Helmet time

Pretty much from birth, Owen preferred looking to the right when laying down. He developed a small flat spot behind his right ear. No matter how much we altered his position in his rocker, or propped up the shoulder when sleeping, he seemed to find that spot. Still, his head was soft enough to have some hope that it would correct.

We had him in our room for his first 3 months in a bassinet and pack-n-play. He finally moved into his room and his crib in July. I got what is generally considered one of the very best mattresses, the Colgate Classica I, a very firm mattress that is considered high quality. My mother noted how firm it was when we got it--this is what's recommended though.

Within a week it seemed, Owen developed another, larger flat spot, also on the right side of his head. We again made efforts to get him to look left when laying down, and it would work for a little bit, but eventually he would find the spot, so it never self corrected. We knew what was coming next--the helmet. At our last check up in September, we were told, yes, we should visit a specialist. We were referred to Cranial Technologies (in network provider), and in looking at their before and after photos, I thought to myself, "Yep, that's Owen's head."

After the initial consultation and fitting, Owen got his helmet today:



He seems to be OK with it. The biggest change (after having it for 7 hours) is we can't see his forehead, which is key in a lot of the faces he makes. Now when he lifts his eyebrows, his forehead scrunches up and he just looks a little pissed off. Maybe he is.

As I mentioned before, Cranial Tech is covered by our insurance, which means an out-of-pocket cost for us of $200 (10% of the $2000 contracted rate). However, at the consultation, we were told they have had some issues in Aetna (our provider) accepting the claim. If they didn't, we're on the hook for the full amount ($3600)--we don't even get the contracted rate. We were told we could file a determination, but Aetna is good about taking the full 30 days to give you an answer. Since the longer one waits for the helmet, the longer it has to be worn, we opted to skip the determination since we felt like we were going to get it anyway to fix his head.

In retrospect, I do wonder how firm a mattress needs to be. The bassinet feature on a pack and play to any crib mattress will be quite different. Where the PNP can mold to the baby a bit more (hammock style), the crib mattress stays flat. But if a baby is sleeping on its back, does the mattress really need to be super firm? The softness/plushness, I surmise, is primarily a factor if they are side or stomach sleeper. If they're on their back, though, can't they have a little cushion, to get a little more conforming? Maybe the mattress was only a small factor. Maybe Owen just has a soft head because he was early. Or maybe we didn't do something we didn't know we should be doing.

But Owen will survive. After all, there's nothing wrong with having a helmet at this time of the year. He's just ready for some football!

P.S. If anyone has any small NY Giants stickers, please send them our way.