and repeat throughout the day. The next day it is 2 hours on and two hours off. Then that increases until he will eventually have it on 23 hours a day!
Then you have to watch his temperature. If he has a fever, the helmet could make the fever higher and may cause seizures. When it is off the inside of the helmet has to be cleaned and his hair has to be cleaned so that nothing “grows” in the helmet.
As my wife told me all of this I felt like I couldn’t process it!
I’m sure that the longer he wears it, the easier it will be.
The good news is that he seems to be totally ok with it. It doesn’t seem to bother him. This may change the longer he wears it, but for now, he is ok.
His is a light blue and it really brings out the color of his eyes. The guy who was fitting him asked if he could have professional pictures of him taken to use in a brochure for some clinics they are running for parents. How cool is that?!
Anyway, we’ll adjust to this new change and embrace this knowing that we are doing the right thing for him. Who knows, maybe in 16 years, he’ll be out there in a football helmet calling plays and winning championships!
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 
The wee soul! Its so hard to see your kids in any discomfort / suffering. But obviously it’s the best thing for him. Well done to your wife for picking up on the need for consultation. Did the doctors give any indication how long this may be required?
Maybe you’ll be right – he’ll be so comfortable with a helmet time he gets older, he’ll be itching to get out on the diamond / football field. 🙂
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I agree. As a parent you always want what is best for your child and you certainly don’t want to see them suffer. We are hoping that in 3 months the helmet does the trick, but we may need 6 months, which would require another helmet. Fingers crossed that this one works!
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it’s so good to do this now, i’ve seen it make all the difference –
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I never heard of this before…when you mentioned it…I thought it was to protect him from falling when he walked…that is good that he is doing it now.
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