Allergic Reaction to Helmet/Cranial Sacral Therapy?

[Guest guest]

My son Ethan received his helmet ten days ago and began

wearing it full time by Day 4. By Day 5 I started noticing he was

becoming more and more congested and assumed it was a cold coming on.

Symptoms continued to worsen--more congestion leading to difficulty

nursing,frequent coughing, pulling at his ears, poor sleeping (before

the helmet was sleeping 11 hours straight each night and taking

fairly consistent naps), and he was becoming more and more unlike his

usually happy temperament. I assumed an ear infection or perhaps

teething and took him to the pediatrician on Day 7. My ped said no

ear infection, it could be teething but if symptoms didn't go away in

a few days we needed to reevaluate. To make a long story short,

symptoms continued to worsen and Ethan began grabbing at the helmet

as if to take it off. By Day 8 when I would remove it for his bath

and for a break in the AM, he began to scratch his head furiously.

Skin irritation under the sideburn areas of the helmet worsened (I

thought it might be heat rash or skin sensitivity) and by Day 9 the

irritation looked more like a rash and was bright red and beginning

to spread to the rest of his face, neck, chest and arms. It turns

out he is allergic to the helmet, though we don't know which material

is the culprit. Our helmet was made with Alliplast (the

hypoallergenic foam) and the glue used between the layers of foam is

no longer made with latex because other children have apparently

reacted to that. I include all this detail in case it may be helpful

to someone else who experiences this in the future. So although it

is very rare, Ethan is one of a few other children who due to an

allergy of some substance is not able to use a helmet.

I would love to hear from other families whose children experienced

an allergic reaction-- were you able to determine the allergen?

I am also interested in Cranial Sacral Therapy, though I know very

little about it. I will research past messages on this site, but I

would love to hear from other parents who have tried this and what

your opinios are.

Thank you so much for your help.

[Guest guest]

Hi Suzanne,

What kind of band does your son have? I have heard of a few other

babies being allergic to bands. I believe at least in some cases it

was a starband. I spoke with someone at Craial Tech corporate and if I

remember correctly they said they haven't had any children who are

allergic. You may want to contact them and if that is the case

consider getting a DOCband.

I have heard of some successes with CST, but I don't think there are

peer reviewed studies to say it is effective, therefore I wouldn't

want to count on it exclusively unless the plagio was very mild. It

may work, I just don't know.

If you do decide to contact CT I would be interested in what they say

about allergies. Also if you decide to go with CST I would be interest

to hear if you see results.

-christine

sydney 18 mo starband grad

>

> My son Ethan received his helmet ten days ago and began

> wearing it full time by Day 4. By Day 5 I started noticing he was

> becoming more and more congested and assumed it was a cold coming on.

> Symptoms continued to worsen--more congestion leading to difficulty

> nursing,frequent coughing, pulling at his ears, poor sleeping (before

> the helmet was sleeping 11 hours straight each night and taking

> fairly consistent naps), and he was becoming more and more unlike his

> usually happy temperament. I assumed an ear infection or perhaps

> teething and took him to the pediatrician on Day 7. My ped said no

> ear infection, it could be teething but if symptoms didn't go away in

> a few days we needed to reevaluate. To make a long story short,

> symptoms continued to worsen and Ethan began grabbing at the helmet

> as if to take it off. By Day 8 when I would remove it for his bath

> and for a break in the AM, he began to scratch his head furiously.

> Skin irritation under the sideburn areas of the helmet worsened (I

> thought it might be heat rash or skin sensitivity) and by Day 9 the

> irritation looked more like a rash and was bright red and beginning

> to spread to the rest of his face, neck, chest and arms. It turns

> out he is allergic to the helmet, though we don't know which material

> is the culprit. Our helmet was made with Alliplast (the

> hypoallergenic foam) and the glue used between the layers of foam is

> no longer made with latex because other children have apparently

> reacted to that. I include all this detail in case it may be helpful

> to someone else who experiences this in the future. So although it

> is very rare, Ethan is one of a few other children who due to an

> allergy of some substance is not able to use a helmet.

>

> I would love to hear from other families whose children experienced

> an allergic reaction-- were you able to determine the allergen?

>

> I am also interested in Cranial Sacral Therapy, though I know very

> little about it. I will research past messages on this site, but I

> would love to hear from other parents who have tried this and what

> your opinios are.

>

> Thank you so much for your help.

>