pudding cap and educating others about plagio?

July 17, 2002

Hi all,

I wanted to correct an earlier post I had made. A neighbor who works in

Colonial burg had told me that all the babies wore pudding caps in

the 1700s because their parents wanted them to have perfectly shaped heads.

Today I ran into someone else who works in Colonial burg, and she

mentioned the pudding cap too. She was wondering if Cole's helmet served a

medical purpose, or if it was to protect him from falls like the pudding

caps were. I found this description on the internet about pudding caps:

A padded cap was tied on the head of a child learning to walk. It protected

the child's brain when it fell and hit its head. There was a belief that if

the head was hit it would be permanently soft, and falling frequently could

lead to the brain turning mushy like pudding. Toddlers were often and

lovingly referred to as " little pudding heads. "

Also, I was wondering if anyone has advice on whether to speak up about

another baby's plagio? I ran into a baby with a severely flattened and

elongated head the other day, and I was so tempted to say something. But I

chickened out... I didn't want to offend. On the other hand, perhaps I

could have helped? I wish someone had talked to me about helmets when Cole

was only 4 months old (the age of this baby). Instead he was 7 months by

the time he got his... What do you guys do in this situation?

Thanks,

Kia (Cole in STARBand since 6/18/02)

July 24, 2002

Kia,

Thanks for that description of pudding heads! I had heard the term, hey

puddin' head! and never knew how that came about- you learn so much around

here! Thanks! I don't know what to say about approaching other moms, its a

tough one- some parents have the courage and others don't want to offend- I'm

kind of stuck somewhere in the middle. I did approach my friend with her son

and it didn't go over to well- so that kind of set me back a little. I

haven't really seen to many babies lately, I'll let you know if I can step up

to the plate when I do!

' Mom

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