I'm concerned about my son's growth in helmet...

[Guest guest]

Hi,

My son, Nicolas, is going to be 7 months on the 11th of July. He has

positional plagio. and torticollis on his right side. He started

wearing a helmet at 4 1/2 months. (I'm not sure the difference

between the doc bands or starbands...my dr. has never specified which

one we have) We had a problem with it rubbing the skin on the back of

his head so he has had to keep it off for a few weeks out of that

time to heal. But I felt confident with his growth until recently.

Nicolas has mild to severe flattening on the back left side of his

head and no noticable facial assymmetry. (He's very handsome!) We

visit his ortho dr every 2 weeks since it's an out of town office and

I'm not sure if that's enough. I've started noticing, in pictures

more than anything, that his head seems to be getting much wider and

making assymmetry more noticable in his face. He's a very big boy for

his age (24 pounds 32 " ) so it could be just an akward phase of

growing. I just hope it's not because of the shape of his helmet. The

improvements that I have noticed are, looking from the top and

flattened sides, his head seems to be over-all rounder, and there is

a bump that looks like he got knocked on the flat spot almost. The

bump is growing and his dr say that is good growth and will

eventually fill out the gap in his helmet. I'm not sure if that's

normal or not.

I have added pictures to " Our plagio babies N " . His album is " Nicolas

S. "

I guess my main concern is if his growth sounds normal?? And what typ

of helmet he has??

On a good note, Nicolas had pretty severe torticollis and his

physical therapists say he is doing amazing! We go twice a week and

do exercises at home, which seem to be taking care of the problem!

Any advice would be great,

Alix

[Guest guest]

Hi Alix,

The helmet looks like a Starband.....the only way to tell for sure is if it has and impression of a star in the back of the helmet. Could you post a pic of his profile after being in the band? It may help us gage his progress. My daughters head growth sounds very similar to . She has a ridge growing in the middle of the flat spot. I was also told that the top would fill in. Good luck!

Jackie

Mom to Marlee Starband 2mo

From: acf1188 <acf1188@...>Subject: I'm concerned about my son's growth in helmet...Plagiocephaly Date: Wednesday, July 9, 2008, 4:31 PM

Hi,My son, Nicolas, is going to be 7 months on the 11th of July. He has positional plagio. and torticollis on his right side. He started wearing a helmet at 4 1/2 months. (I'm not sure the difference between the doc bands or starbands... my dr. has never specified which one we have) We had a problem with it rubbing the skin on the back of his head so he has had to keep it off for a few weeks out of that time to heal. But I felt confident with his growth until recently. Nicolas has mild to severe flattening on the back left side of his head and no noticable facial assymmetry. (He's very handsome!) We visit his ortho dr every 2 weeks since it's an out of town office and I'm not sure if that's enough. I've started noticing, in pictures more than anything, that his head seems to be getting much wider and making assymmetry more noticable in his face. He's a very big boy for his age (24 pounds 32")

so it could be just an akward phase of growing. I just hope it's not because of the shape of his helmet. The improvements that I have noticed are, looking from the top and flattened sides, his head seems to be over-all rounder, and there is a bump that looks like he got knocked on the flat spot almost. The bump is growing and his dr say that is good growth and will eventually fill out the gap in his helmet. I'm not sure if that's normal or not. I have added pictures to "Our plagio babies N". His album is "Nicolas S."I guess my main concern is if his growth sounds normal?? And what typ of helmet he has??On a good note, Nicolas had pretty severe torticollis and his physical therapists say he is doing amazing! We go twice a week and do exercises at home, which seem to be taking care of the problem!Any advice would be great,Alix

[Guest guest]

Hi,

From the front view I Nicolas does seem to have a lot of extra width,

but I can see it in the earlier photo too, and can't really tell if it

is worse. Do you have a top view to compare from before and now? Can

your ortho tell you if he is getting wider either based on a scan (do

they have a scanner?) or measurement? You don't really want the width

to increase. Extra width is really common with brachy (flat in back)

and he may have a combo of plagio (asymmetry) and brachy.

