Re: What to do about very itchy head- 2 weeks in helmet

[Guest guest]

My son had this same probelm..my friends actually joked when he got it off that

he would have no more itchy head! LOL Our CT specialist said to use cortisone

cream on it and that would help. We did see an improvement when we used it, just

that his hair was kinda greasy but I guess its not a big deal since they get

their hair washed and band cleaned every night...so we didn't mind it. Hope that

helps!!

>

> Hi,

> My daughter Sophia has been in her Hangar helmet for about 2 weeks now and

I feel that I can already see a slight improvement in her brachycephaly. However

her poor little head and behind her ears are insanely itchy ever time I remove

the helmet. It seems to be ok while it is on (she is a little crankier than

normal and not as playful, but does sleep through the night with no

problem)However every time I remove the helmet, she goes crazy trying to scratch

at her head and behind her ears and frantically rubbing her head side to side.

It is so horrible to watch- she is absolutely frantic and miserable. The skin

behind her ears, at the nape of her neck, and extending about 1 inch up from the

nape is pink and looks slightly irritated, with occasional " prickly heat " type

rash. It only seems to bother her when the helmet comes off her head is exposed

to the air. I am using hydrocortisone ointment on the skin behind her ears, gold

bond medicated baby powder inside the helmet (careful not to get it in near her

mouth/resp tract) I am cleaning the helmet daily with alcohol and allowing it to

dry. Any other suggestions on what to do for the itch? Has anyone else

experienced it? Her head was sweaty initially but has been staying pretty dry

since adding the powder. She has a decent amount of hair. It absolutely breaks

my heart to see her like this every time the helmet is removed (on the upside,

makes it much easier to keep it on for 23 hrs/day and not be tempted to remove

it!) Any advice would be appreciated.

>

[Guest guest]

My daughter had this very problem every day we took off the helmet. She would

scratch her head and around her ears a lot. The orthodist would inspect these

areas everytime we came in to make sure it wasn't anything too serious. I've

listed them below and hope it helps you. Our daughter finally got her helmet

off and her head looks great.

1) When you take off the helmet, the orthodist said to fluff her hair all over

her head so it relieves some of the itching.

2) Once a day, during the afternoon take the helmet off to give her a break,

clean it with alcohol and let it sit out in the sunlight for about 15 min. The

UV rays will kill off some of the existing bacteria and help with the smell.

3) She recommended that I used the Baby Aveeno Essential Moisture shampoo and

that seemed to help relieve some of the itching.

Anyways, hope this helps. I know it's hard to see our babies itch and if you're

like me, it was hard because this is the first time we've experienced this. Good

luck!

> >

> > Hi,

> > My daughter Sophia has been in her Hangar helmet for about 2 weeks now

and I feel that I can already see a slight improvement in her brachycephaly.

However her poor little head and behind her ears are insanely itchy ever time I

remove the helmet. It seems to be ok while it is on (she is a little crankier

than normal and not as playful, but does sleep through the night with no

problem)However every time I remove the helmet, she goes crazy trying to scratch

at her head and behind her ears and frantically rubbing her head side to side.

It is so horrible to watch- she is absolutely frantic and miserable. The skin

behind her ears, at the nape of her neck, and extending about 1 inch up from the

nape is pink and looks slightly irritated, with occasional " prickly heat " type

rash. It only seems to bother her when the helmet comes off her head is exposed

to the air. I am using hydrocortisone ointment on the skin behind her ears, gold

bond medicated baby powder inside the helmet (careful not to get it in near her

mouth/resp tract) I am cleaning the helmet daily with alcohol and allowing it to

dry. Any other suggestions on what to do for the itch? Has anyone else

experienced it? Her head was sweaty initially but has been staying pretty dry

since adding the powder. She has a decent amount of hair. It absolutely breaks

my heart to see her like this every time the helmet is removed (on the upside,

makes it much easier to keep it on for 23 hrs/day and not be tempted to remove

it!) Any advice would be appreciated.

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Yes she itches her head when the helmet comes off. But not for long. I use tea tree body shampoo to wash her hair as it has anti fungal affects. Mineral oil is good for cradle cap (which she gets). Also vaseline where you might see rubbing and to inform the ortho. Actually when I first take off the helmet I will rub her head down with a baby wipe as rubbing is better than scratching nails. I don't want her to hurt herself. My daughter has excema anyway so I'm use to her itching I guess. Normal cortizone cream isn't strogn enough for her but most likely a normal kid it would be. We have a prescription for some extra strength stuff. I wash her helmet with johnson's baby shampoo and rinse it really well and dry with a towel. I make sure her head and hat are as dry as I can get it before pputtign

it on again. I may even use a blow dryer.From: bismommy <bhuynh2002@...>Plagiocephaly Sent: Tue, January 11, 2011 11:26:44 AMSubject: Re: What to do about very itchy head- 2 weeks in helmet

My daughter had this very problem every day we took off the helmet. She would scratch her head and around her ears a lot. The orthodist would inspect these areas everytime we came in to make sure it wasn't anything too serious. I've listed them below and hope it helps you. Our daughter finally got her helmet off and her head looks great.

1) When you take off the helmet, the orthodist said to fluff her hair all over her head so it relieves some of the itching.

2) Once a day, during the afternoon take the helmet off to give her a break, clean it with alcohol and let it sit out in the sunlight for about 15 min. The UV rays will kill off some of the existing bacteria and help with the smell.

