new group member!

[Guest guest]

Hello - my beautiful daughter, Sydney, will be 8 months tomorrow and

will be seeing a Ped. plastic surgeon April 26 for evaluation of

plagio. I noticed the flattening almost immed. after birth - she

was 3 1/2 weeks early and head down for 6 weeks prior. I was told

it would round out. Took her to Ped. at 10 weeks to discuss - was

told it would resolve on its own. Long story short 5 appt. go by

and I bring it up every time - still told it will resolve. Even

told at an appt. 4 WEEKS AGO - " I am telling you this child will not

need a helmet " Last Monday I brought her in due to gross motor

delays and was told that I needed to contact a Ped. plastic surgeon.

I'm sure that she will need an intervention - I feel so guilty not

forcing the issue sooner. I have so many questions - will she be

too hot in summer, is it heavy, will she be comfortable, will it

change her personality and most importantly - I have seen 2 types,

the DOC band and helmet - how do they determine which to use and

what are the pros/cons of each? Any advice appreciated and thank

you all in advance.

[Guest guest]

Hi kelly & welcome to our group!

Please, don't feel guilty for one second! My gosh, you tried & tried

to get your Drs to recognize this for months to no avail. Only now,

thanks to your persistence, is Sydney (always been one of my fave

names!) getting a referral! So good job!

Where are you located? What type of band or helmet you'll receive

depends mainly on your location. The DOCband availability is limited

to several diff. locations. http://www.cranialtech.com The STARband

made by Orthomerica is more widely available

http://www.orthomerica.com Check out our group DATABASE " Helmet/Band

providers " and look for your state to see which providers we

hopefully have listed there!! There are also local helmets that are

used by local orthotists.

Bands like the DOCband are VERY lightweight, 6 oz is all. The

STARband I've read is 6-8 oz in weight. The baby rarely notices the

band is on their head and go about their normal routines

Pros & cons to what type ofhelmet/band you use, the #1 pro with the

DOCband, is that that's Cranial Techs ONLY product they make and

their clinicians are all trained prior to being allowed to treat

plagio babies w/their product. After that,they are stil carefully

monitored by their home office. Their clinicias really are top notch

& know their stuff.

Other bands or helmets, are normally treated by an orthotist and

those orthotistis do not go thru any addt'l training other than their

schooling, prior to being able to treat patients. Addt'l training

for the STARband is available & offtered thru Orthomerica, but not

required.

So IF you got a local or STARband helmet, you'd have to thoroughly

interview the potential orthotist to be sure he/she is experienced.

Best of luck with this. We're glad you found us. Please keep us

posted.

Debbie Abby's mom DOCGrad

MI

> Hello - my beautiful daughter, Sydney, will be 8 months tomorrow

and

> will be seeing a Ped. plastic surgeon April 26 for evaluation of

> plagio. I noticed the flattening almost immed. after birth - she

> was 3 1/2 weeks early and head down for 6 weeks prior. I was told

> it would round out. Took her to Ped. at 10 weeks to discuss - was

> told it would resolve on its own. Long story short 5 appt. go by

> and I bring it up every time - still told it will resolve. Even

> told at an appt. 4 WEEKS AGO - " I am telling you this child will

not

> need a helmet " Last Monday I brought her in due to gross motor

> delays and was told that I needed to contact a Ped. plastic

surgeon.

> I'm sure that she will need an intervention - I feel so guilty not

> forcing the issue sooner. I have so many questions - will she be

> too hot in summer, is it heavy, will she be comfortable, will it

> change her personality and most importantly - I have seen 2 types,

> the DOC band and helmet - how do they determine which to use and

> what are the pros/cons of each? Any advice appreciated and thank

> you all in advance.

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Please know that you're not alone! My son also started treatment later (9 months) and we're just starting this week. I am also very guilty about finally making a decision and sticking with it. In our case our pediatrician and most who saw our son thought his flat spot was too mild for treatment. But since it hasn't gotten better (it is more noticeable as he grows) and at Cranial Tech they say it's not mild but moderate...we decided to do stick with it because there's really no other time to do it!

I hope this group brings you some comfort. It has been very helpful for me to know that we're not alone and we're not "crazy" for thinking there is a problem. We were told that every child is so different and individual that it's hard for them to give us an idea about how much correction we'll see..so the waiting part won't be easy. You're a super mom for researching your options. Good luck and let me know how it goes,

Amy (Aidan V's mom--Michigan)

Re: new group member!

Hi kelly & welcome to our group!Please, don't feel guilty for one second! My gosh, you tried & tried to get your Drs to recognize this for months to no avail. Only now, thanks to your persistence, is Sydney (always been one of my fave names!) getting a referral! So good job!Where are you located? What type of band or helmet you'll receive depends mainly on your location. The DOCband availability is limited to several diff. locations. http://www.cranialtech.com The STARband made by Orthomerica is more widely available http://www.orthomerica.com Check out our group DATABASE "Helmet/Band providers" and look for your state to see which providers we hopefully have listed there!! There are also local helmets that are used by local orthotists.Bands like the DOCband are VERY lightweight, 6 oz is all. The STARband I've read is 6-8 oz in weight. The baby rarely notices the band is on their head and go about their normal routines Pros & cons to what type ofhelmet/band you use, the #1 pro with the DOCband, is that that's Cranial Techs ONLY product they make and their clinicians are all trained prior to being allowed to treat plagio babies w/their product. After that,they are stil carefully monitored by their home office. Their clinicias really are top notch & know their stuff.Other bands or helmets, are normally treated by an orthotist and those orthotistis do not go thru any addt'l training other than their schooling, prior to being able to treat patients. Addt'l training for the STARband is available & offtered thru Orthomerica, but not required. So IF you got a local or STARband helmet, you'd have to thoroughly interview the potential orthotist to be sure he/she is experienced.Best of luck with this. We're glad you found us. Please keep us posted.Debbie Abby's mom DOCGradMI> Hello - my beautiful daughter, Sydney, will be 8 months tomorrow and > will be seeing a Ped. plastic surgeon April 26 for evaluation of > plagio. I noticed the flattening almost immed. after birth - she > was 3 1/2 weeks early and head down for 6 weeks prior. I was told > it would round out. Took her to Ped. at 10 weeks to discuss - was > told it would resolve on its own. Long story short 5 appt. go by > and I bring it up every time - still told it will resolve. Even > told at an appt. 4 WEEKS AGO - "I am telling you this child will not > need a helmet" Last Monday I brought her in due to gross motor > delays and was told that I needed to contact a Ped. plastic surgeon. > I'm sure that she will need an intervention - I feel so guilty not > forcing the issue sooner. I have so many questions - will she be > too hot in summer, is it heavy, will she be comfortable, will it > change her personality and most importantly - I have seen 2 types, > the DOC band and helmet - how do they determine which to use and > what are the pros/cons of each? Any advice appreciated and thank > you all in advance. For more plagio info

