Re: Active Band v. Passive

[Guest guest]

A passive band relies solely on head growth to fill in a helmet and

make the head round. Passive helmets will not work on a child your

son's age. His head just isn't growing fast enough anymore.

An active band is molded to your child's head. It will apply contact

(mild pressure) to the parts of his head that don't need growth, like

the bossed out forehead and the non-flat side of his occiput. There

will be gaps in the helmet over the flat areas so that when his head

grows, it will only grow into those gaps. The flat parts will fill

in, the lumpy parts won't. I haven't seen other bands personally, but

I was astonished by the size of the gaps in my son's DOC Band when he

first got it. I could get my thump up there under his flat spot, and

my little finger over the non-bossed side of his forehead. Now, to my

delight, there's really not as much room! That means his head is

filling in in all the right places.

Does that help? I'm no expert. Hopefully you'll get a response from

one of the moderators. They are the gods of the board and know

everything. They're pretty amazing.

, 19 mos, tort, Plagio, DOC Band 5/7

> Hi Again.

>

> Sorry, I forgot to ask this question in my last post. Can someone

> explain the difference between and active band and a passive

> band....pros/cons of each?

>

> Thanks

> Barb

> MN

[Guest guest]

Hi Barb,

An active band redirects the growth of the head through gentle

pressure not felt by the baby. They are good for baby between the

ages of 4 mth to 24 months.

Passive helmets are just that, passive. They rely totally on growth.

They sit on the baby's head and eventually the baby's head will grow

into the shape of the helmet, round. They take longer to work and are

best on young infants.

A baby your baby's age would most likely not receive any correction

from a passive helmet. Head growth slows down significantly by 6

months of age.

> Hi Again.

>

> Sorry, I forgot to ask this question in my last post. Can someone

> explain the difference between and active band and a passive

> band....pros/cons of each?

>

> Thanks

> Barb

> MN

[Guest guest]

Hi Barb,

An active band redirects the growth of the head through gentle

pressure not felt by the baby. They are good for baby between the

ages of 4 mth to 24 months.

Passive helmets are just that, passive. They rely totally on growth.

They sit on the baby's head and eventually the baby's head will grow

into the shape of the helmet, round. They take longer to work and are

best on young infants.

A baby your baby's age would most likely not receive any correction

from a passive helmet. Head growth slows down significantly by 6

months of age.

> Hi Again.

>

> Sorry, I forgot to ask this question in my last post. Can someone

> explain the difference between and active band and a passive

> band....pros/cons of each?

>

> Thanks

> Barb

> MN

[Guest guest]

Hey Barb,

You already got appropriate responses to your question, but I just

wanted to add that at your baby's older age, an active band is your

best, and maybe only, option at this point - growth spurts will be

farther apart and not as dramatic. Passive helmets and bands work

best on younger babies that have lots of growth spurts ahead of

them, taking advantage of their design principle of the baby's head

growing into the round shape of the helmet. Adjustment schedules in

passive helmets are usually every 4-6 weeks. Active bands utilize

gentle pressure as well as growth spurts to immediately redirect

headshape growth into the areas desired. Accordingly, with this

more aggressive design, the adjustment schedule is about every 2

weeks. In addition, because of the design of active banding, they

can also have a much larger age range for treatment, from 3 to 24

months in the case of Cranial Tech's DOCband.

Christie (Mom to Repo'd Remy)

> Hi Again.

>

> Sorry, I forgot to ask this question in my last post. Can someone

> explain the difference between and active band and a passive

> band....pros/cons of each?

>

> Thanks

> Barb

> MN