[SPAM]Re: Re: Wow, her progress has been amazing!

[Guest guest]

There is a typo in the website- Sorry about that..

www.cranialtech.com

Lorie

[sPAM]Re: Re: Wow, her progress has been amazing!

Hi, I am new to the group. I am a first time mom, my daughter is 4 months old and we have a visit scheduled in a couple of weeks with a plastic surgeon. It seems very likely she will have to have a helmet. Its nice to have a little chat room with parents going through this. I feel horrible that our daughter Hallie has such a flat side on her left (because her head was perfectly round at birth). She has used her head as a lever to scoot from the top of the crib down to the bottom for months before we knew that is what was causing the flatness. We tried to change positions with her and put mirrors in, etc (but she still would wiggle out and lay on her left side. But her head is asymmetrical and that is concerning to the doctors and us of course. My question to the group (and I know every child is different) but it seems that the average time in the helmet or band is 4-6 months. Has that been your experience?

Thanks,

Barbie Ruckerchristineashok <christineashok > wrote:

Hi ,welcome to the group. regardless of the type of helmet/band used, youcan't decrease an area once it has grown. so if there is extra widthor height it will remain. The goal is for the new growth to go to theflat area and balance out the head. We had a starband but our craniofacial doc told us that the head wouldn't continue to grow higher solong as there was room for growth elsewhere, since the normal tendencyof the brain is not to grow upwards. So he said you didn't need orwant pressure on the top of the head. Therefore I don't think youwould get any benefit from a band being open or closed at the top.if you look at my daughter's scan you can see that while banded herhead grew ever so slightly wider, but she got quite a bit of increasein length (front to back). So from that you can see that her widthcouldn't be decreased by banding.Good luck with your little one, can let us know how she progresses.-christinesydney 21 mo starband grad> >> > Our daughter started out measuring 103 on the scale they use atDynamic > > Orthotics, which is a ratio between head depth and head width. The > > norm is around 87. Two standard deviations put a baby in themedically-> > necessary range.> > > > As of Tuesday, our daughter is down from a 103 to a 92. WoW oh WoW! > > What an amazing difference. She has grown only 1 in width and almost > > 10 in depth. The brachycephaly is all but done, and the plagio ismuch > > better. Now we're just working on allowing her head to continue to > > grow in depth and height in the front so that the "point" at the back > > top of her head and the "points" over both ears are completely gone.> > > > Is it realistic to aim for an 88 like the orthotist suggested? She's > > been in her Starband for almost 3 months. > > > > Do you think this will be a goal that will be months in coming? > > > > > > mother to Savannah 10-1/2 months old> > Starband therapy since July 26, 2007> >> > > > > > > __________________________________________________>

[Guest guest]

Hi Barbie,

Our son had no problem sleeping in his band. I have to agree with

Lorie, the first 2 days are always the hardest. We had to play with

pajamas (i.e. onsie, lightweight sleeper w/ feet, lightweight

sleeper w/o feet, fleece, etc.). For our son, a lightweight sleeper

with feet worked best adn he was back to sleeping through the night

on day 3.

Our son's head was also round at birth but by 2 months it had 8mm

assymetry. I repositioned (which I think helped it from getting

worse) but at 6.5 months we went back to CT (we saw them at 3 mos.)

and his head was still 8mm off so we banded. I am SO glad we did.

Even with the later start (7.5 mos), he only wore it 8 weeks. Every

baby is different with length of time in band...it truly depends on

your consistancy with following the 23/7 protocol, growth spurts,

age. Given your daughter's age, I would think she wouldn't have to

wear it that long. 16 weeks is the max amount of time that CT will

keep a baby in the band and some (like my son) outgrow it sooner.

Good luck.

> > >

> > > Our daughter started out measuring 103 on the scale

they use at

> Dynamic

> > > Orthotics, which is a ratio between head depth and

head width. The

> > > norm is around 87. Two standard deviations put a baby

in the

> medically-

> > > necessary range.

> > >

> > > As of Tuesday, our daughter is down from a 103 to a

92. WoW oh WoW!

> > > What an amazing difference. She has grown only 1 in

width and almost

> > > 10 in depth. The brachycephaly is all but done, and

the plagio is

> much

> > > better. Now we're just working on allowing her head to

continue to

> > > grow in depth and height in the front so that

the " point " at the back

> > > top of her head and the " points " over both ears are

completely gone.

> > >

> > > Is it realistic to aim for an 88 like the orthotist

suggested? She's

> > > been in her Starband for almost 3 months.

> > >

> > > Do you think this will be a goal that will be months

in coming?

> > >

> > >

> > > mother to Savannah 10-1/2 months old

> > > Starband therapy since July 26, 2007

> > >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> > __________________________________________________

> >