[Guest guest]

,

Welcome to the group! Please don't feel guilty about this. It

sounds like you have been right on top of it from day one, but your

ped unfortunately wasn't. When is your appt w/the specialist? I

see Debbie already gave you the pros and cons of the different types

of bands. Where do you live? My daughter is currently in her third

band so I can certainly vouch for the fact that they don't slow the

baby down at all! She got her first at 4.5 mos and rolled over for

the first time the following day. She learned to walk at 10 mos in

her second band. We took four months off after she graduated from

that band and then decided to reband her b/c we had been hoping she

would round out more on her own, but she didn't. She got her third

band earlier this week at 15 mos old and is not bothered in the

least. She is very active and strong willed, so if it were

bothering her, we would certainly know about it and she is certainly

capable of taking it off. She does like to hear the sound of

herself playing w/the velcro . How would you rate Sydney's

severity? There are severity assessments in our links section. The

do get sweaty in the bands, but their head adjusts w/in a few days.

We love pics here, so if you get a chance to add Sydney's pics, let

us know!

, mom to Hannah, DOC #3 3/30

Cape Cod, Ma

> Hello - my beautiful daughter, Sydney, will be 8 months tomorrow

and

> will be seeing a Ped. plastic surgeon April 26 for evaluation of

> plagio. I noticed the flattening almost immed. after birth - she

> was 3 1/2 weeks early and head down for 6 weeks prior. I was told

> it would round out. Took her to Ped. at 10 weeks to discuss - was

> told it would resolve on its own. Long story short 5 appt. go by

> and I bring it up every time - still told it will resolve. Even

> told at an appt. 4 WEEKS AGO - " I am telling you this child will

not

> need a helmet " Last Monday I brought her in due to gross motor

> delays and was told that I needed to contact a Ped. plastic

surgeon.

> I'm sure that she will need an intervention - I feel so guilty not

> forcing the issue sooner. I have so many questions - will she be

> too hot in summer, is it heavy, will she be comfortable, will it

> change her personality and most importantly - I have seen 2 types,

> the DOC band and helmet - how do they determine which to use and

> what are the pros/cons of each? Any advice appreciated and thank

> you all in advance.

[Guest guest]

,

My son Dylan, is 10 months old. We had also heard from many doctors and

friends that all of the flat spots " round out " so we didn't push the helmet

issue because we were hoping for the best and couldn't imagine doing a

helmet. He's had his Starband helmet for 2 weeks now. I also felt guilty

for not doing something sooner but I know that all we can do is move forward

and be glad that we're doing something now. Dylan's is very lightweight and

it doesn't bother him one bit. It bothered us more than him. He could care

less about it which makes it so much easier on us. I'm not sure if the DOC

band is better but our orthotist only uses the Starband. The only thing I

can say is not to blame yourself because you were trusting the advice of

your doctor and usually you should do that. The problem is, a lot of

doctors don't know enough about plagio so it goes untreated. I wish we

would have done Dylan's earlier because he will always have a small flat

spot now and his head grew wide because of the flatness and that can't be

changed. It doesn't look bad but we can't do anything about it now so we

just have to do everything we can from this point on. Sydney is lucky to

have such a concerned and caring mother like you. Trust me, she'll adjust

to it in no time. At this age, babies are just too busy to care about

having helmets on their heads!

Beth

Grand Rapids, MI

>From: " " <kkose1@...>

>Reply-Plagiocephaly

>Plagiocephaly

>Subject: new group member!

>Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2004 04:33:41 -0000

>

>Hello - my beautiful daughter, Sydney, will be 8 months tomorrow and

>will be seeing a Ped. plastic surgeon April 26 for evaluation of

>plagio. I noticed the flattening almost immed. after birth - she

>was 3 1/2 weeks early and head down for 6 weeks prior. I was told

>it would round out. Took her to Ped. at 10 weeks to discuss - was

>told it would resolve on its own. Long story short 5 appt. go by

>and I bring it up every time - still told it will resolve. Even

>told at an appt. 4 WEEKS AGO - " I am telling you this child will not

>need a helmet " Last Monday I brought her in due to gross motor

>delays and was told that I needed to contact a Ped. plastic surgeon.

>I'm sure that she will need an intervention - I feel so guilty not

>forcing the issue sooner. I have so many questions - will she be

>too hot in summer, is it heavy, will she be comfortable, will it

>change her personality and most importantly - I have seen 2 types,

>the DOC band and helmet - how do they determine which to use and

>what are the pros/cons of each? Any advice appreciated and thank

>you all in advance.

>

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