Re: So stressed, sorry to vent

[Guest guest]

You are fine. Clay will be fine. Trust it.

From: paralegal21035 <paralegal21035@...>Subject: So stressed, sorry to ventPlagiocephaly Date: Friday, October 17, 2008, 10:10 AM

I am so stressed out about this whole situation... Clay is now 5months old and still has issues with his head. I went to see a doctora month ago about this and he told me to wait and see what wouldhappen. Well guess what? NOTHING HAPPENED so now even less time tocorrect this problem. I am so upset. The thought of something beingwrong with my child eats me up inside. I have been so down since wefound out about this. Can anyone help? Can anyone tell me this isnormal to feel this way and that I am not going crazy?Clay goes on Monday for his helmet:( __________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

Yes it is normal and it is upsetting! I totally understand where you are coming

from. We were told that our ped was going to keep an eye on our daughter's head

at her 4 month check up (she was actually almost 5 months old) and he would look

at it again at her 6 month check up. Well, I didn't think anything was happening

so at 5 and a half months I went back and got a referral to get fitted for a

band. I too was very upset and angry. I was so sad that my beautiful little girl

had something wrong and have to wear a helmet. But you know what, my daughter

has been in helmet for a week and it doesn't phase her one bit! I now tell

myself that it is temporary and will eventually not be a big deal. But I did go

through the crying, upset, angry stage too. THis group is great for support and

ideas/advice!!!!!

Please let us know how you and Clay do on Monday! I will be thinking of

you!!!!!!!!

Mom to McKenna

> From: paralegal21035 <paralegal21035@...>

> Subject: So stressed, sorry to vent

> Plagiocephaly

> Date: Friday, October 17, 2008, 3:10 PM

> I am so stressed out about this whole situation... Clay is

> now 5

> months old and still has issues with his head. I went to

> see a doctor

> a month ago about this and he told me to wait and see what

> would

> happen. Well guess what? NOTHING HAPPENED so now even less

> time to

> correct this problem. I am so upset. The thought of

> something being

> wrong with my child eats me up inside. I have been so down

> since we

> found out about this. Can anyone help? Can anyone tell me

> this is

> normal to feel this way and that I am not going crazy?

>

> Clay goes on Monday for his helmet:(

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

I am new to the group and am posting for the first time. I feel the same way you do. Very down and bummed out. And I havent even gone for our consultation yet. The ped referred us to cranialtech a few days ago. I am having a hard time with the fact that he may have to wear a helmet for several months. I cant even sleep at night. Raising a 4 month old is hard enough as it is! I just really dont want to do it. And I feel like I am going to have to live inside for the next couple months to avoid the stares and questions. Im very bummed. But I guess life could always be worse. ~ So stressed, sorry to vent

I am so stressed out about this whole situation... Clay is now 5

months old and still has issues with his head. I went to see a doctor

a month ago about this and he told me to wait and see what would

happen. Well guess what? NOTHING HAPPENED so now even less time to

correct this problem. I am so upset. The thought of something being

wrong with my child eats me up inside. I have been so down since we

found out about this. Can anyone help? Can anyone tell me this is

normal to feel this way and that I am not going crazy?

Clay goes on Monday for his helmet:(

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

i am new too and stressed about the possibility of a helmet. our

pediatrician " kept an eye " on our son's head and sent us to see a

pediatric physical therapist since 4 months to do measurements and try

some aggressive repositioning techniques. our son's head is still flat

in the back, but it's getting better now that he sits up almost all the

time while awake and he sleeps on his side and tummy now.

anyway, the pediatrician said that our case is purely for cosmetic

reasons, so i'm struggling with whether or not to do it. both my

husband and i have very flat heads too, and long and narrow, so to us,

it's not " abnormal " .

and i don't want to be one of those crazy moms that does everything in

her power to make a " perfect baby " , whatever that may be. i love my

son no matter what he looks like, and if this is really just cosmetic,

i just feel like i am trying to intervene with something that is

natural. plus, he could still make progress on his own without the

help of a helmet. he just turned 7 mos this week.

i think about what he may look like as a boy and young man, and i just

don't know if it's that bad. obviously i don't want him to be

ridiculed or upset about his head shape later in life, but again, i

have a very flat spot on my head and i don't look abnormal!

we are really struggling with what we should do, but leaning towards

not doing it. is that bad?

