The Magic of Therapy

So when Ella was 6 weeks old, I noticed that she was restricted in her neck movement. My husband, friends and family told me I was crazy and that Ella was fine! I was in the land of new mummy worry, quite literally. Is she nursing well enough? Is she developmentally normal? Is she sleeping enough (the answer to that one was a very clear no!)? Is she pooping enough? Is she pooping TOO MUCH? These were all my day to day worries and I can understand how my family thought I was one brick shy of going right off the deep end. HOWEVER! With this, I was correct. The physio and mummy in me told me that something just wasn't quite right with her neck movement so I brought it up to our family doctor. He took a look at her at one of our well baby appointments, referred us to a pediatrician and gave us a referral for physiotherapy.
Being a physiotherapist myself, I wasn't going to take Ella to just any clinic. I did my research, and called around to find a clinic that I was comfortable with, and would meet Ella's specific needs as a baby. Having worked in private practice myself, once upon a time, I knew how rare it was to see this condition in a normal adult practice, and I wanted someone with experience.

I found it at Footprints Therapy. We booked an appointment with Doreen Hilliard, clinic co-owner, physiotherapist and osteopathic manual practioner. I was nervous, very nervous, because I really wasn't sure how much therapy Ella would tolerate. At that age, Ella was in what I would dub her "Screamy Phase". When she wasn't eating or sleeping (and she didn't sleep all that often) she was screaming. At the top of her lungs. For hours at a time. I couldn't change her diaper without world class dramatics, how in the world could she tolerate therapy that may or not be uncomfortable for her?

My worries were unfounded. Doreen was and still is absolutely wonderful with her. Ella tolerates an HOUR (yes, an HOUR) of therapy with Doreen and she has just worked wonders with Ella. She uses gentle physiotherapy and osteopathic techniques and has worked on her skull, neck, shoulders, thorax and pelvis to help her achieve balance throughout her body. I fully credit Doreen and her therapeutic skills for helping us achieve so much improvement in not only the muscles of her body, but the dramatic improvements in her head shape as well.

Here are some pics from a recent treatment session with Doreen! A typical session starts with a good old fashioned romp to the toy box!

Once Ella has chosen a toy that is particularly tasty, the therapy can begin.

Yummm, giraffe.

Oooh, this one is good too.

What is Ella looking at? Doreen's office is full of mobiles that she has collected from around the world. :)

 (This one is my personal favourite)

From there she worked on the muscles of Ella's neck, her skull and surrounding areas.

Thanks Doreen! That feels pretty good!

A little work on Ella's pelvis alignment..

Another tasty treat from the toybox...

And our therapy session is complete for the day. One hour of gentle therapy complete, which Ella has thoroughly enjoyed. Hurray!

Ella continues to make gains during her therapy sessions and we are likely to graduate in the next few months. While we will certainly miss Doreen and all the lovely people at Footprints, it feels great to know that they are there if we ever need them again.

Special thanks to Doreen Hilliard and the staff of Footprints therapy for agreeing to be a part of our blog this week! Visit them at www.footprints.ca for more info.



Flat Heads Unite!

So one of the best things about writing this blog is that I've been able to connect with parents around the world who are going through a similar process to us here in Canada. I've been lucky enough to speak with parents from Boston, Toronto, UK and California just to name a few! How awesome is that? Thank you internets, for bringing the flat headed children and their parents together! Who else could understand what its like to overhear non stop whispering, pointing, and general staring at our beautiful helmeted children? Or the helpful advice they like to provide such as the Costco Checkout Lady who told my dear friend, Heather that "You really should turn them in the crib you know, so they don't get that flat spot." Ha! I didn't realize that turning them in the crib not only cured torticollis but traumatic births as well. If only we could have heeded her advice earlier...

Anyway, through the wonders of the internet, I've been able to connect with Carine and her lovely daughter Stella. :) Hooray for another Toronto area family!

