Helmet Head.

The next time you see Vince you won't be able to admire his lovely tresses. He is officially a helmet-wearing baby. Paul and I noticed that Vincent's head was really flat in the back. We assumed that it would have gone away by now because he is constantly scooching around on his squishy belly or sitting up.

At our usual pediatrician well visit I gave a my doc a list of questions. We discussed most of them; it wasn't until I had lugged Vincent's unbelievable heavy car seat out into the freezing cold that it dawned on me that his head was never addressed. I clamored in the car to get my crying baby home and soon forgot to follow up about his head.

A few days later I was playing with him and couldn't stop looking at his head. I kept asking myself if I was obsessing and trying to find problems because I'm nurse. I called Paul in and had him conduct his own examination. After pictures, fretting, phone calls, family opinions, helmet consults, etc. We decided that we should move forward and fix the problem now.

I'll be honest, his head isn't THAT weird looking because he has hair. When his hair is wet it becomes much more obvious that his head isn't normally shaped. I kept going back and forth about whether or not we should submit Vince to 10 weeks of life in a hot helmet. In the end, there were two factors that made me commit.

1. Vince is going to be bald some day. If you look at a boy's maternal grandfather (my dad) you can get an idea of whether or not they'll have male-pattern baldness. I love my dad, but he doesn't have hair. So while Vince's head looks normal with his hair... he's not always going to have it to hide the shape of his head.

2. It's now or never. We tried repositioning and stretching techniques to help round out his head but to no avail. As a child nears the end of his first year, his head starts growing at a slower rate and thickens-- making it harder to change the shape. Most places won't even consider doing a helmet for a child over 12 months. In a few months, or even years, I would hate to look back and regret not fixing the problem when it was easy. The only other option for an older child is surgery! No thanks.

So there you have it. Here is our adorable Helmet Head:

We'll be getting decals to decorate his noggin' in the near future. Any suggestions?