The Helmet Chronicles: Introduction

Today we had an appointment at a nearby hospital. It was a kind of intake interview for The Little Ninja and The Recyclist and I as his parents.

See, when he was about 2 weeks old, we realised that The Little Ninja had a flat spot on his head. At the back, to the left. From above, his head looked kind of triangular. Technically, this is called positional plagiocephaly. The flat spot may have been formed by his position in utero, by his 'assisted' birth, or by a preference to turn his head to his left in those first two weeks. He certainly did prefer to face slightly to the left, but I'm not sure whether that was because there was already a flat spot there, so his head just rolled into that position or because of something else, causing the flat spot. In any case, we mentioned it at our one-month Well Baby appointment and the doctor gave us some exercises to do with The Little Ninja, to try to encourage him to turn his head to the right.

At the two-month Well Baby appointment, we mentioned it again and the doctor referred us to a physiotherapist. She measured The Little Ninja's head and how misshapen it was. This is given a score on the ODDI - Oblique Diameter Difference Index. 100% would be a perfectly round, symmetrical head, which, obviously, no one really has. 100 - 104% is considered round. 104 - 108% is slightly misshapen but will probably resolve with physiotherapy. Above 108% is not likely to resolve on its own and justifies helmet therapy. The Little Ninja scored 107% at 2 months, but the real measurement would be at 5 months. This was just to give a frame of reference. The therapist gave more exercises and we made regular appointments to check the progress.

We quickly broke through the left-side preference, but the flat spot remained. No longer lying on the flat spot, a bulge appeared under the flat spot making The Little Ninja's head look somewhat less triangular.

At 5 months, the physiotherapist measured The Little Ninja's head again. After three months of turning his somewhat triangular head to the right, strengthening his neck muscles with exercises, and giving him time on this tummy so that his flat spot could grow out, he now scored 111% on the ODDI.

I don't know exactly how that happened. Maybe the first measurement was wrong, maybe the bump under the flat spot is actually worse than the flat spot, I don't know, but his head is somehow more deformed now than it was three months ago.

Which means The Little Ninja is getting a helmet. Our next appointment is on Tuesday, when they'll make a complete 3D model of his head in order to make the helmet.

Thus begins The Helmet Chronicles...