Re: Has anyone ever seen improvement of brachiocephaly by repositioning only?

[Guest guest]

Hi Heidi,

My daughter has brachy. She is just about to turn 1 yr old and has

been in a DOCBand since Dec 10th. She was diagnosed w/ mild-mod

brachy by cranialfacial specialists at a childrens hospital here in

DC. We've seen great progress since she's been in the helmet. We

are just back from a recent visit to the docs again for a checkup and

they were very pleased.

As a parent of a brachy kid, I'd suggest highly the following:

[1] make sure your son spends *no* time on his back. if he sleeps on

his back, you'll have to find ways to get him to side-sleep or tummy-

sleep. this is easier said than done. I had to get up several times

a night until we got her into the helmet to be sure she wasn't on her

back.

[2] stand over him and look top down. is his head symmetrical or is

there is any " bossing " ? this would appear as a bulge on one side of

his head near the front. it's amazing how many people suffer from

some amount of asymmetry. most don't know until someone looks top-

down over them.

[3] make an appt with a good cranialfacial specialist and have him

evaluated. he's still young enough that you should see good results

with a helmet. however, starting sooner is better than waiting. the

amount of growth slows down as you pass 6 mos and slows down even

more as you approach 12 mos.

[4] we saw some improvement by repositioning but nothing like what we

got from the band. the thing about repositioning is that it only

helps while sleeping. during the day, the head is growing too but

that growth may not be occuring in the places that need reshaping.

the helmet makes sure this happens.

It seems many peds take a " wait and see " approach. Unfortunately,

they often don't have a lot of exposure to plagio and what to do. A

cranialfacial doc should be able to give you good advice on what to

do and what to expect.

ps - you can see my daughter's pictures if you go to the Photos area

and look for the folder named " Grace " .

Regards,

Mark (Dad to Grace)

> > > Hello,

> > >

> > > I just found this group and I'm curious about the necessity of

the

> > Band. My son is 4 1/2 months old and I've noticed the back

of

> > his head has been flat for about a 1 1/2 months. I have read

studies

> > that say it should go away by 6 - 7 months on its own with

> > repositioning. My pediatrician just told me it will round out

when he

> > starts to sit up on his own. I'm afraid to just wait in case it

> > doesn't improve on its own.

> > >

> > > Has anyone out there ever seen improvement without resorting to

the

> > band?

> > >

> > > Thanks! Heidi ('s mom)

> >

> >

> > For more plagio info