Did your ortho take measurements to begin with? I would ask for

follow up measurements and compare both the asymmetry and the width.

The width is part of the cranial ratio which is (width/height). Normal

is a about 78%. He is likely to be much higher than this based on his

pics, which would mean he has brachy too. Sometimes if kids have a

combo they will work on the asymmetry before they try to correct the

brachy. You can't reduce the extra width, instead you redirect growth

to the back,so the overall proportion improves. But the head

shouldn't be getting wider as treatment progresses.

Please let us know what your ortho says about this.

-christine

sydney 2.5 yrs starband grad (brachy)

>

> Hi,

>

> My son, Nicolas, is going to be 7 months on the 11th of July. He has

> positional plagio. and torticollis on his right side. He started

> wearing a helmet at 4 1/2 months. (I'm not sure the difference

> between the doc bands or starbands...my dr. has never specified which

> one we have) We had a problem with it rubbing the skin on the back of

> his head so he has had to keep it off for a few weeks out of that

> time to heal. But I felt confident with his growth until recently.

> Nicolas has mild to severe flattening on the back left side of his

> head and no noticable facial assymmetry. (He's very handsome!) We

> visit his ortho dr every 2 weeks since it's an out of town office and

> I'm not sure if that's enough. I've started noticing, in pictures

> more than anything, that his head seems to be getting much wider and

> making assymmetry more noticable in his face. He's a very big boy for

> his age (24 pounds 32 " ) so it could be just an akward phase of

> growing. I just hope it's not because of the shape of his helmet. The

> improvements that I have noticed are, looking from the top and

> flattened sides, his head seems to be over-all rounder, and there is

> a bump that looks like he got knocked on the flat spot almost. The

> bump is growing and his dr say that is good growth and will

> eventually fill out the gap in his helmet. I'm not sure if that's

> normal or not.

>

> I have added pictures to " Our plagio babies N " . His album is " Nicolas

> S. "

>

> I guess my main concern is if his growth sounds normal?? And what typ

> of helmet he has??

>

> On a good note, Nicolas had pretty severe torticollis and his

> physical therapists say he is doing amazing! We go twice a week and

> do exercises at home, which seem to be taking care of the problem!

>

> Any advice would be great,

> Alix

>

[Guest guest]

Hey Jackie,

Yes, there is a star press made on the back! haha, I guess that should have been a give-away! I'll take a picture of his profile tomorrow and post it. He has a lot of hair so in pictures its hard to see the bump growing, but you described exactly what is happening. Before he had the helmet his head almost had corners it seemed on the flat side, and now it's definately not as noticable behind his left ear and seems a lot rounder! I think the bump part just makes me nervous because I'm afraid the rest won't fill out? Have you noticed significant difference in the 2 months your daughter has had hers? My dr seems to have no idea how long Nicolas will be in his.

-Alix

Mom of Nicolas 7 months (3 1/2 m in starband)

From: acf1188 <acf1188 (DOT) com>Subject: I'm concerned about my son's growth in helmet...PlagiocephalyDate: Wednesday, July 9, 2008, 4:31 PM

Hi,My son, Nicolas, is going to be 7 months on the 11th of July. He has positional plagio. and torticollis on his right side. He started wearing a helmet at 4 1/2 months. (I'm not sure the difference between the doc bands or starbands... my dr. has never specified which one we have) We had a problem with it rubbing the skin on the back of his head so he has had to keep it off for a few weeks out of that time to heal. But I felt confident with his growth until recently. Nicolas has mild to severe flattening on the back left side of his head and no noticable facial assymmetry. (He's very handsome!) We visit his ortho dr every 2 weeks since it's an out of town office and I'm not sure if that's enough. I've started noticing, in pictures more than anything, that his head seems to be getting much wider and making assymmetry more noticable in his face. He's a very big boy for his age (24 pounds 32")

so it could be just an akward phase of growing. I just hope it's not because of the shape of his helmet. The improvements that I have noticed are, looking from the top and flattened sides, his head seems to be over-all rounder, and there is a bump that looks like he got knocked on the flat spot almost. The bump is growing and his dr say that is good growth and will eventually fill out the gap in his helmet. I'm not sure if that's normal or not. I have added pictures to "Our plagio babies N". His album is "Nicolas S."I guess my main concern is if his growth sounds normal?? And what typ of helmet he has??On a good note, Nicolas had pretty severe torticollis and his physical therapists say he is doing amazing! We go twice a week and do exercises at home, which seem to be taking care of the problem!Any advice would be great,Alix

