Re: new helmet, need advice... to continue or give up

[Guest guest]

Hi there-

I really do think you need to stick with it. My son began band treatment at 17

months of age, because we were told over and over that it would round out on

it's own, but it didn't. At that point, he measured 15mm of asymmetry, so he was

obviously worse off at 4 and 6 months of age (though never measured). After six

months of age, it's very hard to be successful with aggressive repositioning

because the baby is more mobile. Besides that, you already have the band in

hand, why waste it? It know it seems impossible now because she won't tolerate

it for 23 hours a day yet, but she's not the first one to balk. It might just

take her a little longer to get used to it, but eventually they all do, even the

toughest cases. I suggest doing your best to stick it out, it's not hurting her,

so you just have to try some things to help her be more comfortable in it. Dress

her VERY lightly, if she's hot that's going to be the first thing to tackly. You

can even use a ceiling fan or oscillating fan on low in her room at night (not

blowing directly on her). You can also try memory foam for her mattress, which

will allow her head to nestle into the mattress a little bit (but only use it if

you feel comfortable). Don't be afraid to take it off every hour or whatever

just to wipe her head down if she's sweaty, but then put it back on. She won't

get used to it if it's constantly off. I know it sounds tough, but 12mm is a

decent amount of asymmetry, and I would not leave that to take it's course

naturally.

Best of luck to you.

Jake-2.5 (DOCBand Grad 9/08)

Jordan-5

>

> Hi all,

>

> My daughter is 6 months old and just got a doc band from Cranial Tech to

correct her plagiocephaly. I still have very mixed feelings about it though,

and her mother has been totally against it from the start, so I wanted to get

some feedback and compare our daughter's situation with others. I'm trying to

decide whether to keep going with the treatment or abandoning it.

>

> On 12/16/08 (3 months old), she had 16mm cranial vault asymmetry (11.7% based

her head size).

> On 3/3/09 (almost 6 months), she had 12mm cranial vault asymmetry (8.5% with a

bigger head).

>

> So there was improvement without any helmet, but since that was a time of high

growth I'm not sure if we'll see the same amount of improvement through the rest

of her infancy. She sits up completely now and is only on her back when she

sleeps.

>

> The reason I'm considering abandoning it is that she is not happy with it, not

adapting well, and she still can't sleep at night with it. We've had it since

last Wednesday, and while she will nap with it, she can't normally go more than

1 hour with it, I think because she gets too hot. She is normally such an easy

going and happy baby, and it's heartbreaking to see her unhappy and trying to

pull and lift the helmet.

>

> Any advice is appreciated.

>

> Thanks,

>

>

[Guest guest]

You say the baby's mother was totally against it from the start. I think that's

the biggest problem, not the discomfort the baby is experience. At least part

of that discomfort might be subjective on your part, especially if the mother is

" totally against it from the start " .

Why is she so against it? She doesn't believe the technology works? She

doesn't think there's a problem to begin with?

I urge you to urge her to read the many postings here of people with older

babies who waited too long to get a band or helmet because they got poor medical

advice. My heart goes out to those parents. You can't read those stories

without being moved. Your baby's mother should definitely read them.

My son is 4 months old and although we got luke-warm advice from our

pediatrician she at least MENTIONED the existence of bands so that we checked

them out on our own and got our son banded as soon as possible (after being told

about them). He's been in one for one week so far and we already see results.

Yes there were problems. Heat rash on his face under part of the band. We used

1% hydrocortison (approved by ped) and dressed him more lightly and keep the

temperature in the house lower.

There are problems. All the problems are minor compared to getting that band on

and getting that head into shape.

You don't want a flat-headed baby, a flat-headed child, a flat-headed teenager.

Think of that. A flat-headed teenager. Who's she going to blame? The doctors?

The national health-care system? The AMA? NO! She's going to blame her

parents. And she'll be right.

Cope with the problems. Deal with the problems. But keep doing the right

thing.

Show the baby's mother this post. Encourage her to ask questions here. The

people here are great. They will answer all your questions.

> >

> > Hi all,

> >

> > My daughter is 6 months old and just got a doc band from Cranial Tech to

correct her plagiocephaly. I still have very mixed feelings about it though,

and her mother has been totally against it from the start, so I wanted to get

some feedback and compare our daughter's situation with others. I'm trying to

decide whether to keep going with the treatment or abandoning it.

> >

> > On 12/16/08 (3 months old), she had 16mm cranial vault asymmetry (11.7%

based her head size).

> > On 3/3/09 (almost 6 months), she had 12mm cranial vault asymmetry (8.5% with

a bigger head).

> >

> > So there was improvement without any helmet, but since that was a time of

high growth I'm not sure if we'll see the same amount of improvement through the

rest of her infancy. She sits up completely now and is only on her back when

she sleeps.

> >

> > The reason I'm considering abandoning it is that she is not happy with it,

not adapting well, and she still can't sleep at night with it. We've had it

since last Wednesday, and while she will nap with it, she can't normally go more

than 1 hour with it, I think because she gets too hot. She is normally such an

easy going and happy baby, and it's heartbreaking to see her unhappy and trying

to pull and lift the helmet.

> >

> > Any advice is appreciated.

