Helmet, Days One and Two

Ari and I hanging out this morning.

Helmet days one and two are done, and have gone very well.

For the rest of day one, per the schedule given to us, Ari continued to wear the helmet for one hour on, and a half-hour off, not during naps, and not during the night. All went well; no bright red marks after each wearing period to indicate that his helmet is too tight in any area.

Today was day two, and as indicated on the schedule, Ari wore the helmet for 1 1/2 hrs at a time with half-hour breaks in-between again. He was to wear the helmet for naps, but not tonight for bedtime. He did not have any problems at all wearing his helmet during his naps. He was his same silly self, pulling himself up to standing in his crib several times while crying as usual, before finally falling asleep. ; )

I have noticed, as I was warned, that Ari does get warmer than usual due to wearing the helmet. The few times, when I would take the helmet off, his forehead would be a little sweaty, and when I changed him the eczema on the backs of his knees was slightly more inflamed from being too warm. So, I have been dressing him down a little when he has the helmet on, and that has been helping.

I will have to say that the helmet really has been somewhat protecting him more from injury... but in payment, I myself have been getting injured more often. You see, Ari is a very snuggly little boy, and has a habit of plopping his head down on my shoulders and towards my face, especially when he is tired, to hug me and have me kiss his cheeks, forehead, etc. I have already been clocked in the nose, chin, cheekbone, etc many times, but this has proven to be even more dangerous for me now that he has a "tupperware" helmet on. I have already noticed myself developing new defensive techniques, such as guiding his head gently towards or away from me, by holding onto the opening at the top of the helmet. Although that is helping a bit, I predict that I will have received my fair share of bumps, bruises and scratches from this helmet by the time we are done with it.

Needless to say, I very much cherish our helmet "breaks", and clock lots of snuggle time during them, but the helmet is not ending up being such a bad thing so far. I will continue to keep you posted. = )

Ari and I snuggling during a helmet break.