Fixin' my noggin!

One thing that we haven't talked about much on here is Patrick's little noggin. When he was about 3 weeks old, Andy and I noticed that he was beginning to develop a pretty significant flat spot on the right side of his head. (If you scroll back through old blog entries, you'll see that in just about every single picture of him, Patrick's looking to the right)

Three-week old Patrick was already starting to show a preference to look to the right.

Patrick has what's called a torticollis - basically, he has a tight muscle in his neck that makes him look to his right side. Since he turns this way when he's sleeping, the flat spot has developed and his head has gotten a little asymmetrical - a condition called plagiocephaly. We've been taking him to physical therapy to stretch and strengthen the neck muscles, but that wasn't doing enough to fix his head shape.

Last Friday we went to Cranial Technologies to get Patrick's head scanned for a little helmet called a DOC Band. The band acts like sort of a Jello mold for Patrick's head. It is designed so that as he grows, the flat areas on his head will fill out and take on a more rounded shape. The band is lightweight, and he doesn't seem to be bothered by it at all.

In the car right after his fitting, Patrick doesn't seem to even notice the band!

We'll have appointments each week to have the band adjusted as Patrick grows. For the next few months (how long will depend on how quickly he grows) Patrick will wear the band for 23 hours a day. He gets a break each night so we can give him a bath and scrub down the band. So far, the biggest downside we've noticed is that in this lovely DC heat, Patrick sweats like a beast and his head now smells like stinky feet.

Happy guy hanging out on the deck with Dad.

For now, Patrick's band is plain, but Andy and I are brainstorming fun ways to decorate it. Unfortunately, my arts and crafts skills are a little lacking (unless Patrick would like a knitted DOC Band sweater), so if anyone has any brilliant ideas, let us know!