Helmets Off to L.J.!

Congratulations, L.J.!! Today you received the all-clear from the orthotist and you are officially done with your helmet! You did such a great job wearing your helmet without complaint, and during the hot summer months no less. Mommy and daddy are very proud of you!!

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Indeed, it is a day to celebrate because L.J. has completed his helmet treatment and with near-perfect results. Let’s take a look at the image below to see how far he’s come. The inner red outline is his head shape when he started treatment; the outer blue line is his head shape today. What a difference!

The two diagonal lines – Diag2 and Diag1– are the main basis for comparison. Anything less than 6 mm difference in the length of the two lines is considered normal. When L.J. was measured for his helmet, the difference in in lines was 12.7. Today, the difference in the lines is 3.5 mm, well within the normal range.

The front of his head has grown in as well, significantly reducing the vaulting that was evident when he got his helmet on. (Vaulting is the “ski slope” effect on his forehead.)

Today’s results were not a surprise. In fact, he was cleared for helmet removal one month ago. However, in addition to the diagonal lines they measure, they also measure the front and side ratio – called a cephalic ratio (think of a ‘+’ instead of an ‘x’). Last month that ratio was at 92%. The “perfect” ratio for a 9-month old boy is 90%, so the orthotist gave us the option to continue helmet wear for one more month to try to tweak that ratio. We were all-in at that point so continuing to wear it for a few more weeks was a no brainer.

Did that extra month help? Yes! His ratio today was 90%. He did it!!

We are very, very proud of L.J. and thrilled that we completed treatment within the expected course of time! They originally estimated he would need it for 3-4 months, and today marked the 3.5 month mark.

We gave L.J. a special treat tonight to mark his success:

(a little dollop of whipped cream on  his mandarin oranges)

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Let’s compare the before and after pictures:

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Finally, one thing I want to clarify. My mom mentioned that it didn’t look like he was wearing his helmet much according to pictures. He was wearing his helmet 21-22 hours a day – I just focused on taking pictures when he had it off. (Though he looked awfully cute wearing it!) He typically had it off for an hour or two at school (recess and afterwards to cool down) and a half hour at home in the evenings. Weekend mornings we gave him a 2-3 hour break most of the time. We were pretty strict about following the orthotist’s “full-time wear” requirements!