We're one month in!

Yesterday marked 4 weeks in the helmet! I haven't dared to look and try and notice if there is a big difference. I've been too nervous in case there isn't much. The day we were due to get the helmet, I took a picture of Erin from above. I took another picture this evening and we all held our breath as we looked at them next to one another. Here they are, what do you think?

In the "before" picture, You can see how the right side of the back of her head bulges quite a bit. In the "4 weeks" picture it looks significantly less bulgy. Or am I just imagining things? She is looking slightly down in the "4 weeks" picture, but that still looks quite a lot better. We will go for our one month scan on Friday morning and then we will know for sure what the difference is. I'm just quite glad it looks like something. Wahoo!

On top of this great looking news, she has started clapping. It's just the cutest thing to see. Here is a picture of her doing it (I know, clapping is not a static action but she is just so stinking cute in this pic).

Such a clever little thing. More to come when I've taken her 7 months picture. That's on Friday, so that picture will be along with the news from our scan.

Three weeks down, how the time flies.

Well, today we've been in the helmet for 3 weeks. It seems to have flown by but at the same time it feels like she's been in the thing forever. So weird. But she's still doing so well, hardly even notices the thing is on. She almost seems a little bit sad when I take it off. Funny child.

It has started to smell a little funny in the last week or so. I did some browsing online, because simply scrubbing it with rubbing alcohol once a day seemed to leave a funny smell in it. Now I leave it out in the sun for a bit every couple of days, that sucks the smell right now. Then, after scrubbing with alcohol in the evening, I then scrub with a damp cloth that has a little of her shampoo on it, then wipe it out with a clean damp cloth. Seems to take the smell of the alcohol out nicely. It's not awefull I suppose, at least you can smell it unless you get your nose right in there.

A follow up as well: the whole sleep training thing was a one night fail. Erin cannot cry it out. I did the bed time routine, gave her a cuddle and kisses and put her in her bed. She talked to herself for 40 minutes and then the crying started. So I waited as suggested, then went in to soothe when she didn't calm down. I tell you, when I walked out again once she'd calmed down, then the screaming really started. It just got worse and eventually she was hyperventilating and I gave up. It took ages for her to calm down again and she was still almost crying in her sleep. I've decided we'll have to go with a more gentle method, slowly cut our routine down and work to a point where she's drowsy but awake. It'll take a while but I think she can do it. It'll have to wait a while because we're going on a trip in 2 weeks and will be staying in a hotel. I just know that that will mess up any progress we've made so we'll wait. She's doing well and starting to sleep through without waking or needing to eat. She's done it 4 times now, not in a row however. Unfortunately, this means she sometimes wants to wake up at 5am for the day. Still trying to figure that one out...

The Radish's daddy is away on business this week, which is strange. This is the first time and not that I have a problem taking care of the Radish my myself, it's still very odd not having him here. Oh well, we'll be fine, keep ourselves busy. She probably be way bored of me by the time he gets home, but I'm sure that'll just make him feel like her favorite person. Which he is I think ;).

One week (and a bit) down... time to sleep train

We are more than a week into our helmet wearing experience and the radish is doing so well! She's not letting anything stand in her way.

Went for the check up at the orthodist office yesterday. They just needed to check that everything was going okay and answer any questions we had. I just had two questions. My first was about the car seat. Random, I know. The point was, the radish is still in an infant car seat (the ones you can take in and out of the car, that clip into a base that stays in the car). Our particular seats instructions say that she needs to move to a bigger seat when her head is an inch or less from the top of the car seat. Well, without the helmet, she's just fine. With the helmet, she's getting quite close. I was just wondering if this would affect the safety of the seat, if we should measure her height from the top of her head or from the top of the helmet. He said it shouldn't make a huge difference, but obviously once she gets close to the inch barrier with her head, to then get another seat. 

On Tuesday evening, while doing the "one hour of freedom from the helmet" time, we noticed that the radish had a few slightly rasied spots on the back of her head, on the spot that's most prominent and therefore has contact with the helmet. Most of the red patch faded very quickly, as it usually does, but there were about 3 little bumps left that didn't go away within the hour. I put the helmet back on for the night, since the skin hadn't broken and didn't look painful. I resolved to check in the morning and then of course speak to the technician at our appointment. It didn't seem worse in the morning but, of course, hadn't gone away. At the appointment he reassured me that it happened often and was simply the spot where the radish's head was rubbing on the helmet. He didn't want to adjust the helmet too much, as that might slow progress, but he did smooth out the spot where it was rubbing. He also suggested putting vaseline on the spot to help lubricate it a little. If it still doesn't clear nicely, we'll try some hydro cortisone cream on it. He said that if it is still a problem after trying that, to come back in and he will take some of the foam out so it doesn't rub. I hope we don't have to do that, because as he said, we need that contact with the prominent area to stop it from bulging out more.

Other than those minor issues, she is doing just fabulously. We'll go for her next scan in a month, where they'll scan her head again and compare that picture to the first scan and check our progress. I can't wait! I just want to get there and see how much different it is. I'll try not to agonise over it, to avoid being disappointed if there isn't as much change as I'm hoping for.

Since the radish is doing so well (sleeping better than she was before the helmet) I've decided it's time for her to start learning to fall asleep alone. That's right, 6 months old and Mummy still helps her fall asleep for every nap and bedtime. Granted, for the last few weeks, she has been so great about going back to sleep when she stirs during the night, and more recently, during naps. So, since all the colds, runny noses, vaccination after effects and helmet breaking-in are all over with, the time has come. It's gonna be kind of aweful and I'm sure there will be crying (from everyone involved) but we're going to try. More to follow on how it is going...