Re: Two month old - FREAKING OUT!

[Guest guest]

We got our helmet at 5 months, not 2, so I can't speak on that. But we did notice the flatness around 2 months and the doctor told us to reposition him. At 4 months it hadn't gotten better so we got the evaluation, the helmet made, and on his head finally at 5 months. If you want to do an appeal, they most likely will want you to reposition at least 2 months before considering paying for it so you might run into that issue. But if your doctor says it is so severe they may treat it like the cases where babies (often twins) are born with plagiocephaly due to their position in the womb.

Anyway, I wanted to respond because we went to CT in Pasadena and they did a great job. It's so convenient and you can reschedule, which we had to do sometimes. I haven't heard any complaints about the techs there doing a bad job and they would see you the same day if there was redness or bleeding. We got the helmet readjusted several times in the first 2 weeks until it stopped irritating his head. I don't know their track record as far as how many they diagnose versus how many they say don't need a helmet, but my pediatrician approved their diagnosis instantly with no question. She said several kids have gone through their practice (which has several pediatricians and a ton of patients) with the helmets so they seem to trust CT. We paid it in full so the discount was $300. Paying $3500 is not easy but it is so worth it. They have payment plans too.

Just FYI, they make it seem like the helmet comes the next week but it took about a week and a half going back and forth with CT's insurance person in Arizona trying to figure out if our insurance will cover it. And then it took them about 2.5 weeks for them to make our helmet and have it delivered. So we lost a month after his diagnosis when, had we known that we were just going to have to pay for it and then try to appeal later, we would have not bothered with the insurance haggling and paid so that we could get the helmet made as soon as possible.

[Guest guest]

Thank you all SO MUCH for your advice. It is especially nice to hear from those

of you who have used CT in Pasadena since that is who we were referred to. This

blog is such a God send. Our update:

Cranial Tech in Pasadena was awesome, we really like them. They said his

asymmetry is 17 mm which apparently is pretty bad for a 2 month old. They want

us to come back in 4 weeks when he has more head control to be re-evaluated and

to do the scan to be fitted for the helmet.

We started PT on Wednesday and the neck stretches are going really well. Our

Physical Therapist wants us to wait on the helmet for AT LEAST two months,

although she said she doesn't like to see helmets on babies until they are 6

months. My thinking on this is that if we have made significant improvement on

the tort in the next month, but his head shape hasn't drastically improved, to

move forward with the helmet while he is still growing so much. I think my

husband would rather wait because he doesn't want to take a chance that our

little man will need a second helmet.

Any thoughts?

>

> Hi everyone,

>

> I wanted to look through the posts before I started a new topic, but

everything I typed in came back with over 5000 results and wanted me to narrow

my search. So instead I'm starting a new topic.

>

> I took my two month old to his 2 month check up today and my pediatrician, who

is normally REALLY laid back and tells me not to worry, was worried about his

head. I had noticed that he had a flat spot, but to be honest, everything I read

online said at 2 months there is nothing to worry about because the ped would

probably just have me reposition him. Ya, right. The pediatrician said Plagio is

very common but very RARE to see such a severe case in a 2 month old. He said he

would be shocked if they didn't give him a helmet.

>

> How I didn't notice the asymmetry is beyond me, but his head is actually

bulging a bit in the front on one side and his ears are way off. He wasn't born

this way. The doc also referred us to a Physical Therapist for Torticollus.

We're seeing the Cranial Technologists in Pasadena tomorrow (thank God they got

us in so quickly) for a free evaluation. Their website says that it costs $3800

for the helmet and that insurance doesn't always cover it all because they

consider it cosmetic. We have Anthem Blue Cross PPO. Apparently they are going

to let us know at the appointment tomorrow what the cost to us would be. Sort of

freaking out about that because we don't have any extra money for medical

expenses at the moment.

>

> Our PT appointment is set for Wednesday morning. They just want to know if the

Cranial people say that anything other than the norm needs to be done.

>

> So... not really sure what I'm writing for, other than to get advice from

other families in our situation. Does anyone else know of a 2 month old getting

a helmet? It sounds so young and sad, but the symmetry of his head is definitely

off.

>

> Glad to see that there are so many people out there willing to share their

experiences. Thank you all!!!

>

>

>