[Guest guest]

,

We go to the ortho again on Tues of next week so I will definately ask then. He usually takes measurements, no one has said anything about a scan though. I'll also ask him to compare the old widths and lengths to now. It does seem as though his width is longer than his height of his head and it wasn't that way before he started wearing his helmet. During our last visit I pointed out to the dr that his helmet doesn't look like the goal shape we want. He said because Nicolas is already so big and still young he will probably out grow this one very soon. That concerns me because the outside of his helmet isn't even round it so I want to make sure he has the max. potential room to grow into now as well as in a bigger helmet.

Is the difference between plagio and brachy (and i think there's a few more right?) basically where the flattening on the head is? If his head is being guided by this helmet to grow in width more than it should, does he have time to correct that? I have been told that the 1st year is the best time for growth, and it seems like he's growing up to fast already!

-Alix

Mom of Nicolas 7 months (3 1/2 m starband)

From: christineashok <christineashok@...>Subject: Re: I'm concerned about my son's growth in helmet...Plagiocephaly Date: Thursday, July 10, 2008, 2:08 AM

Hi,From the front view I Nicolas does seem to have a lot of extra width,but I can see it in the earlier photo too, and can't really tell if itis worse. Do you have a top view to compare from before and now? Canyour ortho tell you if he is getting wider either based on a scan (dothey have a scanner?) or measurement? You don't really want the widthto increase. Extra width is really common with brachy (flat in back)and he may have a combo of plagio (asymmetry) and brachy. Did your ortho take measurements to begin with? I would ask forfollow up measurements and compare both the asymmetry and the width.The width is part of the cranial ratio which is (width/height) . Normalis a about 78%. He is likely to be much higher than this based on hispics, which would mean he has brachy too. Sometimes if kids have acombo they will work on the asymmetry before they try to correct thebrachy. You can't reduce

the extra width, instead you redirect growthto the back,so the overall proportion improves. But the headshouldn't be getting wider as treatment progresses.Please let us know what your ortho says about this.-christinesydney 2.5 yrs starband grad (brachy)>> Hi,> > My son, Nicolas, is going to be 7 months on the 11th of July. He has > positional plagio. and torticollis on his right side. He started > wearing a helmet at 4 1/2 months. (I'm not sure the difference > between the doc bands or starbands... my dr. has never specified which > one we have) We had a problem with it rubbing the skin on the back of > his head so he has had to keep it off for a few weeks out of that > time to heal. But I felt

confident with his growth until recently. > Nicolas has mild to severe flattening on the back left side of his > head and no noticable facial assymmetry. (He's very handsome!) We > visit his ortho dr every 2 weeks since it's an out of town office and > I'm not sure if that's enough. I've started noticing, in pictures > more than anything, that his head seems to be getting much wider and > making assymmetry more noticable in his face. He's a very big boy for > his age (24 pounds 32") so it could be just an akward phase of > growing. I just hope it's not because of the shape of his helmet. The > improvements that I have noticed are, looking from the top and > flattened sides, his head seems to be over-all rounder, and there is > a bump that looks like he got knocked on the flat spot almost. The > bump is growing and his dr say that is good growth and will >

eventually fill out the gap in his helmet. I'm not sure if that's > normal or not. > > I have added pictures to "Our plagio babies N". His album is "Nicolas > S."> > I guess my main concern is if his growth sounds normal?? And what typ > of helmet he has??> > On a good note, Nicolas had pretty severe torticollis and his > physical therapists say he is doing amazing! We go twice a week and > do exercises at home, which seem to be taking care of the problem!> > Any advice would be great,> Alix>