Three months ago, I gave birth to the most beautiful baby boy, Caleb. I knew having a child would be life-changing, but I had no idea to this degree. Most of my waking moments (and that is a lot since I am hardly sleeping) my mind is flooded with thoughts about Caleb. I never questioned myself more about everything I do. I just want everything to be perfect for him. I want to be the best mom in the world to him, like my mom is for me. Until the moment I gave birth, I had never felt a love and bond so strong. I am simply unable to put into words how deeply he has touched my soul. My husband and I have spent months, saving money, getting everything, we need to care for him, planning, imagining how he will look and sound, and preparing our home. My prayers throughout my pregnancy were centered around having a healthy baby and being able to provide and care for him. Now that he is finally here, I have taken well over 100 pictures of him trying to capture every moment of him smiling, making the cutest noises, crying, sleeping, and rolling over.

One day recently, Caleb was taking a nap on his back as my pediatrician recommended. I began to look through some recent photos to send to my extended family. I thought to myself it was like he knew I was taking his picture, his head slightly turned and one eye looking like he was about to wink. I thought, “He is already so smart and loves his photo being taken! I must be doing everything right!” I never felt so confident, I really can do this, I do not know why I ever questioned myself. I had no idea a few days later I would lose all this confidence in just seconds.

My husband and I took Caleb to his 3-month check-up at his pediatrician. The doctor came into the room and told us that Caleb is healthy and growing just as he should be for his age. I was so thrilled, until he asked if we did tummy time with Caleb. We have been doing tummy time quite a bit, and Caleb enjoys it most of the time. The doctor then asked about how I hold him to breastfeed, if I’m having any problems with feeding, how he sleeps, what the set-up of the room looks like, I was getting nervous, but I stayed calm and answered all of his questions. He went on to say that Caleb’s head was looking flat on one side and gave us suggestions on how we could change the room around, hold him different and increase tummy time so his head gets better. He called it flathead syndrome. I was so upset. So many thoughts were whirling around in my head at lightning speed, I cannot remember much from the rest of the appointment. Does the doctor think I am a bad mom? Is this going to affect his growth physically or mentally? How can I fix it? Why didn’t I notice it?

I immediately went home from the appointment and jumped into a frantic search about flathead which I found is called plagiocephaly. I found resources to show how to work on repositioning and I also found he may have torticollis and may need physical therapy and a helmet! The more I researched, the worse I felt. My doctor did not say anything about these things. Does Caleb not need them? Should I call and ask? Then I came across the Cranial Therapy Centers (CTC) website. I can request a prescription from my doctor, and they will evaluate Caleb and give me all the answers I am looking for! I immediately requested the prescription and scheduled an appointment. My appointment went great! Everyone there was extremely friendly and knowledgeable. They evaluated his range of motion in his neck, took a scan of his head and discussed the results with me at the same appointment.

They answered every one of my questions thoroughly and even answered questions I had not thought of. They found that Caleb is too young to begin helmet treatment but that he does have torticollis. Apparently, this is common, and it can be corrected with therapy and repositioning at home. After we work on correcting this condition for a few weeks, they will do another scan of his head and decide at that point whether a helmet will be necessary. The scan only took 3 seconds, it is completely safe, and they even sent the results directly to his pediatrician. The best part…they explained that I did not do anything wrong and I was not alone in feeling the way I did initially, many parents feel the same way as I did. I would strongly recommend CTC, they truly put the patients and their families first.