3) She recommended that I used the Baby Aveeno Essential Moisture shampoo and that seemed to help relieve some of the itching.

Anyways, hope this helps. I know it's hard to see our babies itch and if you're like me, it was hard because this is the first time we've experienced this. Good luck!

> >

> > Hi,

> > My daughter Sophia has been in her Hangar helmet for about 2 weeks now and I feel that I can already see a slight improvement in her brachycephaly. However her poor little head and behind her ears are insanely itchy ever time I remove the helmet. It seems to be ok while it is on (she is a little crankier than normal and not as playful, but does sleep through the night with no problem)However every time I remove the helmet, she goes crazy trying to scratch at her head and behind her ears and frantically rubbing her head side to side. It is so horrible to watch- she is absolutely frantic and miserable. The skin behind her ears, at the nape of her neck, and extending about 1 inch up from the nape is pink and looks slightly irritated, with occasional "prickly heat" type rash. It only seems to bother her when the helmet comes off her head is exposed to the air. I am using hydrocortisone ointment on the skin behind her ears, gold bond medicated

baby powder inside the helmet (careful not to get it in near her mouth/resp tract) I am cleaning the helmet daily with alcohol and allowing it to dry. Any other suggestions on what to do for the itch? Has anyone else experienced it? Her head was sweaty initially but has been staying pretty dry since adding the powder. She has a decent amount of hair. It absolutely breaks my heart to see her like this every time the helmet is removed (on the upside, makes it much easier to keep it on for 23 hrs/day and not be tempted to remove it!) Any advice would be appreciated.

> >

>

[Guest guest]

I would try not using the powder. All babies are sweaty at first, but they

adjust and improve once they are used to the band. My daughter also used to have

an itchy head. I think it is just that it feels very different when the band is

off. One suggestion from our ortho was rub her head with a dry towel when the

band first comes off - sort of scratching it for her. Also I had to keep her

busy with toys or a bath. Otherwise she would itch and sometimes a sharp nail

would make a scratch. Since she never minded when the band was on I didn't worry

about the itching too much. My daughter had a dry scalp (she still does) so

after a while I stopped shampooing every day. Some days I would just rinse her

head and clean the band well. And I used a very mild shampoo.

-christine

sydney, 5 yrs, starband grad

>

> Hi,

> My daughter Sophia has been in her Hangar helmet for about 2 weeks now and

I feel that I can already see a slight improvement in her brachycephaly. However

her poor little head and behind her ears are insanely itchy ever time I remove

the helmet. It seems to be ok while it is on (she is a little crankier than

normal and not as playful, but does sleep through the night with no

problem)However every time I remove the helmet, she goes crazy trying to scratch

at her head and behind her ears and frantically rubbing her head side to side.

It is so horrible to watch- she is absolutely frantic and miserable. The skin

behind her ears, at the nape of her neck, and extending about 1 inch up from the

nape is pink and looks slightly irritated, with occasional " prickly heat " type

rash. It only seems to bother her when the helmet comes off her head is exposed

to the air. I am using hydrocortisone ointment on the skin behind her ears, gold

bond medicated baby powder inside the helmet (careful not to get it in near her

mouth/resp tract) I am cleaning the helmet daily with alcohol and allowing it to

dry. Any other suggestions on what to do for the itch? Has anyone else

experienced it? Her head was sweaty initially but has been staying pretty dry

since adding the powder. She has a decent amount of hair. It absolutely breaks

my heart to see her like this every time the helmet is removed (on the upside,

makes it much easier to keep it on for 23 hrs/day and not be tempted to remove

it!) Any advice would be appreciated.

>

[Guest guest]

Thank you everyone for all of your advice! I have been putting powder in the

helmet because that is what my orthotist recommended when we first started. He

recommended a small sprinkling of cornstarch based baby powder once daily when

we first put the helmet on. I will try it without the powder- maybe that is

making her skin too dry? I do think it is itchy, not just feeling funny when it

is removed. We will see how it does without the powder, and I will keep you

posted. This group has been great and so supportive! I will post pictures at

some point soon.

(Mommy to Sophia, almost 5 months old, 2 weeks in Hanger band)

> >

> > Hi,

> > My daughter Sophia has been in her Hangar helmet for about 2 weeks now

and I feel that I can already see a slight improvement in her brachycephaly.

However her poor little head and behind her ears are insanely itchy ever time I

remove the helmet. It seems to be ok while it is on (she is a little crankier

than normal and not as playful, but does sleep through the night with no

problem)However every time I remove the helmet, she goes crazy trying to scratch

at her head and behind her ears and frantically rubbing her head side to side.

It is so horrible to watch- she is absolutely frantic and miserable. The skin

behind her ears, at the nape of her neck, and extending about 1 inch up from the

nape is pink and looks slightly irritated, with occasional " prickly heat " type

rash. It only seems to bother her when the helmet comes off her head is exposed

to the air. I am using hydrocortisone ointment on the skin behind her ears, gold

bond medicated baby powder inside the helmet (careful not to get it in near her

mouth/resp tract) I am cleaning the helmet daily with alcohol and allowing it to

dry. Any other suggestions on what to do for the itch? Has anyone else

experienced it? Her head was sweaty initially but has been staying pretty dry

since adding the powder. She has a decent amount of hair. It absolutely breaks

my heart to see her like this every time the helmet is removed (on the upside,

makes it much easier to keep it on for 23 hrs/day and not be tempted to remove

it!) Any advice would be appreciated.

> >

>