Emmy's New Brain Bucket

[Guest guest]

Hi all! Thanks for the supportive comments from a few days ago. Emmy got her

helmet on Wednesday. The appointment went well. Emmy was just a squirmy worm

because she would rather crawl and try to stand then sit in my lap. But she

didn't care about the helmet at all (after they trimmed the ears). On Thursday,

she wore the helmet for 1 hour, off for 1 hour all day. She got VERY sweaty. Her

hair was all poofy when we took off her helmet. Friday she wore the helmet for 2

hours on, 1 hour off. The red spots have been fading, so I guess all is okay.

Emmy really could care less, she just wants to be playing with her toys or

friends at school. It doesn't even seem like she notices it. Her school has been

really great. They've taught all the teachers that watch Emmy what to do, and

even called me today because the red spots faded after 25 min and not 15 min.

I'm sure they'll be glad for Tuesday when Emmy wears her helmet for 8 hours on,

1 hour off.

Her helmet is pink, and her dad put some cute flower stickers on it last night,

so the helmet now has some personality. I figured that as the stickers get

gross, we can just peel them off, clean and reapply with different stickers.

Keep her look changing.

My question is - how can I help Emmy when she starts sleeping in the band on

Tuesday night? She'll start taking naps in it this weekend, but a 45 min nap is

different than sleeping at night. Just to give you an idea, she goes to bed

around 7:45pm and sleeps until 6am straight. How can I help her to get the sleep

that she needs? She's fallen asleep in her car seat wearing her helmet, but

that's at a recline.

Emmy's dad and I have decided to call her helmet her 'brain bucket'. We are

trying to keep a sense of humor about the whole thing. Emmy is also learning the

American Sign Language sign for 'hat' when we talk about the helmet. (She

already knows how to sign 2 signs already, and stares intently as I sign to

her.)

Thanks for the help!

Trish