I am so beyond grateful for Dr. Styker and OMI! This review will be a little lengthy but I feel it's important because I've talked with several moms who felt their baby's head had a flat spot but didn't receive the advice or information to do anything about it (other than to do more tummy time and hope it rounds itself out), and their kids are older and it's too late to do anything about it.
My son's head had a flat spot that we really started to notice around 4 months. Our pediatrician said to monitor it and wait and see if it got any better by 6 months and in the meantime do a lot of tummy time and make sure he wasn't favoring one side when he slept.
After looking online it was apparent that the earlier the better to correct a misshapen head. So instead of waiting until 6 months I made an appointment with OMI.
Dr. Stryker scanned my son's head and it shows exactly where the flat spot is and to what degree it's out of shape. My son's head was misshapen enough that insurance completely covered the cost of the helmet, making it a no-brainer to do it (no pun intended!) A misshapen head isn't just cosmetic, it can cause problems with their jaw, ear/sinuses, etc.
We had him wear the helmet majority of the day/night for the first two weeks (we did take a break a few days during the day while we were on a trip but he'd still sleep in it), and his totally transformed in just those two weeks. From that point he only had to wear it at night for the next two weeks, and now he's on every other night for a few more weeks and then we will be done. So total time of him wearing the helmet will be about 1.5 months. It was never a nuisance and I could take it off on days where I knew we'd be taking a lot of photos (ie our family trip).
So parents - if you're concerned your baby's head might be misshapen, just make an appointment ASAP with OMI. It's a free consultation and SO worth it. I found that the pediatricians tend to seem negative about helmets, so please don't let this affect your judgement. You know your baby and you know if something isn't right. Dr. Stryker is so lovely, straightforward, and reassuring. read more