There have been some concerns about our baby’s head. Let’s be clear, she is as cute as a button, but the pediatrician has noticed that her head is misshapen. It is not completely symmetrical.

A couple of weeks ago we went to some specialists in this area. They had a neat setup with multiple cameras that all took a picture at the same time to get a 3D scan of her head. Note: Belle was not a fan of the hood they put her in temporarily; worst experience of her life. From the scan they determined that she had moderate plagiocephaly. The best way to solve this is for her to have a medical helmet for a few months.

But first, they wanted her to see a physical therapist to see if there was a better way to deal with the head shape. I think this may have been for insurance purposes. So today we went to a nearby baby physical therapy place.

It was a very good place, and they made Belle feel very comfortable and loved. She seemed to be enjoying the new experience. The PT thought that Belle should be wearing a helmet but she also gave us a good overview of her development.

Essentially, Belle is a bit advanced in her development, but not too advanced. (Interestingly, if a baby is doing some activities too prematurely, it may indicate other issues like cerebral palsy.) She won’t be crawling soon, but she is well on her way to figuring it out.

Conveniently, Belle also figured out how to use her voice a couple of days ago, so she is cooing, trilling and singing quite a bit. She also has not learned how to flip from her back to her stomach, so she is practically rolling all the time. We can’t trust her to sleep on her back anymore. She demonstrated a lot of flipping to the PT.

The clinic was a sobering place. You could see several children there who are clearly struggling through bad issues. I’m haunted by the one child I saw with a shaved head showing medical scars who was trying to learn to walk with two crutches. Belle is very lucky if the worst she has is an asymmetrical head.