>

> I am new to the group and am posting for the first time. I feel the

same way you do. Very down and bummed out. And I havent even gone for

our consultation yet. The ped referred us to cranialtech a few days

ago. I am having a hard time with the fact that he may have to wear a

helmet for several months. I cant even sleep at night. Raising a 4

month old is hard enough as it is! I just really dont want to do it.

And I feel like I am going to have to live inside for the next couple

months to avoid the stares and questions. Im very bummed. But I guess

life could always be worse. ~

>

[Guest guest]

I don't want to invalidate anyone's feelings about this, but PLEASE know it really is not that bad for most children. I know some people on here had a hard time (usually just at first), but most children do great. I swear to you, my daughter acts like she doesn't even know she has something on. She seems a bit irritated sometimes (and only sometimes) when I'm taking the helmet off & on, but that only lasts like 5 seconds max.I think I had a different take on all of this than some parents b/c my daughter was 3 months early & born at 2lbs 2oz, so I'm thankful this is the only issue she has. But, please do try to think about the fact that this is very minor in the grand scheme of things. And, it will most likely only be for a few months.The thought of this is much harder for parents than the actual reality is for the child. -ShariMother of Lily - STAR Band for 2 Weeks So stressed, sorry to vent

I am so stressed out about this whole situation... Clay is now 5

months old and still has issues with his head. I went to see a doctor

a month ago about this and he told me to wait and see what would

happen. Well guess what? NOTHING HAPPENED so now even less time to

correct this problem. I am so upset. The thought of something being

wrong with my child eats me up inside. I have been so down since we

found out about this. Can anyone help? Can anyone tell me this is

normal to feel this way and that I am not going crazy?

Clay goes on Monday for his helmet:(

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ __

[Guest guest]

Five months old is still pleanty early in the game to help out your son. There are people here that have had great results banding after the year mark.

Mom to 4 1/2 mo old Elaine and Amelia

Elaine 1 week in her helmet

On Fri, Oct 17, 2008 at 11:10 AM, paralegal21035 <paralegal21035@...> wrote:

I am so stressed out about this whole situation... Clay is now 5months old and still has issues with his head. I went to see a doctora month ago about this and he told me to wait and see what wouldhappen. Well guess what? NOTHING HAPPENED so now even less time to

correct this problem. I am so upset. The thought of something beingwrong with my child eats me up inside. I have been so down since wefound out about this. Can anyone help? Can anyone tell me this isnormal to feel this way and that I am not going crazy?

Clay goes on Monday for his helmet:(

[Guest guest]

This isn't necessarily only cosmetic...depending on the issues. You really couldn't see anything with the naked eye (most people, obviously it's different for a trained medical professional) for my daughter, but when looking at a bird's eye view of her head, you could see her ears were not symmetrical. My Dr & the PT pointed out that this could be an issue if she had to wear glasses (or even wearing sunglasses).Also, depending on how asymmetrical things are (I thought my daughter wasn't too bad, but she was on the high end of moderate when she had the scan), they can have issues when they wear bike helmets.I'm not saying you should do it, just letting you know it isn't necessarily just a cosmetic change. I thought the same thing with our daughter until the above issues

were brought up. -ShariMother of Lily - STAR Band for 2 Weeks Re: So stressed, sorry to

vent

i am new too and stressed about the possibility of a helmet. our

pediatrician "kept an eye" on our son's head and sent us to see a

pediatric physical therapist since 4 months to do measurements and try

some aggressive repositioning techniques. our son's head is still flat

in the back, but it's getting better now that he sits up almost all the

time while awake and he sleeps on his side and tummy now.

anyway, the pediatrician said that our case is purely for cosmetic

reasons, so i'm struggling with whether or not to do it. both my

husband and i have very flat heads too, and long and narrow, so to us,

it's not "abnormal".

and i don't want to be one of those crazy moms that does everything in

her power to make a "perfect baby", whatever that may be. i love my

son no matter what he looks like, and if this is really just cosmetic,

i just feel like i am trying to intervene with something that is

natural. plus, he could still make progress on his own without the

help of a helmet. he just turned 7 mos this week.

i think about what he may look like as a boy and young man, and i just

don't know if it's that bad. obviously i don't want him to be

ridiculed or upset about his head shape later in life, but again, i

have a very flat spot on my head and i don't look abnormal!

we are really struggling with what we should do, but leaning towards

not doing it. is that bad?

>

> I am new to the group and am posting for the first time. I feel the

same way you do. Very down and bummed out. And I havent even gone for

our consultation yet. The ped referred us to cranialtech a few days

ago. I am having a hard time with the fact that he may have to wear a

helmet for several months. I cant even sleep at night. Raising a 4

month old is hard enough as it is! I just really dont want to do it.

