RE: [SPAM] cephalic index

[Guest guest]

Brachycephaly

Severity:

Cephalic

Ratio = Cranial Breadth/Cranial Length

ideal

ratio - 78%

normal

- 73-83%

moderate

- 83.1% to 87.9%

severe

- 88% and higher

Orthos

and doctors may have recommendations as to when to stop but what matters the

most is how you feel about your child’s head. If you are happy with

the shape of his head then by all means stop with the band and be happy with

the results.

Molly

Novato, California

Nicolas, 2, tort & plagio, STARband (CIRS Oakland)

4/24/06-9/12/06, Graduate!

, 5

, 8

From: Plagiocephaly

[mailto:Plagiocephaly ] On Behalf Of Pam Schraedley

Desmond

Sent: 5 March 2008 09:01

Plagiocephaly

Subject: [sPAM] cephalic index

Hi all,

My little Zach has been banded for 5-6 weeks for plagio and

brachy. He started between 10-11mm asymmetric with a cephalic index of

93.2%. At his last scan at the 4 week mark, he was down to 5mm and

89.8%. Here's the thing. I think his head looks great, and so did

the ortho. She said she was shocked that he was still 5mm, because he

looked symmetric to her. He does to me too. I can see a very minor

asymmetry, but really, probably less than I have! Haha. She said

one more spurt and we will probably be done. I feel the same. But

two questions...

What is the normal range for the cephalic index? I

feel like he came out (via c-section, so no smushing) with more of a

round-shaped head than most babies. By round, I mean when you looked at

the top of his head, it was more of a circle than an oval. I feel like if

we leave the band on to get him down to 85% or something, that wouldn't be the

shape he was meant to be. Does that make sense? The increased head

height/cone-headedness that I noticed as the brachy progressed is completely

gone now. He just has a shallower head, but not flat. Did anyone

else have this?

The other thing the ortho said was that they can usually

only change the cephalic index by about 5%. That would actually be plenty

for me, but I was wondering whether that agrees with the kinds of results

others have had.

I am really happy with his head shape now, and am pretty

ready to be out of the band. I don't hate it, but I miss kissing his head

and he definitely slept better before he got it. I'll wait another couple

of weeks to get that last bit of correction, but his head looks great to me

now! I can't wait to look at it and kiss it all day! I'll post pics

when he's done, but his shape was very hard to capture in pics before because

the plagio was on the lower part of his head, and the top of his head stayed

fairly round.

Thanks for all of the support of this group. I mostly

lurk, but it's been very helpful to me to read everyone's stories.

-Pam, mom to twins Zach (banded for plagio and brachy) and

Zoe (another prominent occiput babe whose head did, in fact, " round

out " just like they said it would)