Zander gets a helmet

I did not know anything about babies with helmets.  I've seen a baby with a helmet before, and didn't know if something was wrong with their head, brain, or if they had some kind of major surgery.  Well, now I feel like I'm some sort of expert.
When Zander was 2 months old, his head was already looking pretty flat in the back, especially on the right side.  When I took him into his 2 month check-up, the doctor said to keep an eye on it, and give him lots of tummy time.  How do you give a newborn lots of tummy time?  They hate it, and they just face plant all the time.  Well, we tried anyway.  Then, we went to his 4 month check-up, and his head hadn't improved at all, in fact, it was probably worse than before.  The next time we went to the doctor for an unexpected visit, she told me my little guy had something called torticollis.  I had no idea what that was.  We learned quickly that it's a muscle in your neck that has spasms which can be painful, and you can't turn your head to one side.  (Not to be confused with a dirty kink neck)  So we proceeded to go to physical therapy to help our little guy get more control over his head and neck muscles.  We did stretches with him, and continued to give him lots more tummy time (which he mastered).  But we were also recommended that we get a helmet for our baby's head. 
The helmet is an orthodic for the head.  It basically controls the sides of the head from growing while allowing the back of the head to grow out.  So the helmet is right up against the sides of his head, while there is a gap in between the helmet and the back of the head.  This allows the head to grow to the right shape. 

I have to say that he still looks like the cutest kid ever in his helmet!  He got he helmet in December when he was about 6 and a half months old.

Here is some before pics of his flat head.  Sometimes we like to describe it as a cliff edge.  Haha.

This is the best pictures we have of his flat head.  It's not that great, because I don't feel like you can tell how flat his head really was.  I know it looks flat in the pic, but it looks even more flat in person.

It was quite the crazy adventure getting this helmet.  We heard about multiple people complaining about the company that does helmets here in St. George because they weren't fitting the babies very good.  So Caleb and I have driven up to Salt Lake and Provo for Zander's helmet and adjustments.  We have taken many trips because of the different things we have encountered along the way. 

First we had to drive up to Salt Lake so that we could get Zander's head measured and scanned so they could do the making of the helmet.  Then we headed back up about 10 days later to get the helmet fitted to his head.  When we got there, the people forgot to overnight the helmet to the doctor/orthodic guy so we made a trip up there for nothing.  When we drove back up to Provo, he got the helmet fitted to Zander's head, but then we encountered so many issues afterwards.  His head would sweat so bad in the helmet that he got a terrible rash.  His entire head was flaming bright red where the helmet was.  It was so sad!  You could tell it hurt and itched.  We had to leave the helmet off for about 3 days while his head got better, and then it felt like we were back to starting all over again. 
He had to to get use to wearing the helmet, and was a little grumpier than usual for about 3 days.  After putting the helmet back on for about 5 or 6 days, Zander was getting use to it again.  Then come a rash or sore on the side of his head from the helmet rubbing against his skin.

So once again, we had to leave the helmet off for about 3 or 4 days to get the sore all better.  If you leave the helmet on, it makes the sore get way worse.  Now in the meantime, if you leave the helmet off for very long, the baby's head continues to grow, so the helmet doesn't fit well anymore.  So we have to keep driving up to Provo to get adjustments made to the dang helmet.  (By this point, the helmet is referred to as the DANG HELMET!)  The poor kid had everything stacked against him. 

Now Caleb and I feel like everything has been moving along smoothly.  The helmet has stayed on his head much more consistently without having problems.  He is suppose to keep the helmet on 23 hours a day.  We are only suppose to take it off when we bathe him and clean the helmet.  But we have learned that it is better to take it off about 3 times a day to dry his sweaty head, dry the helmet, and make sure there are no mishaps along the way.  It feels like smooth sailing now!  He could care less if the helmet is on or off.

Now if only we could figure out how to dodge his head-butts!