And I feel like I am going to have to live inside for the next couple

months to avoid the stares and questions. Im very bummed. But I guess

life could always be worse. ~

>

[Guest guest]

our pediatrician didn't say anything about those issues and says that

the decision is purely subjective on how we'd like his head to turn

out. on each visit he has carefully done the birds eye view to rule

out any asymmetry in the head, eyes and ears, and has found none.

i mean surely there are millions of babies out there with mild to

moderate flattening due to the " back to sleep " campaign. and i am

sure the large majority of these babies' parents don't get offered

therapy or helmets and it turns out just fine. i saw that plagio has

increased from 1 in 300 to 1 in 50 because of back-sleeping, but you

don't see that many more babies in helmets either.

so what would you do if both the therapist and pediatrician said it

is 100% cosmetic? would you still do it?

> >

> > I am new to the group and am posting for the first time. I feel

the

> same way you do. Very down and bummed out. And I havent even gone

for

> our consultation yet. The ped referred us to cranialtech a few days

> ago. I am having a hard time with the fact that he may have to wear

a

> helmet for several months. I cant even sleep at night. Raising a 4

> month old is hard enough as it is! I just really dont want to do

it.

> And I feel like I am going to have to live inside for the next

couple

> months to avoid the stares and questions. Im very bummed. But I

guess

> life could always be worse. ~

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Is the flatness (if there is any) directly on the back of his head?

If so, his condition would be brachycephaly and there would be no

(or very very little) asymmetry, but there are still many babies who

are banded to treat it. If the flatness is to the side and there is

no asymmetry visible from the bird's eye view, then chances are, his

case is very mild and there may be no need to band. Speaking for

myself (and possibly a lot of other moms), there was very visible

asymmetry in the ears and forehead from the bird's eye view for my

son. His forehead was really bulging and even with that degree of

severity, two pediatricians told us it would be fine, it would

correct itself. So we waited and nothing happened. His head was

basically the exact same shape by the time he turned 16 months. At

that point, I was begging anyone I could for a prescription for a

band, just to try something to help him.

If you have time and do a google search of " untreated

plagiocephaly, " I was able to find articles that referred to

untreated plagio possibly causing ear (aches) and eye (vision)

problems, as well as headaches and TMJ (clicking of the jaw), which

is definitely more than cosmetic. My thought process was, maybe that

won't happen, maybe I could let it go, but unfortunately, I didn't

know what was going to happen in the future, I just knew what I

could do NOW, and that was to band my son.

For all the stressed moms out there (I used to be you!): My advice

is always to ask yourself, if your child's head stayed this exact

shape for the rest of their life, would that be okay with you? If it

is, great, then banding probably isn't for you. But if you think it

would bother you, and keep nagging at you (like it did to me every

day for over a year), then it might be best to band, and band sooner

than later, because it takes much less time to treat it when the

babies are younger and you should get great results. My son was in

two bands for over 7 months, which is definitely longer than

probably 90% of banded babies, and it literally went by in the blink

of an eye. Two weeks into treatment, you completely forget they're

even wearing it. And by two weeks after treatment, you completely

forget they even wore it. The process is a lot less stressful (for

the majority of parents) than we lead ourselves to believe (me

included). So I would tell parents not to focus on the fear of doing

it, but focus on the fear of NOT doing it. If the fear of not doing

it is stronger, then banding is the way to go.

Good luck to everyone making the decision! Please let us know what

you decide.

Jake-2 (DOCBand Grad 9/19/08)

Jordan-4.5

> > >

> > > I am new to the group and am posting for the first time. I

feel

> the

> > same way you do. Very down and bummed out. And I havent even

gone

> for

> > our consultation yet. The ped referred us to cranialtech a few

days

> > ago. I am having a hard time with the fact that he may have to

wear

> a

> > helmet for several months. I cant even sleep at night. Raising a

4

> > month old is hard enough as it is! I just really dont want to do

> it.

