7 Months & Deciding To Let Nature Take It's Course

First I want to thank everyone who responded to my post about Bucket's head for all of the love and support. Since my last post I've had the opportunity to talk to a few moms whose babies had similar heads and who decided not to helmet. They generously sent me photos of their children as they grew up. By 2 years, you could barely tell that the child's head was anything other than "normal", and by 5 years there was no difference at all. Between the support from our friends and family, these mom's experiences, and the lack of any real evidence that the helmets make a difference at the age of 2 we decided to forgo the helmet and let Bucket's head develop as it will.

That being said, "develop as it will" is coupled with mission "Keep Bucket off his head whenever he is not sleeping". I may not be getting paid, but I suddenly have a new full time job. We decided to invest in a jumparoo a.k.a. "the circle of neglect":

Fortunately, Bucket loves it. He has a good position for prime Kitty-watching, lots of things to chew on (that the cat can't reach and eat), and has a great time bouncing up and down.

Also fortunately, Bucket is a great sitter. He still sucks on his stomach, but kid's got some wicked core strength. He still topples backwards when excited so I need to keep an eye on him, but it's a huge advantage.

We also spend much more time in the ergo. This keeps him off his head and allows him to nap (meaning a full 45-90 min of sleep also off of his head. He's comfy in the front carry, but he gets in the way. The back carry is more convenient, but both he and I are too short for the carrier so I'm looking for alternatives.

Hikin' with L on Baba's Day

Luxuriating post-back carry with me.

The rest of the time, I'm holding, bouncing, or playing with him. We also try to time all car rides with naps so we bang out car seat time and nap time into one on-his-head time.

Its a lot of work, but every day actually gets easier. Even more encouraging, we're already seeing a difference in his head shape. Compare:

to:

I'm amazed at what a difference this sort of repositional work makes. The rate of improvement is also very encouraging to keep going, even when it's a real pain in the ass. It has also occurred to me that the entire keep-Bucket-off-his-head mission is possible because I don't work outside of the home. If he were in daycare, he'd be in a helmet. Both because the $3,000 price tag would be more affordable with two incomes, but also because we could not ask a daycare provider to keep him off his head in the same way I am able to. So, I guess you could say I'm earning us $3,000 by being home so we don't have to put him in a helmet (or something like that).

This was a hard choice for me to make (easier for L for a variety of reasons), but I now feel strongly that we made the right choice by our kid.

Yes, yes she does.