Guest guest Posted April 13, 2002 Report Share Posted April 13, 2002 Hi. My son started his therapy at 10 months. He is 18 months now, and has a few more months to go. We saw Darcy too. She is wonderful. Anyway, why I wanted to know was because I don't think we are getting good results at all. Everyone says we are, but I just don't see it, and we have already put in 8 months! I know we started late, but I have only noticed a very slight improvement. I was wondering if someone who had their helmet made by the same person, was noticing not much improvement like I am. I did not know about the DOC band when we started, did you? Do you think a passive helmet is better? I feel so frustrated, although, like I said, my family has all said his head looks fine, but boy, you should see how flat it is still. Any opinion would be so greatly appreciated. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 13, 2002 Report Share Posted April 13, 2002 Hi Lori. Well, it sounds like you are in the same boat as I am right now. has only been in the helmet for three months now. He started on his first birthday and is almost 15 months now. We have noticed little to no improvement. There has been a little, but sometimes I think the improvement I think I'm seeing is just because I've been staring at a helmeted head all day, and his bare head just looks so cute to me once it's off. If it's off longer than an hour, I start to notice things again. Honestly, to tell you the truth, I wish I could have gone with the DOC band instead. The reason why: It is an active treatment and the band actually applies slight pressure to the points that need to round out, if that makes any sense at all the way I put it. I do not think that any helmet therapy is better than the other. Passive is probably great for babies who get treated when they are littler, like, five, six, seven, eight months up to 12, and from there on, the growth slows down so much. After eight weeks of being in the helmet, his head hadn't grown at all. (His head is already above the 100th percentile.) So it was good in one sense that his noggin hadn't gotten any larger, but also not good because there was no improvement.) I wish that I could've gone for the DOC band for him, but the nearest clinic is in California. Not that I wouldn't have done that for my son, but I thought we had a chance with the helmet here. Active bands like the DOC band, which are made by Cranial Technologies, are good for babies of any age and can be used on them for up to 24 months, I believe. Orthomerica will only band babies with the STAR band up to 18 months. Passive bands, like the one we have, are really effective with younger babies where their heads are growing all the time. Right now I feel like I'm just covering my son's head with a big white hat. Sometimes I feel like I should just quit the helmet and travel to California to get the DOC band, but that would also mean $3,000 for the band and also frequent trips to CA for adjustments. And to tell you the truth, I am so tired of the helmet and so sick of putting my son through it. I'm tired of looking at the helmet, and I just want him to go back to normal. He is still wearing the helmet, but here's another thing: When we went to our 8 week appt with Darcy, she was very nonchalant about the whole thing. Like pretty much: "If you don't want the helmet anymore or feel like his head shape has gotten the correction you want, just throw it away. You don't even have to come back." And her reason was that: "Well, it's not a medical problem, just for cosmetic reasons, so we don't need to check up on him." I thought, "Jeez, don't they want to see the results or make an exit mold to compare for studies." I wonder how many people actually continue on to the end. How do they even know that it is working if they don't see the end result and "graduate" them? I guess I have just been really discouraged with how it's been going. Now Darcy is telling us that we don't have to come in for the 8 week appts anymore....just make an appt when we feel it is necessary or just throw the helmet away when we feel like we're done. Well, I want to throw it away every day, but I don't. I guess I am just unhappy with the lack of importance put on this condition by Children's. Anyway, sorry for rambling. Kellie, Tacoma, WA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.