> > And I feel like I am going to have to live inside for the next

> couple

> > months to avoid the stares and questions. Im very bummed. But I

> guess

> > life could always be worse. ~

> > >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

I would not if both said it was purely cosmetic. I agree, no baby is "perfect".You know what's in your heart & whatever you decide will be right, I'm sure! -ShariVisit our Blog at

http://mikeandsharilancaster.blogspot.com/----- Original Message ----From: ginlei <ginlei@...>Plagiocephaly Sent: Friday, October 17, 2008 2:46:57 PMSubject: Re: So stressed, sorry to vent

our pediatrician didn't say anything about those issues and says that

the decision is purely subjective on how we'd like his head to turn

out. on each visit he has carefully done the birds eye view to rule

out any asymmetry in the head, eyes and ears, and has found none.

i mean surely there are millions of babies out there with mild to

moderate flattening due to the "back to sleep" campaign. and i am

sure the large majority of these babies' parents don't get offered

therapy or helmets and it turns out just fine. i saw that plagio has

increased from 1 in 300 to 1 in 50 because of back-sleeping, but you

don't see that many more babies in helmets either.

so what would you do if both the therapist and pediatrician said it

is 100% cosmetic? would you still do it?

> >

> > I am new to the group and am posting for the first time. I feel

the

> same way you do. Very down and bummed out. And I havent even gone

for

> our consultation yet. The ped referred us to cranialtech a few days

> ago. I am having a hard time with the fact that he may have to wear

a

> helmet for several months. I cant even sleep at night. Raising a 4

> month old is hard enough as it is! I just really dont want to do

it.

> And I feel like I am going to have to live inside for the next

couple

> months to avoid the stares and questions. Im very bummed. But I

guess

> life could always be worse. ~

> >

>

[Guest guest]

my ped said it was just cosmetic also but it really isnt...the peds don't know

enough about it. i would go for a consultation somewhere before i would decide

not to do it....turns out my daughter had facial assymetry and later she could

have had jaw problems, sight problems and possibly hearing....see someone who

specializes in it...its worth it!

> From: ginlei <ginlei@...>

> Subject: Re: So stressed, sorry to vent

> Plagiocephaly

> Date: Friday, October 17, 2008, 2:46 PM

> our pediatrician didn't say anything about those issues

> and says that

> the decision is purely subjective on how we'd like his

> head to turn

> out. on each visit he has carefully done the birds eye

> view to rule

> out any asymmetry in the head, eyes and ears, and has found

> none.

>

> i mean surely there are millions of babies out there with

> mild to

> moderate flattening due to the " back to sleep "

> campaign. and i am

> sure the large majority of these babies' parents

> don't get offered

> therapy or helmets and it turns out just fine. i saw that

> plagio has

> increased from 1 in 300 to 1 in 50 because of

> back-sleeping, but you

> don't see that many more babies in helmets either.

>

> so what would you do if both the therapist and pediatrician

> said it

> is 100% cosmetic? would you still do it?

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

> > >

> > > I am new to the group and am posting for the

> first time. I feel

> the

> > same way you do. Very down and bummed out. And I

> havent even gone

> for

> > our consultation yet. The ped referred us to

> cranialtech a few days

> > ago. I am having a hard time with the fact that he may

> have to wear

> a

> > helmet for several months. I cant even sleep at night.

> Raising a 4

> > month old is hard enough as it is! I just really dont

> want to do

> it.

> > And I feel like I am going to have to live inside for

> the next

> couple

> > months to avoid the stares and questions. Im very

> bummed. But I

> guess

> > life could always be worse. ~

> > >

> >

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

Our daughter had brachy (flat in back) with only slight asymmetry

(4.5mm). We chose to band her. Maybe it is purely cosmetic, but i

wanted her appearance to be the best possible, and also I wanted

glasses, bike helmets etc to fit her properly. She still has a wider

than normal head, but got a lot of improvement.

Asymmetry is not the only reason to band. Her photos are in Our Plagio

Babies/Sydney M. Her asymmetry was only corrected to 3.5mm, since the

main focus was in treating the brachy.

-christine

sydney 2.5 yrs starband grad

>

> our pediatrician didn't say anything about those issues and says that

> the decision is purely subjective on how we'd like his head to turn

> out. on each visit he has carefully done the birds eye view to rule

> out any asymmetry in the head, eyes and ears, and has found none.

>

> i mean surely there are millions of babies out there with mild to

> moderate flattening due to the " back to sleep " campaign. and i am

> sure the large majority of these babies' parents don't get offered

> therapy or helmets and it turns out just fine. i saw that plagio has

> increased from 1 in 300 to 1 in 50 because of back-sleeping, but you

> don't see that many more babies in helmets either.

>

> so what would you do if both the therapist and pediatrician said it

> is 100% cosmetic? would you still do it?

>

>

>