OT DOC Band

August 6, 2004

Thank you to everyone who replied to my question about the DOC band. I

talked to 's pediatrician today and she even wants us to get a

second opinion with a neurosurgeon, so we are in the process of getting an

appointment at the Cleveland Clinic for him. She wants to make sure that he

really needs it, and if so, is this a good time to do it, if there's

anything else we can do that doesn't involve the band, etc. When I called,

the first available appointment was in October, but the pediatrician is

supposed to call because she should be able to get us in a lot sooner than

that.

I'll let you all know what we find out. I'm hoping that they'll try

something else, like waiting to see if it does improve on its own. I really

don't want to have him put in this band, but I will if its the best thing

for him. The woman at the clinic said his face is asymmetrical from it and

that can cause sinus, jaw, and teeth problems, which scares me. I'm kind of

hoping that she is just trying to scare me into getting it done, but we'll

see what the neurosurgeon says.

and

BCF 03/25/2004

DBB 23/7

August 20, 2004

Well, the neurosurgeon said that he thought was a healthy little

boy and that his head was mild to moderate. He said we could get the band

if we wanted to, but he would recommend repositioning. He even said if it

were his child, he would do the repositioning. He did point out that if we

went to 10 different neurosurgeons, 5 would say get it and 5 would say he

didn't need it. So, it's basically up to us. Since the doc said it was

mild to moderate and he would treat it with repositioning, even if it were

his own child, that's what we're going to do....at least at this point.

The doc said it's a slow process since the growth of the brain is the

driving force, but his head should round out and anything that might left

will be hidden by his hair. This all should happen over the next year or

so. I've noticed some improvement over the last 2 weeks or so since he's

not spent as much time on his back and has been out of swings and bouncy

chairs, so I'm sure he will continue to improve. The doc even said that

they often times recommend a second band after the first one, and that even

though he's friends with the woman who does the band, she has a vested

interest in this and recommends that everyone she evaluates gets the band.

If it's not necessary, we aren't going to put him through having the casting

done on his head and then wearing the band 23 hours a day for 3 months. So,

basically, the physical therapist that evaluated him first made his

condition sound a lot worse than it really is.

and

BCF 03/25/2004

DBB 23/7

OT DOC Band

> Thank you to everyone who replied to my question about the DOC band. I

> talked to 's pediatrician today and she even wants us to get a

> second opinion with a neurosurgeon, so we are in the process of getting an

> appointment at the Cleveland Clinic for him. She wants to make sure that

he

> really needs it, and if so, is this a good time to do it, if there's

> anything else we can do that doesn't involve the band, etc. When I

called,

> the first available appointment was in October, but the pediatrician is

> supposed to call because she should be able to get us in a lot sooner than

> that.

>

> I'll let you all know what we find out. I'm hoping that they'll try

> something else, like waiting to see if it does improve on its own. I

really

> don't want to have him put in this band, but I will if its the best thing

> for him. The woman at the clinic said his face is asymmetrical from it

and

> that can cause sinus, jaw, and teeth problems, which scares me. I'm kind

of

> hoping that she is just trying to scare me into getting it done, but we'll

> see what the neurosurgeon says.

>

> and

> BCF 03/25/2004

> DBB 23/7

>

August 20, 2004

The problem is from what they call Back to Sleep. Since they started having

parents putting their kids on their backs to sleep, the incidence of SIDS

has dropped, but they've seen more flat heads now since the kids spend a lot

more time on their backs. Clubfoot has nothing to do with it. It's called

deformational plagiocephaly, which is more on one side than the other.

There's also brachiocephaly, which is more the back of the head. The best

thing you can do is to keep him off the back of his head as much as

possible. You should still have him on his back to sleep though.

During the day when he is supervised, place him on his tummy several times

throughout the day. If you see that one side looks flatter than the other,

say his left side, when he's lying on his back, try turning his head so he's

looking to his right. If he's lying on his tummy with his head on the

floor, sleeping for instance, turn his head so he's looking to his left.

That way, the flatter side isn't getting any flatter and as time goes by,

will hopefully round out. If he's awake and on his tummy and looking

around, don't worry about it. They suggest alternating which end of his

crib he sleeps in too. They want to be able to look out and see what's

going on, so try to alternate which end they sleep at so they'll be looking

out to see what's going on, but alternating which way they turn their head

to look...if that makes sense. Once my son's head evens out on the sides,

I'll be alternating the direction he looks, but right now, he needs to look

more to his right until the left side of his head rounds out a bit more. I

also need to keep him off the back of his head as much as possible so the

back grows and rounds out as well.

My son will only put up with tummy time for maybe 10-15 minutes at a time,

but that's better than he used to be. He's also able to support his head

really well, so he can go into one of those playstations, like the

Exersaucer, for a little while too. Plus, I hold him often throughout the

day, or try to prop him up in a sitting position. He still gets to lay on

his back on the floor too so he can work on eventually being able to roll

over, but at times, I'll also lay him on a pillow so his head isn't against

an ungiving surface all the time, but supervised of course. If you're

concerned about it, I would talk to his pediatrician and see what they

think, or even ask for a referral to a pediatric neurosurgeon for an

evaluation. This doesn't cause problems with the brain or anything, but it

can cause a misshapen head if it continues.

and

BCF 03/25/2004

DBB 23/7

OT DOC Band

>

> > Thank you to everyone who replied to my question about the DOC band. I

> > talked to 's pediatrician today and she even wants us to get

a

> > second opinion with a neurosurgeon, so we are in the process of getting

an

> > appointment at the Cleveland Clinic for him. She wants to make sure

that

> he

> > really needs it, and if so, is this a good time to do it, if there's

> > anything else we can do that doesn't involve the band, etc. When I

> called,

> > the first available appointment was in October, but the pediatrician is

> > supposed to call because she should be able to get us in a lot sooner

than

> > that.

> >

> > I'll let you all know what we find out. I'm hoping that they'll try

> > something else, like waiting to see if it does improve on its own. I

> really

> > don't want to have him put in this band, but I will if its the best

thing

> > for him. The woman at the clinic said his face is asymmetrical from it

> and

> > that can cause sinus, jaw, and teeth problems, which scares me. I'm

kind

> of

> > hoping that she is just trying to scare me into getting it done, but

we'll

> > see what the neurosurgeon says.

> >

> > and

> > BCF 03/25/2004

> > DBB 23/7

> >

August 20, 2004