Helmet & TOT collar

[Guest guest]

Hello to all. :-)

I am posting this email to both sites, in hopes someone has an answer. Have a prescription for both the helmet and TOT collar. Does anyone know if both can be used at the same time? Obviously, both devices work on different issues, but does it pose problems to the baby if both are being used simultaneously? I would really like to know what anyone else has done? Or, another question, am I torturing my poor baby?

Hope to hear from anyone.

Thanks,

(mom to Eytan, 7 1/2 months)

[Guest guest]

,

I hope some of our more experienced tort people will respond, but I think I

remember reading that they cannot be worn at the same time. - do you

know about this?

Marci

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 7/29/2002 10:29:54 PM Eastern Daylight Time, marcisch@... writes:

tort people will respond, but I think I

remember reading that they cannot be worn at the same time. - do you

know about this?

We also attempted using the tot collar (a device that basically holds the head midline, or at least encourages the child to do so with struts that align to the jaw and head and is worn around the neck like a collar- to help with the last bit of tilt). We waited to use the tot collar until after helmet therapy- there were just too many devices going on- and the tot collar should not be worn without constant supervision (my ped thought it was a strangulation device (!), nothing that bad or horrible, but you do have to be careful with anything around your kids neck of course!). The only problem with us waiting (and we also did this partly because our pt was unfamiliar with fitting it) was that by the time we did have it fit properly, he was 10 months old and very active. He tolerated it when crawling and for brief periods in the high chair, but he would tug at it and we just felt it wasn't doing much for that little bit of tilt we wanted to help. I would do it over again in a second, just to find out how well it would work and see if maybe we could have made it happen, but I know many have had taping done and this seems less bothersome to me (although some kids can get skin irritation with taping). If you are going to use the TOT collar while the helmet therapy is still happening, I would only put it on when you can take the helmet off- or even take an extra hour to use it without the helmet on. Good luck-hope this helps!!! You can talk with more parents about it at www.torticolliskids , I know Dee in particular had success with the TOT collar.

' Mom