Re: Trip to BRU good opp. to educate re: plagio (m)

[Guest guest]

Good for you for educating people. I was at the library this morning, and saw a four month old baby with a severely flat, elongated head (I suspect that she was a preemie because she was so tiny for 4 months). I struggled with whether I should say anything. On the one hand, I wish someone had told me about helmets when Cole was 4 months, and having a stranger point out that he might benefit from one might have made me realize how severe his flatness is. But on the other hand, it's a difficult subject to broach... and one that might not be taken too well. I ended up chickening out and saying nothing. What should I have done?

Also, while we were on vacation I had a mom ask me if Cole had hemophilia. Apparently she babysat a toddler with hemophilia who wore a helmet to protect his head from falls. I had never heard of such a thing before, but it seemed to make sense. Imagine how much scarier those toddler falls would be when you add in hemophilia!

And, I was talking to a neighbor who works in Colonial burg the other day. She told me that all the babies in the 1700s wore helmets (called puddin' caps) because their parents wanted them to have perfect heads. At this point, I'd be thrilled with an average head! I had no idea the concept had been around so long.

Kia

-----Original Message-----From: antitrustmom [mailto:holly.stevens@...]Sent: Tuesday, July 16, 2002 1:08 PMPlagiocephaly Subject: Trip to BRU good opp. to educate re: plagio (m)Hello everyone! Just thought I'd share our recent trip to Babies R Us, which was our first trip there since DS received his DOC-Band about 7 weeks ago. Anyway, three different families approached us asking questions about DS's band. Two of the families said that they had been told that their babies might need a helmet. It was a great opportunity to educate them about plagio and the use of helmets/bands. The third family was just curious about the helmet. They were trying their 2 mo. old out in different car seats, and it was totally obvious to me from the moment I saw him that he had tort. I felt terrible saying anything, and I was careful to say "I'm not a doctor," etc., but I mentioned that their baby was tilting his head to the right and that it looked like tort, which often leads to plagio. The husband was interested and asked me to spell torticollis for him so he could ask the pediatrician about it.Oh, and a somewhat humorous helmet story. Over July 4th weekend, DH and I took DS hiking. I was wearing DS in the Baby Bjorn, and DS was obviously wearing his DOC-Band, too. Several folks stopped us on the trail to comment on what a good idea the helmet was. They thought it was a "crash helmet" for DS in case I lost my footing on the trail! Have a great week--Holly & For more plagio info

[Guest guest]

Wow - great job educating people - good for you! I hope you were able to help

the baby that looked like he had tort. I hope that Dad really does follow

through. Nice work!

Too funny about the hiking crash helmet - hillarious!

Marci (Mom to )

Oklahoma

[Guest guest]

Holly,

That is fantastic that you were able to help out 3 different families-

especially someone who may possibly have torticollis- you have helped them

tremendously by just giving them the medical name so they can start their own

research! Great job Mom! That is too funny about the hiking trip, it

probably would come in handy for bumps or falls! Thanks for sharing!

' Mom

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 7/16/2002 1:27:22 PM Eastern Daylight Time, kia@... writes:

Apparently she babysat a toddler with hemophilia who wore a helmet to protect his head from falls. I had never heard of such a thing before, but it seemed to make sense

Kia,

I have a co-worker whose son also wore a helmet- but his was because he has terrible seizures and will just fall down- poor thing has hit his head so many times that now they have what she calls a para (sp?) to go to school with him everyday and catch him if he falls. Unfortunately the helmet didn't protect his chin and he has a scar that has reopened from hitting it so much. I feel so bad for this little 9 year old- he's been through a lot. The scary thing is that they say it all happened when he was at school (daycare)- fell and hit his head really hard, ever since that point he's had seizures. They have already had one brain surgery and are considering a second. Tough stuff!

' mom