Casting No Problem In Jenna's Case

[Guest guest]

>Laurie

My five month old has been in her helmet 2 weeks. She cried a little

during the casting...but I really believe she was more tired than

anything. It was fast and no big deal. We don't have a DOC band. We

have a locally made helmet and so I don't know if that makes a

difference. But I have read a lot about this including on this

site...I have to agree....the helmet seems to have been a good

choice. My daughter has abolutely no clue there is anything on her

head......we didn't want to take a chance and my ped told me that he

has seen many cases where it doesn't go away by itself. Three months

is a short time when thinking about a life time....why take a

chance. Just a personal opinion....btw....we are paying out of

pocket...so far insurance has not agreed to any of the $1700...but I

was going to do it anyway.

Hi everyone. I've been reading all of the posts for the last several

> weeks in anticipation of our appointment yesterday with the

> craniofacial group at UCLA. I have " known " for some time (since he

> was 3 weeks old) that Max has Plagiocephaly, but our pediatrician

> blew it off until his 6 month appointment, at which time she

finally

> concurred that it might be worthwhile for him to be seen by a

> specialist. It then took us one month to get an appointment with

the

> cranio group and Max is now 7 months old. At yesterday's

appointment

> the diagnosis was confirmed and this is what we were told:

>

> 1. You can do nothing and it will probably correct itself within

six

> months. I do have to say that in the month he started sleeping on

> his stomach it has actually gotten a little better.

>

> 2. You can try active repositioning techniques.

>

> 3. You can try helmet therapy and it will probably correct itself

> within three months.

>

> 4. It's just cosmetic, there are currently no developmental issues

> with Max and there won't be in the future because of the Plagio.

>

> Supposedly, the doctors we saw are the " experts " in the field, but

I

> didn't get a very warm and fuzzy feeling about them.

>

> At any rate, my husband and I don't know what to do. My husband

was

> leaning toward waiting two months, seeing if there's any

improvement

> and then making a decision. My understanding is that the earlier

you

> start the better, and as it is Max would probably be 8 months old

> before he started helmet therapy. I was leaning toward begining

> helmet therapy as soon as possible, but I have such mixed feelings

> about it (especially the casting). Everyone we know who has gone

> through this said the helmet was the best decision they made but

that

> the casting was horrible.

>

> I know you all probably can't make the decision for me, but I guess

> I'm just looking for support and advice as we go through this.

> Thanks a lot and looking forward to getting to know you better.

>

> Laurie

> mom to Eli and Max