New and Considering the Band

[Guest guest]

Hello!

My daughter is 5 months and has plagio. One side is flatter than

the other. Her ears are 6 mm different (which doesn't seem like

very much to me?). You cannot visibly tell that one side of her

forehead is more prominent than the other, but you can feel the

difference with your hand. She has no neck tightening and no

visible facial asymmetry. However, her head does look " coned " in

the back because it is flat and points up.

I'm pretty sure that it was sleeping in the boppy without being

repositioned that did it. I just wasn't aware you should reposition

until recently. When I asked my doctor about her head at three

months, he said to give her more tummy time. However, she has

always gotten lots of tummy time. He never even mentioned to rotate

her crib or her sleeping position.

At 4.5 months, he referred us to a specialist because it was

becoming more flat. For the past two weeks, I have researched and

found out that I should re-position her. She sleeps on the other

side now. We also bought a Noggin' Nest for her infant seat. We've

seen some improvement.

Our appointment for the cranial specialist was yesterday. They

recommend the band but I'm not so sure she needs it. I know that to

stay in business they have to recommend bands... that's how they

make their money. So, I'm a little leery of jumping right in to

this $3000 purchase. I'd also like to research the STAR band which

doesn't require the 10-15 minute casting. At any rate, I know I'll

need to find someone else if we decide to go with the DOC band

because I think $3000 is too high.

They did give me some more hints that we haven't thought of for

repositioning. We switched her infant seat so she would look out

the other side of the car. We're changing her diaper on the other

side, too. They did not recommend any stretching because it didn't

appear that she had any tightening in the neck.

I was almost convinced that she needed one yesterday until I looked

at the photo gallery on this group. The repositioning before &

after pics look very similar to the band before & after pics. So

now I am under the impression that repositioning could continue to

do the trick.

So, long post short (LOL), I want to know if you think it is

possible to reposition a 5 month-old to help a flat head. If so,

what repositioning techniques do you recommend? If you don't think

it's possible, I would also like to know. If you think I should use

the band, please tell me why. I would like to get both sets of

feedback here to make a more informed decision.

Thank you!

Caroline 1/24/4