As of September 16, we have finished with the orthotic molding helmet. At least, we've decided not to continue with the 18-23 hours/day wearing of the helmet -- am still considering whether Ridley should wear it at night just to preserve the "new and improved" shape of his head. It's been 12 weeks since he first wore the Helm of Molding, and the change to his head is remarkable.

Just to backtrack for a moment: at about 4.5-5 months of age, Ridley exhibited a rather noticably flattened back of the skull, caused by a "condition" called Positional plagiocephaly. I placed parenthesis around the word condition, as the flattening of his skull was not caused by a disease or anything such as that, but rather as the result being placed on his back to sleep. The flattening that occurred did not impact his brain development, but it did produce an oddly shaped head that would not (entirely) correct itself over time. Hence, the use of the orthotic molding helmet to reshape the head.

I know, it seems rather medieval to strap a baby into a helmet for nearly 24 hours a day. Believe me, I wrestled with the decision to go ahead with this treatment. "Is there anything wrong with a differently shaped head?", I pondered. "Was this merely a tyranny of the majority, insisting that we all conform to the notion of a conventionally-round head?" And then I decided to leave off the philosophical arguments and just help my son's head look a little less misshapened. He may want to shave his head one day, after all.

Here's a photo of the plaster cast that the orthotist at Sick Kids created of Ridley's head. This cast was used to create the custom molding helmet:


And here's Ridley's head, taken after 12 weeks of wearing the helmet:

There more information on Positional plagiocephaly on the Hospital for Sick Children's web site.