Re:Back from Plastic Surgeon appointment

May 25, 2008

Thank you very much for the advice. I am going to do it. I have made

up my mind. She is a big girl, and i am hoping it doesnt take that

long, but I will do what it takes now. She does have some facial

assymetry, but it has been improving as well...since starting PT for

her Tort. I have a few friends who have made comments, out of the

blue, how her face is evening out, and how she is doing so much

better. So I am pretty postive that it will be fine. I do know, that

my bf, her father, is very worried about it. He is very worried about

the comments, the stares, and the impact it will have on her. But he

is slowly getting over it.

Another question, she has a little bit of hair. Not a lot, and what

she does have is very very blonde. Will she lose it with the band?

That is another thing I worry about...cosmetic, yes, but it still

does worry me.

Again, thank you ladies so much. At least I know I am not a horrible

mommy.

Athena 9 months, rt tort, plag.

Illeanna 3 years

>

> Go for the band. It will help your daughter! My daughter was almost

8 months old when she got her band and it has helped her quite a bit.

She has had it for more than 5 months now and it is taking a lot

longer than we first anticipated (the ortho told us back in December

that he expected her to be finished around the first of April and now

we have a revised graduation date of sometime in July), but it is

definitely worth it. We were told at my daughter's four month check

up that her head would round out, etc and not too worry about it. I

wished we had not listened to her doctor and went ahead and banded

her then; I am sure we would have seen faster and maybe greater

results, but at the time, we didn't know any better. So don't beat

yourself up over not banding sooner. However, if you don't band your

daughter now, you might always regret it and wonder if she hadn't

improved if you would have. My ortho sees several babies around your

daughter's age and all are having

> improvements. And maybe, your daughter will even hit a growth

spurt while in the band and it won't take too long. But just to give

you some numbers, my daughter got banded at almost 8 months old and

by the time she was 10 months old, she had improved 3 mm. Then by the

time she was 12 months old, she had improved another 4 mm. And I

don't know if you daughter also has facial asymmetries, but with my

baby, those have improved also. They will not be completely resolved,

but it is noticable that her face is getting more symmetric.

> So, anyway, go for it! You will not regret it.

>

> Good luck to you and Athena.

>

May 25, 2008

Hi,

I'm glad you've decided to move forward. My daughter wore a starband

and did lose her hair, but many babies don't. Our ortho told us

something like 10% of babies lose their hair - but I don't know if

that is accurate. However I know lots of babies who kept all their

hair while banded. You'll just have to wait and see. My daughter was

born with a lot of dark hair, and got her band at 5 mo. The only hair

that stayed was at the top where the band was open. It looked pretty

funny until it grew back, but she still looked really cute. It started

growing back after about one month in the band, but didn't completely

recover until the band was off.

-christine

sydney 2 yrs starband grad

> >

> > Go for the band. It will help your daughter! My daughter was almost

> 8 months old when she got her band and it has helped her quite a bit.

> She has had it for more than 5 months now and it is taking a lot

> longer than we first anticipated (the ortho told us back in December

> that he expected her to be finished around the first of April and now

> we have a revised graduation date of sometime in July), but it is

> definitely worth it. We were told at my daughter's four month check

> up that her head would round out, etc and not too worry about it. I

> wished we had not listened to her doctor and went ahead and banded

> her then; I am sure we would have seen faster and maybe greater

> results, but at the time, we didn't know any better. So don't beat

> yourself up over not banding sooner. However, if you don't band your

> daughter now, you might always regret it and wonder if she hadn't

> improved if you would have. My ortho sees several babies around your

> daughter's age and all are having

> > improvements. And maybe, your daughter will even hit a growth

> spurt while in the band and it won't take too long. But just to give

> you some numbers, my daughter got banded at almost 8 months old and

> by the time she was 10 months old, she had improved 3 mm. Then by the

> time she was 12 months old, she had improved another 4 mm. And I

> don't know if you daughter also has facial asymmetries, but with my

> baby, those have improved also. They will not be completely resolved,

> but it is noticable that her face is getting more symmetric.

> > So, anyway, go for it! You will not regret it.

> >

> > Good luck to you and Athena.

> >

>

May 26, 2008

My son had a lot of hair when he started the band, in fact, I got

his first hair cut right before because it was so out of control. He

did not lose any and it has actually grown really fast. I've already

had his hair cut again during the band. Although he hasn't lost any

(besides a few strands here and there that show up in the band when

I remove it), it has affected how his hair grows. He has naturally

curly hair and it's definitely flatter and matted down more in the

areas under the helmet (even after washing). And he's developed a

weird cowlick in one area from the way it comes up out of the

opening of the band. But I'm sure it will work itself out after he

graduates and we get at least one more haircut. At least I hope!

Jake-20m (tort resolved/rt plagio/DOCBand 15 weeks)

Jordan-4

> >

> > Go for the band. It will help your daughter! My daughter was

almost

> 8 months old when she got her band and it has helped her quite a

bit.

> She has had it for more than 5 months now and it is taking a lot

> longer than we first anticipated (the ortho told us back in

December

> that he expected her to be finished around the first of April and

now

> we have a revised graduation date of sometime in July), but it is

> definitely worth it. We were told at my daughter's four month

check

> up that her head would round out, etc and not too worry about it.

I

> wished we had not listened to her doctor and went ahead and banded

> her then; I am sure we would have seen faster and maybe greater

> results, but at the time, we didn't know any better. So don't beat

> yourself up over not banding sooner. However, if you don't band

your

> daughter now, you might always regret it and wonder if she hadn't

> improved if you would have. My ortho sees several babies around

your

> daughter's age and all are having

> > improvements. And maybe, your daughter will even hit a growth

> spurt while in the band and it won't take too long. But just to

give

> you some numbers, my daughter got banded at almost 8 months old

and

> by the time she was 10 months old, she had improved 3 mm. Then by

the

> time she was 12 months old, she had improved another 4 mm. And I

> don't know if you daughter also has facial asymmetries, but with

my

> baby, those have improved also. They will not be completely

resolved,

> but it is noticable that her face is getting more symmetric.

> > So, anyway, go for it! You will not regret it.

> >

> > Good luck to you and Athena.

> >

>

May 27, 2008

My son did not lose any hair while he was in his band. In fact, it grew a

ton! I think a lot of infants tend to lose their fine baby hair, regardless

of whether they are in a band or not, and being in the band just speeds up

the natural process. My son's older brother had a ton of hair and never

lost any so even in the band my youngest son followed the same pattern and

didn't lose any hair.

Molly

Novato, California

Nicolas, 2.5, tort & plagio, STARband (CIRS Oakland) 4/24/06-9/12/06,

Graduate!

, 5

, 8.5