Re: Photo Study Pictures--What do you think?- friends and family

[Guest guest]

It's so hard for me to understand why friends and family have to be so unsupportive. They act as if we are hurting our babies by getting them helmets. Or causing them discomfort. I got a little bit of that from 's daycare workers, but they backed off when I told them the possible issues of not correcting her head. Okay, so I used the issues related to plagio rather than brachy, but I didn't want to have them continuing with their attitude. Since then, we only have supportive people in our social circle.

I like the comparison to braces that has been made several times. The issues with not correcting crooked teeth are not life threatening and are largely cosmetic in most people, but nobody judges others for getting their kids braces. They realize the long-term effects of crooked teeth on self-esteem and get them fixed. It's the same thing with our kids' heads only the window for fixing it is WAY before they are old enough to give an opinion so we are all doing the best we can to make this decision on our own.

, mom to , 19.5 months

20.5 weeks in STARband plus CST

land

Photo Study Pictures--What do you think?> > > > > > Hello,> I have posted Adelyn's photo study pictures from her first consult at CT. My husband and I are in the process of deciding how much longer to continue w/ repo and if/when to start the banding process.> > She has brachy w/ slight right side plagio, w/ mild left tort. We have been doing repo for the past 2.5 weeks and have noticed a difference already w/ the back left side rounding out more. > > Ear Asym 5mm> Cranial Vault 8mm> Cephalic Ratio 94%> > Thank you for your help and comments!> > Amy> > Adelyn--4.5mo>

[Guest guest]

I think most opinions are unsupportive because they are not informed opinions.

After I told my friends and family the braces analogy, they understood it

better.

I also had a " sign " that pushed me to make my decision: I was asked to be

" friends " on Facebook from an old grammar school classmate. The first name was

shortened to a nickname, so I wasn't positive who it was at first. When I

checked out what friends we had in common, I saw that it included another friend

from grammar school. I read their wall-to-wall comments to each other and the

first thing that was written from this classmate was, " I'm waiting for the

comment " tv head " from you. "

Long story short, this woman has a square shaped head and I vaguely remember

some kids making fun of her and calling her horrible names. However, I

realized that she has been carrying this merciless teasing with her for a

looooong time. It made me incredibly sad. But it made me even more confident

in my decision.

My husband and I have been walking the streets of New York City and I have been

finding it very amusing to watch people's reactions when they see my son. Thank

goodness this group has prepared me for any rude comments!

> >

> > Adelyn's head shape looks somewhat similar to my son's, although I

think degree of plagio is much milder in your case. We also have a forehead

bossing. So we tried repositioning for ~2 month and had no success. The thing is

that tort makes it nearly impossible to reposition -- whatever we did our baby

almost ended up on his flat side in the night. Towards the end I woke up every

hour or so to reposition his head, but he stayed in that position maybe for 10

min and after that he turned his head to his favorite side. So here is the first

reason to get a helmet -- to prevent plagio from getting worse. And I found out

yesterday that our ortho gave this as one of the reason for banding in the

medical necessity to our insurance company (we are fully covered).

> >

> > The other thing is that it seems that Adelyn has brachy -- so with the

helmet you would address this issue too and also again prevent it from getting

more severe.

> >

> > The other thing to consider. Forehead bossing and ears are the last to

correct in a BANDED baby (in some cases band doesn't correct it). So I would

say that with repositioning you have even less chances for optimal correction.

> > And my last thought is the age factor. If you start before 6 month you would

probably achieve best results in a shorter time span.

> >

> > The other thing is it would  take time to get the helmet and get it

properly fitted. It took us 2 weeks to get the helmet and ~2weeks to get

optimal fitting. So let say if you decide to get the helmet at 6 month, you

would be starting actual treatment close to 7 month.

> >

> > Good luck!

> > *Zhyldyz

> >

> >

> >

> > ________________________________

> > From: amy.alday <amyalday@>

> > Plagiocephaly

> > Sent: Friday, April 10, 2009 6:55:47 AM

> > Subject: Photo Study Pictures--What do you think?

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> > Hello,

> > I have posted Adelyn's photo study pictures from her first consult at

CT. My husband and I are in the process of deciding how much longer to continue

w/ repo and if/when to start the banding process.

> >

> > She has brachy w/ slight right side plagio, w/ mild left tort. We have been

doing repo for the past 2.5 weeks and have noticed a difference already w/ the

back left side rounding out more.

> >

> > Ear Asym 5mm

> > Cranial Vault 8mm

> > Cephalic Ratio 94%

> >

> > Thank you for your help and comments!

> >

> > Amy

> >

> > Adelyn--4.5mo

> >

>

[Guest guest]

I spent the week here in Phoenix and it's been interesting. No one is surprised by the helmet. In fact, I got a couple comments about how pretty her helmet is with along with comments about the other kinds of decorations they've seen on helmets.

We spent some time at a drop-in child care place at the local YMCA (a friend got us guest passes) and I was told by this friend of a friend that they get a lot of babies with helmets in there. She asked me some more specific questions because she's never had much of a chance to talk to their parents. From what I could tell, it seems that most of the helmets are probably DOCbands since parents are docorating themselves. That makes sense, given that there is a CT right here. The weirdest comment I got was from someone at the airport who asked if she was Autistic. That's actually the first time that I've felt offended by someone mostly because if she was Autistic, then that would be a very inappropriate and insensitive remark to make.

, mom to , 19.5 months

20.5 weeks in STARband plus CST

land

Photo Study Pictures--What do you think? > > > > > > > > > > > > Hello, > > I have posted Adelyn's photo study pictures from her first consult at CT. My husband and I are in the process of deciding how much longer to continue w/ repo and if/when to start the banding process. > > > > She has brachy w/ slight right side plagio, w/ mild left tort. We have been doing repo for the past 2.5 weeks and have noticed a difference already w/ the back left side rounding out more. > > > > Ear Asym 5mm > > Cranial Vault 8mm > > Cephalic Ratio 94% > > > > Thank you for your help and comments! > > > > Amy > > > > Adelyn--4.5mo > >>