Everything You Need to Know About Cranial Helmets
I get questions about Liv’s cranial band every day over on Instagram and I thought it might be helpful to write a post answering all of the most common questions. I know I went straight to Google when I realized she might need a helmet and it was hard to find all the answers to my questions. Please let me know if I missed anything!
Why did Liv need a helmet?
For some reason Liv had some muscle weakness in her chest and core. We think it may have to do with how she was positioned in the womb. Whatever the reason, from a really young age she never wanted to turn her body or roll to either side. No matter how hard I tried, she would always roll back onto her back. Because of this, the back of her head got an extreme flat spot. Your baby may have a different reason for having a flat spot. The biggest thing I think you should know is that IT ISN’T YOUR FAULT.
Seriously, don’t blame yourself if your baby has a flat spot on their head. I can almost guarantee you it has nothing to do with anything you have or haven’t done.
When did I notice her head was flat and how did I know to say something?
I noticed Liv’s head was not rounding out really early on. Most babies are born with funny heads because of going through the birth canal, but their heads should start to reshape within a few weeks. Liv’s head was staying super flat and a few people even asked me about it.
I brought it up to her pediatrician at her 4 month appointment and the pediatrician really dismissed my concerns. I’m a pediatric nurse myself, so I thought maybe I was overcompensating for all of my nurse knowledge.
Ultimately, her head hasn’t corrected as much as it could have if we had gotten her in a helmet sooner and it’s hard not to kick myself. Doctors and nurses are amazing people, but they’re not YOU.
I think I learned a good (and thankfully very minor) lesson with Liv’s helmet. It’s not me overcompensating because I’m a nurse - it’s my God given mom instinct and I will go with it 100% from now on. And you should too.
Some kid’s heads truly will re-shape on their own. All babies tend to have little flat spots that change and shift as their heads grow.
Doctors all have different opinions on whether or not kids need helmets, but ultimately it’s up to you as the parent to decide what’s best for YOUR child. You are your kid’s advocate and that responsibility falls on you.
My best advice is that if you think your baby’s head is abnormally flat, ask your pediatrician about it and ask for a referral to Physical Therapy. The therapist can assess your baby and give you a better idea of whether or not a helmet might be a good plan.
How did we make the decision to move forward with a cranial band?
We chose to put Liv in a helmet for two reasons. (1) Because we want to make sure she’s safe in the future. If her head is an odd shape, things like bicycle helmets won’t fit her or protect her adequately. (2) Because I didn’t want her to be frustrated later in life or feel like her head looks funny. I remember being a teenager and I would have been so frustrated if I knew my mom could have fixed something like that when I was an infant and didn’t. I’m her advocate and I made the decision I think she would have wanted me to make.
What’s the process for getting a cranial band?
For us, it looked like this: After her pediatrician dismissed my concerns, I decided to call back a few weeks later. I asked to speak with a different pediatrician and I shared my concerns. She immediately gave me a referral to a pediatric physical therapy office.
I took Liv to a therapy appointment where they assessed her motor skills and took measurements of her head. It was there that they discovered her muscle weakness and let me know that her head measurements were pretty drastic.
My insurance asked that she have two months of documented, “Positioning Therapy.” This can be done at home or during actual physical therapy. I was able to document a few of the previous weeks because I had been working really hard to re-position her at home on my own.
Ask you insurance if your efforts at home are acceptable to document and this could help get your baby into a helmet sooner.
After a few more weeks of actual therapy, we were referred to a Hanger Clinic (which is a prosthetics clinic - they have them all over the US).
She had an initial evaluation and her measurements indicated she was a candidate for a helmet. We had to have a second set of measurements taken and then wait three weeks for her helmet to be made. They used an electronic device to create the measurements for her helmet (they didn’t have to make a mold of her head or anything like that and it wasn’t scary at all for her).
What are the helmet appointments like?
I take Liv once a month to have her head re-measured and make sure the helmet is fitting correctly. The appointments are like 10 minutes long.
How long does she have to wear her helmet?
She has to wear her helmet for 23 hours every day. The average length of wearing a helmet is 4 months. Liv is finishing up her fourth month now, but she still isn’t measuring where they would like to see her. Because we had to wait until she was 8 months old, her head didn’t have as great of a chance to grow. After 12 months, the bones in a baby’s head are pretty solid and they don’t mold or change much from that point on.
Does the helmet hurt/irritate her?
Not even a little bit. She’s truly never even noticed the helmet. I didn’t believe other moms when they told me this, but it’s true. When I take her helmet off for her helmet free hour, she scratches her head for a few seconds, but that’s literally it. She doesn’t care when I put it back on and it doesn’t effect her sleep.
Things I didn’t expect:
The helmet is really stinky. It’s basically like she’s wearing a football helmet all day long and her head sweats and it makes the helmet and her hair smell terrible. I use soap and water on a wet washrag to clean the inside of the helmet. I also use alcohol on a paper towel to help clean the stubborn parts. Even so, it still has some brown stains on the inside that I can’t get out. This is normal though and I’m not worried about it haha.
I wash the strap with soap and water because it gets dirty pretty easily.
Where do you get Liv’s helmet bows and how do you attach them?
The bows have made Liv’s helmet so much more fun :) Ultimately, the best way to attach them is to go to a craft store and buy some sticky velcro and velcro that you can sew onto fabric. Use the sticky velcro for the helmet (it sticks really well, but it doesn’t damage the helmet when you remove it). Use the sewing velcro and sew a strip onto the back of a bow. When you’re done with the helmet, your can cut out the velcro and continue to use the bow with a clip.
A REALLY nice small shop owner that I’ve become friends with on Instagram created a little bow connector that works amazingly well. It eliminates having to sew any velcro because you can attach bows to it with clips. Recently, Liv has figured out how to pull the clips off though, which is a choking hazard. So i’m back to sewing velcro onto her bows.
You can reach out to bow companies and ask them to send you bows without the headband part (or with clips), or you can ask if they’d be willing to sew a velcro patch on for you. Some are happy to do this, but some don’t carry velcro.
One of my best friends just opened a bow shop called Sunshine and Wren and I can’t recommend her bows enough! You can visit her Instagram HERE.
Another favorite shop of mine is Little Lou Sue Co. I have loved every single bow I’ve ever ordered from her!
Did I miss anything? If you have any questions or comments about cranial bands, let me know in the comments! I love hearing from you and I really want this post to be a helpful resource for moms trying to figure this whole thing out! You can also find me over on Instagram!
My heart is for you to have images of your everyday that you take yourself, with whatever camera you have available to you, whether it’s an old iPhone or an entry level DSLR camera.
If you love taking pictures of your kids but don’t have this whole photography thing totally figured out – I created a free course just for you!