Stella was just recently fitted with her helmet at 5 months old. Stella, like Ella (how cute!), was also diagnosed with torticollis from a young age. Stella couldn't move her head to the left, and this caused a flat spot to develop, that was diagnosed at her 2 month well baby checkup. (This story sounds very familiar!). Stella also underwent therapy on her neck, and the ROM is much improved. Her head shape looked like this:

At her one month follow up, it had improved to this:

WOW! What a huge change! Stella's head grew 2cm this month and it has made a huge difference in the shape on her head. Yay Stella! And good job Momma!

Because these fancy helmets only come in one colour (medicinal white, yuck), Carine took the helmet to be painted by an artist in North Bay, Ontario called Michael Ciupka, while her family was on vacation. This artist is quite talented! Check out his work at: http://www.mcdesigns.ca/ . And this is how her helmet turned out:

Wow! So beautiful. So glad to welcome Stella into the fancy helmet club!

Thanks Mama! Now this is a helmet I can be proud of!

Special thanks to Carine and her daughter Stella for being our special guests on this weeks edition of Molding a Melon! Oh, and if there are any other parents hanging out there in cyber space, I'd love to hear from you. Feel free to drop me an email at kaite.fryer@gmail.com or leave a message here!

From Sock Heads to Egg Heads

So we have been busy busy busy these days! Our house finally sold (yay!) so we have been very busy packing up (boo!) and looking for a new house. It has been stressful to say the least, as Ella is full speed crawling, pulling up and cruising these days so I randomly find Ella in very precarious positions such as trying to pull a lamp over or falling into a half packed box. Regardless, we have been as diligent with the helmet wearing as we can be, despite the record breaking heat, and we're doing our best to make our 18 hour a day minimum. I was praying that we would be done with the helmet at this appointment, even though that was very very unlikely.

On the way to the appointment. Notice the Friends of Tie Domi Rehabilitation Clinic on the way. Future job perhaps? I've always wanted to work in pediatrics. 

Ella was very excited to be strolling around Sick Kids with her Daddy. :)

Soon we were at the orthotics clinic and Ella was giggling away at all the other kids in the waiting room.

Finally, it was our turn for our appointment.

First was the most dreaded part of the appointment for Ella. The placing the "one size fits most, but not Ella due to her extra large cheeks" sock on her head to do the measurements and pictures for comparison.

Ella was crying very dramatically and Daddy couldn't help but laugh at her antics! Its just a sock Ella! It won't hurt you! Still, she was not impressed.

Not impressed, Daddy. Don't ever do that again.

Okay, I'm happy again!

Steve was eagerly checking out Ella's head while our orthotist was adjusting the helmet and creating the before and after pictures for us.

And this is what we saw:

We are still making good improvements. Ella's forehead has grown 0.5cm this month, and she has gained a total of one cm of growth in circumference. Apparently her head is becoming a perfect 'egg' shape, which is what they are looking for. We are so *close* to being done, but aren't there quite yet. We go back in a month to see if anything has changed.

Sigh, so close but no cigar!

Ella doesn't seem too upset about it though.

It's okay Mama! I don't mind the helmet too much. I think it bothers you more than me!

:) 

So here we go again! One more month until our next follow up. Until then, my fingers are crossed.

This tired Mama is off to bed. Happy Monday everyone!

Helmet Pride

So I was driving around Caledon yesterday and saw this sign. How hilarious is that? Even the Caledon OPP (Ontario Provincial Police) support the use of helmet wearing. Be proud, helmet wearers!

Ella showing off that prize winning noggin

Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians, and Happy Fourth of July to our American friends! Have an awesome long weekend!

Storm Troopers and Motorcycle Gangs

So despite the plagiocephaly team at Sick Kids keeps telling me how common these helmets are, and how "you'll be seeing them everywhere in the community", I have *yet* to see another helmet kid out and about. And Ella and I frequent quite a bit of kids places (parks, swimming pool, Early Year Centres). Where are all these other helmet kids hiding? Another mum at the Early Years Centre told me there was a young boy who had a helmet, but he didn't wear it out of the house. Perhaps all of these other helmet kids are hiding? Come out of your caves, I say! And wave that helmet flag! Be proud of that noggin!

Ella is.

