Deciding to stop

After our last review Finley had a series of illnesses including a chest infection with high temperature. I just couldn't face putting it on him when he was ill even when his temperature went back to normal. So we have stopped. We have a review on 3rd January to rescan for the final results so we will see whether the hand measurements were accurate and if there has been any change since we stopped.

I dont feel we achieved much of a result. I guess that's why some providers refuse to helmet older babies. The results are often not worth the money or time for the paying customer.

Will report back in January with final figures.

Merry Christmas to all Finley's blog readers!!

Decided to keep going

Well we had another review yesterday. According to the measurements there was a further 2mm at the back which now shows a percentage severity of 97.45%. I got the impression that Saeed thought we should stop but that it was our decision. I figure that if we've got room and we've paid our money we may as well get the most out of it. I think, compared to others, we've got our money's worth out of LOC but I am not sure we have the results!

I think we should continue until he outgrows the helmet.

In the waiting room at LOC Finley came across another little boy with the exact same design helmet. They came face to face and stared at each other in disbelief for a few seconds. Quite amusing.

Next review in 6 weeks. 29th November

Some pictures

Here are some pictures I took tonight while Finley was in the bath. Such a darling sweet thing. I'm so thankful he is a happy healthy boy after all we went through ante-nataley (for those of you who don't know, we were only given a 5% chance of having a normal baby after a very high nuchal fold measurement at 12 weeks) but I do think we have failed him head shape wise. I don't think its improved that much at all.



Excuse the snot - what a cherub!!

No change again

Although Fin's head circumference has increased by 2 mm there was no change to the width and depth measurements. So he remains at 98.7%. Saeed said there was very little movement left in the skull. He said we should continue on for another 6 weeks and if there is no change then we might have to make the decision to stop. So our next appointment is on 18th October.

My feel is that if there is room in the helmet we should carry on. But we'll see what happens in October

Small Change

Just a 1mm growth at the back this time brings severity down to 98.7%. Slowly but surely....

Saeed said he could see more growth very low down at the base of Fin's neck which the calipers wouldnt catch. He said there was a marked difference from last time. He sees so many heads in a month I'mnot quite sure how he would remember them all, sometimes I think he is trying to humour me. He made some adjustments at the base of the helmet to ensure the new growth would not be obstructed.

Fin was unwell yesterday and didnt sleep with his hat on. We were worried about him getting a fever as he has a chest infection and is on anti-biotics.

Next appointment 7th September.

No Change

Up again at LOC yesterday and for the first time there was no change. Saeed reckons the sutures are closing and I cannot feel the fontanelle on the top of his head anymore. This means that while we could still see progress it's going to be very slow. Fin does not seem to be bothered by the hat at all so we are going to carry on for a while longer. There is still plenty of room at the back of the helmet to allow for further growth. Appointments have been changed to leave a longer gap in between.

Our next appointment is now 1st August in 5 weeks time.

More growth

We have cause for celebration as now Finley's head is below 100% severity. There has been another 2 mm growth at the back which makes the percentage 99.35%. This is 9mm growth in all. I can see that at the bottom of the neck there is now a slight curve out whereas before it was just flat from the neck right up to the top. I've added a picture at the side.

Here are the stats:

Age months 16.5
Head Circumference (cm) 50.1
Head Width mm 153
Head Depth mm 154
Severity 99.35%

I asked Saeed about going to night wear only. I think with the warm weather coming Finley is really going to suffer. Even in these milder days his head is really sweating. His growth is so slow I can't see it would make much difference. Saeed said the head is growing all the time, day and night and we would only get half the benefit. We will persevere but I'm going to be really disturbed if I see him suffering with the heat.

Next review in 3 weeks time.