> >

> > Thanks,

> >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Her mother basically thinks it's not a problem, and that it's not a big enough

issue (or rather no issue at all) to put her through the pain and discomfort of

wearing the band. She says because it's a girl, she can cover up any issues

with her hair. Our daughter doesn't have much asymmetry visible on her face,

though one side of her forehead protrudes very slightly. Most of the asymmetry

is in the back. My feeling is the same as yours, that I don't want her to grow

up and be self conscious about this when we can spend a few months of her life

that she won't even remember correcting it. I think maybe I have spent too much

time focusing on our daughter's measurements and not on the experience of others

in similar situations. I have told my wife about this forum the replies I've

gotten, but she wasn't really interested. I'll try again, maybe focusing on the

experience others have had.

> > >

> > > Hi all,

> > >

> > > My daughter is 6 months old and just got a doc band from Cranial Tech to

correct her plagiocephaly. I still have very mixed feelings about it though,

and her mother has been totally against it from the start, so I wanted to get

some feedback and compare our daughter's situation with others. I'm trying to

decide whether to keep going with the treatment or abandoning it.

> > >

> > > On 12/16/08 (3 months old), she had 16mm cranial vault asymmetry (11.7%

based her head size).

> > > On 3/3/09 (almost 6 months), she had 12mm cranial vault asymmetry (8.5%

with a bigger head).

> > >

> > > So there was improvement without any helmet, but since that was a time of

high growth I'm not sure if we'll see the same amount of improvement through the

rest of her infancy. She sits up completely now and is only on her back when

she sleeps.

> > >

> > > The reason I'm considering abandoning it is that she is not happy with it,

not adapting well, and she still can't sleep at night with it. We've had it

since last Wednesday, and while she will nap with it, she can't normally go more

than 1 hour with it, I think because she gets too hot. She is normally such an

easy going and happy baby, and it's heartbreaking to see her unhappy and trying

to pull and lift the helmet.

> > >

> > > Any advice is appreciated.

> > >

> > > Thanks,

> > >

> > >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

We're also putting our daughter in our bed for now. The original reason is that

she's been sick with one cold virus or another for quite some time... the

inevitable result of being in daycare so young. So we wanted to elevate her a

bit to help her breathing, since she is very congested and coughing, so we have

been using a pillow for that, which we couldn't do in her crib for safety

reasons.

Our baby does get very hot, and in fact already did before the helmet.

Unfortunately my wife prefers the temperature in the house to be quite warm,

maybe 78 degrees right now during spring (in summer we only use AC to reach 82,

lol). I've adapted to her preference, but now we have a very hot baby. We

tried turning down the temperature and even using a fan on low speed, and I

think it did help our baby cool down and not sweat as much with the band on, but

both my wife and I got sick as a result (with germs our daughter brought from

daycare no doubt). I'm getting over the cold now, but my wife just hit the peak

of hers, so we can't make the house too cold at least until we aren't sick

anymore.

I think the ideal would be to let our daughter sleep in her own room and make

that room cooler, but she has never slept in her own room, her crib has been

next to our bed. This combined with her not being a very good sleeper, sleeping

3-4 hrs at time only, or sometimes 2 if she's congested, seems to limit our

options at night.

> > >

> > > Hi,

> > >

> > > My son got his helmet when he was 9 months old and had a hard time

adapting to the band as well. He was also teething at the time so it made things

worse. It took him more than a week to adapt to the helmet.. He was fine during

the day but would wake up every 2 hours at night crying and pulling on the

helmet. My husband and I were very close to stop using the helmet but are very

glad we didn't..

> > >

> > > In just 6 weeks he went from 14 mm asymmetry to 7 mm.. He's very

comfortable with the helmet now and doesn't even notice it. I would advice you

to keep it on for a little more longer and see how it goes... I also started

using a soft pillow and it really helped. Good luck and keep us posted....

> > >

> > > Marina

> > > Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

> > >

> > > new helmet, need advice... to continue or give up

> > >

> > >

> > > Hi all,

> > >

> > > My daughter is 6 months old and just got a doc band from Cranial Tech to

correct her plagiocephaly. I still have very mixed feelings about it though, and

her mother has been totally against it from the start, so I wanted to get some

feedback and compare our daughter's situation with others. I'm trying to decide

whether to keep going with the treatment or abandoning it.

> > >

> > > On 12/16/08 (3 months old), she had 16mm cranial vault asymmetry (11.7%

based her head size).

> > > On 3/3/09 (almost 6 months), she had 12mm cranial vault asymmetry (8.5%

with a bigger head).

> > >

> > > So there was improvement without any helmet, but since that was a time of

high growth I'm not sure if we'll see the same amount of improvement through the

rest of her infancy. She sits up completely now and is only on her back when she

sleeps.

> > >

> > > The reason I'm considering abandoning it is that she is not happy with it,

not adapting well, and she still can't sleep at night with it. We've had it

since last Wednesday, and while she will nap with it, she can't normally go more

than 1 hour with it, I think because she gets too hot. She is normally such an

easy going and happy baby, and it's heartbreaking to see her unhappy and trying

to pull and lift the helmet.

> > >

> > > Any advice is appreciated.

> > >

> > > Thanks,

> > >

> > >

> >

>