Anyway, a good friend of mine, Heather, has a young son named Liam. Liam is also a member of the flat head crew, and is now a card carrying member of the helmet club. Liam and his mummy live in California, and they do helmets a little differently there. Ella's helmet is a modified Clarren design. These helmets are considered 'passive'. The helmet is a perfect shape, while alas, Ella's head is not. As she grows, her head will grow into the perfect shape of the helmet. This will take 2-6 months likely. No pressure is put on the head, it just allows room for Ella's head to grow into the perfect shape. We go monthly for follow ups.

Liam's helmet is a Doc Band. These helmets are considered 'active' helmets. These helmets apply gentle pressure to the bulgy areas, and allow room for growth in the flat areas. These helemts are adjusted weekly and look slightly different then the Clarrens. Most kids are in these for 2-4 months as well. We only have one option in Toronto, so that was the one we went for! Either way, both helmets do the job, and both Liam and Ella will soon be able to model for "Perfect Noggins Weekly".

Ella was very nervous when Liam had his fitting appointment. I think she remembered how upsetting and screamy it was for her. She worked hard that morning to send Liam a card all the way in California.

Wyatt was very concerned as well but he fell asleep during the photo shoot. But he woke up in anticipation of hearing how the appointment had gone.

Soon Liam's appointment was over and he was sporting his new rocking helmet. As an aside, our Canadian helmets tend to look like babies in motorcycle gangs, and the American ones are more star trooper-ish. Take your pick!

Liam's undecorated helmet, storm trooper style!

Liam's Mom, Heather, was hard at work decorating Liam's helmet with his favourite things...PIRATES!

Heather did an awesome job and it looks super cool now. I think that Liam agrees!

Even if it makes him crabby sometimes. 

Thanks for the fancy helmet, Mama! I'll thank you in 18 years!

Special shout out to Heather Owen and her son Liam for being our special guest in this week's edition of Molding a Melon.

One Month Follow Up...Drum Roll Please!

So today was our one month follow up at the Hospital for Sick Children. We had been waiting for this day for what felt like forever, and it was finally here. We really are super lucky to have such a world renowned hospital right in our backyard. It really is a gorgeous hospital, and the care is top notch.

We actually managed to arrive 30 minutes early for our appointment so we decided to do what everyone does, everywhere in the world, anytime they are 30 minutes early. Get a Starbucks!

I leave Steve for five minutes to go take pictures of the front of the hospital and I come back to the two of them surrounded by 5 people all oohing and ahhing about Ella and her helmet. She was quite a hit!

After that, we headed on over to the orthotics department where our follow up appointment was located.

Ella was charming everyone in the waiting room with her sweet legwarmer, custom onesie, and helmet combo.

We were called in, and the helmet was removed so our othotist could look at what progress we had made in the month since we had seen him. Poor Ella took one look at him and SCREAMED HER HEAD OFF. Poor guy. I don't think he took it personally. A stockingette was placed on her head so he could take pictures to chart our progress. As usual, these one size fits all stockingettes are not one size fits all for the extra large baby cheek population.

She needed a few mama cuddles to help her calm down. I felt horrible. Poor thing got herself so worked up. A few kisses and she was better. Wary of what was to come (she's not stupid!), but calmed down none the less.

He took a few pictures, and took Ella's helmet for readjusting while we sat there with baited breath hoping that we had made at least SOME progress. I was pretty sure we had, but I didn't want to get my hopes up in case things were still the same.

And this is what we saw!

Day One: May 14, 2012

One Month Later: June 14, 2012

YAYYYYYY! I see a huge difference especially in the upper right quadrant. That bump is flattening out, and the lower right quadrant is rounding out. Her head grew one cm in the last month and this had caused her entire head shape to shift. Our orthotist was not able to make any promises. We have made huge progress in the first month, but it might slow down the next month. We could be out of the helmet anywhere from 1-3 more months. Hurray!

We were all so excited, that Ella crashed on the way home.

All that excitement has worn this family out!

So this Mama is keeping her fingers crossed for the next 1-3 months. Month one, complete!