Henry's helmet is off!

Here is the before and after:

After 4.5 months, on 23 hours/day of helmet time, your plagiocephaly is officially cured! The clinic gave you a diploma and everything.

I was nervous going into this but we all got used to the helmet pretty quickly (you best of all) and I am very glad we did it. For other parents wondering about helmets and abnormal infant head shape, I would say:

• Get a referral and measurements taken as soon as you can. The head grows really fast for the first 12 months so it is much easier to correct problems. If we started Henry's helmet now at 9 months instead of at 6, he would be wearing it for over a year.
• Buy a new kitchen brush so you can easily scrub it every night with baby shampoo that agrees with your child's skin. Dry thoroughly with a fan. We hardly had odor issues and Henry's skin did really well.
• Get it checked often and whenever you are worried. I felt a little overprotective taking him in so much but it was hard not to attribute every fussy episode to the helmet.
• If you happen to have a 2-year-old, the helmet may just be a godsend. Many a parent asked me where they could get one at the playground.
• Plagiocephaly is more common in preemies, multiples, and boys. It is also more common than it used to be as a the result of the "Back to Sleep" campaign introduced in the 1990s to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome. If you are concerned and your pediatrician isn't, get a second opinion. The last thing you need is one more worry keeping you up at night.