Re: Confused - Need Some advice

December 21, 2001

:

Hi and welcome to the group!

The decision to band your daughter or not is ultimately your decision

to make. I really wanted Abby's ped., neuro or someone else to have

to make the decision for us, but they put the decision to band or not

in our hands. Most pediatricians & neuros leave it up to the

parent. OUr decision to band was a bit easier as Abby's case was

severe.

You might want to try repositioning a bit longer. Especially if

Naomi's case is considered mild. Have you seen any improvement with

the repositioning you've already done. If not, then you might just

want to go ahead with a band. You are right, the younger you begin

treatment, the better & faster the results will be.

If you live close to a Cranial Tech. clinic then I would recommend

going with them at least for a consultation. I know they're not in

it just for the money. I took my daughter to Cranial Tech after she

wore a STARband unsuccessfully for nearly 3 mos - they treated Abby

as if she was their own child. Abby had very good improvement in her

DOCband. I highly recommend them.

This is a difficult decision to make. It is even harder having the

ultimate decision in your hands! I remember telling my husband at

the time of Abby's diagnosis " I wish THEY would tell me to get a band

or not " .

PLEASE be sure to let us know what you decide to do. Welcome again &

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Debbie Abby's mom 3/1/00 STAR 11/7/00-1/26/01 DOCgrad 2/16/01-6/22/01

MI

> Hi - I am relatively new to this site. I am a bit confused and am

> hoping I could get some advice. My 4 1/2 month old (almost 5

months)

> daughter was diagnosed with plagiocephaly and torticollis. She has

> started PT for her tort (only been two times so far). The

> pediatrician diagnosed her and suggested we go to PT for the tort

and

> that they would let us know if they felt she should get a band or

> helmet for her plagio. The PT said she didn't make the final

> decision, but refered us to an orthotist which is where we went

> today. The orthotist said she has a mild to moderate case of

plagio.

> He suggested we continue to be agressive with our repositioning and

> PT and then come back in a month to determine if we should band or

> not. I am not sure if I am comfortable with this or not, because I

> know the sooner you treat the better, on the other hand, she is not

> severe, so repositioning could work. The other thing I should

mention

> is that it would be a STAR Band, not a DOC Band, which after

reading

> everyone's posts, I think I might prefer a DOC.

>

> SO, do I get a second opinion? Do I take her to the Cranial

> Technologies people (there is one pretty close to my house)? Will

> they end up telling me she needs one becuase they will sell a band?

> Who should really be making the final decision wheter not to band

> (other than me of course)? The pediatrician, the PT, the Orthotist -

> someone else?

>

> I want to feel happy that they have said she does not need the band

> at this time, but I just don't feel confident.

>

> Please help - any advice would be appreciated.

>

> Thanks.

>

> Mom to Naomi

> Georgia

December 22, 2001

,

I could have written this post, its so similar to my own experience.

When my twins were 5 months we took them to the neuro to get their

plagio evaluated. Kaylie's plagio was deemed mild and Danny's brachy

was deemed mild/moderate. Our neuro wanted us to give repositioning

another try for one month and then we would take it from there. So

we left his office feeling deflated because I had so hoped we would

be leaving with a prescription for a band. We repositioned for the

month and had seen some improvement, but the improvement that we did

see was very minimal and I wasn't comfortable with it especially

since I had been trying to reposition them since they were 2 months

old. By the time we got back to the neuro, the twins were 6 and a

half months old. Initially our neuro did not want to write the

script for us, but I didn't give up with out a fight. Just one more

example that the decision to band or not is the parents decision to

make, but you will need a script from either your ped or specialist,

in this case it was our neuro.

I have to admit that I was very reluctant to be prescribed the

STARband because of all that I had read here and because there really

isn't a lot of other information on it anywhere else, except for

Orthomerica's webpage, and of course they're a bit biased. But I

figured to at least give it a try, because I really did not want to

travel for the DOCband (I am a big chicken!) I was very fortunate in

the fact that I had an ortho that was very experienced and always

took his time in explaining everything to me (no comments Debbie and

Beck!) Interview the ortho that will be providing the STARband to

you, interview the clinician at the CT clinic close by you, and go

with your gut instinct. My twins received there bands at 7 and a

half months and it was still plenty of time to get terrific

correction!

Good luck with the repositioning, hopefully it will work for you. We

have quite a few members who decided not to band and they had great

results with repositioning! Keep us updated!

Niki

Kaylie & Danny (STAR grads)

Phila., PA