I want to share our story because an article came out recently that made my blood boil, BBC's article, Baby helmets 'have no added value', study finds. Ways to describe this article: vague, irresponsible, misleading, lacking research and full analysis. Our son is proof that DOC Bands (or helmets) DO work. They CAN be successful. It is awful that people would publish trash like BBC to discourage families from this option.
For one thing - no one WANTS their child to wear a helmet. Everyone wants to have a perfectly healthy baby. If circumstances require additional resources to assist with head shape, then so be it.
And there are a couple of downsides, mostly very short term. From the article: All parents of the babies who had worn helmets reported downsides, including:
- skin irritation - This may happen in the first few days, but any diaper cream or Aqauphor will clear it up ASAP.
- sweating - This DOES happen, but only for the first few days. The baby's body needs to adapt to the newly increased heat it has. Once the baby acclimates the helmet only gets sweaty if they play really hard or get worked up. We would just give Bennett breaks to let him cool off completely and put it back on.
- feeling hindered from cuddling their baby because of the helmet - This is unfair. You can still absolutely cuddle with your baby and you should! You can still kiss their sweet cheeks, rub their hair and hold them close. We never stopped cuddling Ben because he was wearing a helmet.
Several parents whose child wore a DOC band have come up to us in the last few months to share their success and stories. It was so encouraging and sweet, and I wish I could thank them again! We happen to be pretty analytical so we were never really emotional about Ben needing a helmet, though I do see where the emotional effects of this on parents could be. For us, we were so thankful there was a possible solution available, we were HAPPY! In the long run, he won't remember and his head will be beautiful. We just chose to focus on the positives.
Though 99% of our interactions with curious strangers were positive, I have to share this funny bit: One time I was in Target and a woman looked at Bennett like he needed to be rescued. She said, "Ooooh. What did you guys do to him? Did someone drop him?!" I was so shocked, I just said, "No." Seeing the horror on my face, her face reddened and I abruptly walked away. That same day another woman looked at him very sadly, touched his arm and asked if he was okay. I think she thought we dropped him too.
Awkward! But I love when people come up to us because it gives us the opportunity to educate people so when they see another one in the future, they have an idea of what's really going on there. Here is a quick article that explains the few reasons why babies wear them: Why do infants wear helmets?
We would do it all the same if we had to. Having Bennett sleep at an angle was critical for him to get sleep without having acid fly out of his nose every house. We had to do it and thank GOD there was an option out there for us to have the chance to get his head shape back to great. Thank you Cranial Technologies for everything! The DOC band has been amazing.
Now we get to go buy Ben a real helmet for our bike rides on the strand!
