The Hair that Wasn't

Or was, then wasn't, and that we hope will be again. Like the other RPMs (that would be Rogers Park Moms, my mom and baby group), I was convinced that whatever parental incompetence or neglect that resulted in a bald spot in the back of a baby's head would not happen to MY baby. I would hold her, never ignore her, and she would not spend so much time on the back of her head that it would even be possible for her to rub her hair off. Well, I was delusional. It happens to all babies to some extent.

It is fairly common for babies to lose at least *some* of the hair they are born with and some time in the first year of their life, they will start growing in their real hair. The Bean was born with a head full of dark brown hair, but it started to thin by a month after she was born. The bald spot started to evolve about the time she got home and stopped wearing a knit cap all the time (when she was big enough that she wouldn't lose too much heat out of her head). Since babies sleep on their backs in accordance with modern wisdom and the looming paranoia of SIDS, every time they turn their head from side to side, they are rubbing off their precious hair.

Enter Gillian's recent favorite habit. We like to call it "The Stevie Wonder". When she's leaning on your bent legs or laying on her back, she will look toward one side of the room, then the other, then back, and forth, and back, and forth and...you get the point. I was worried that she had some issues, but she CAN hold your gaze if she's engaged, and she has a long attention span. So, I think maybe she's scratching the back of her head when she does that. You know, the itchy skin on the GIANT bald spot she has created. The one S. calls the "inverted monk" 'do. So, now when she does the Stevie Wonder, I use a little reverse psychology. I cheer her on and say "Rub off that hair, keep going, that's it! Rub!" Surely, in an effort to rebel, she will quit doing it just to spite me. I hope.

With a sigh I think we must be destined for her to be a cue ball for the near future. I guess we'll just make sure she wears a cute, stylish cap in the company of non-parents so no one will see the evidence of our 'incompetence and neglect'!