Guest guest Posted December 2, 2008 Report Share Posted December 2, 2008 Hi Holly- I'm sorry to hear of your frustration. From the photos, it would appear to me that the fit was better in the first one, before your adjustment today. I don't understand why they had to trim the front ( " bangs " ), it didn't appear too low to begin with, and in fact needs to be low enough to do what it needs to do, plus it helps to hold it in place. After the adjustment, it almost looks like it's coming off his head. Some twisting might be normal at first, until the head grows a little and fills in the voids of the helmet, especially if the flat spot is significant enough. I'm no expert, but if the left ear was doing that before today, you'd think they should have just cut that hole bigger and it would have been fine. What ortho are you going to? Do they have a lot of experience working with helmets? I've seen adjustments/fits like yours before and it's normally not a good thing. I can tell you that it would take at least 3 months of constant pressing on the ear for it to permanently change the shape of it, so in the short term, the ear is fine. Unless it's bothering him of course. I would not be happy with the adjustment made today and I would take him again to see what can be done about that left ear hole. If it continues to be loose and twisty after another week or so, then I would ask for a new band to be made, because it shouldn't be doing that. Good luck! Jake-2 (DOCBand Grad 9/19/08) Jordan-4.5 > > hello. > > my name is holly and one of my twin sons, alex, just received his > helmet last week. he's five months old and has positional > plagiocephaly thanks to torticollis. > > it's not going well so far. the helmet was going on ok and he seemed > alright, but then it would twist a little so that it pushed his left > ear forward and covered up his right ear†" which caused lots of > screaming. since it was thanksgiving weekend and nobody would call us > back, we stopped wearing the helmet for fear that we were doing more > harm than good. > > we were able to be squeezed in for an appointment today. the orthotist > made some adjustments and sent us on our way. the helmet has been on > for almost two hours now and it seems to be doing the same thing. it's > twisting on alex's head so that it's pushing his left ear forward. > it's no longer covering up his right ear, but that's because they made > the hole so big there's no way it could. they also took away the > " bangs " and i worry now that it's too short and will twist even more. > > i have pictures and would love some of you to let me know what you > think. i'm so worried about my little one's head. he's so unhappy in > his helmet and is usually such a smiley boy. i only want to change his > head shape, not his personality. help! > > alex in his helmet before our appointment today. i felt like the fit > was good, it was just twisty: > http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3037/3063035770_80169d31d9_o.jpg > > and after our appointment today. now the fit seems totally off ... > > left ear still being pushed forward: > http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3246/3077664675_21f80ee21d_o.jpg > > another view of left ear: > http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3280/3078496044_cb2b8c1f22_o.jpg > > right ear: > http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3037/3078496142_1544c53f81_o.jpg > > front view: > http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3069/3077664749_43121a170b_o.jpg > > another front view: > http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3017/3078496096_9ffebd22f7_o.jpg > > thanks so much if you read all this and extra thanks if you answer back. > > holly > > ps, this is the head shape we are trying to correct: > http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3173/3078496224_8932d796cf_o.jpg > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 3, 2008 Report Share Posted December 3, 2008 thank you so much for your replies, everyone! we've decided to seek a second opinion and have an appointment with cranial technologies on december 11. we live in atlanta and the closest cranial technologies is in charlotte, so it's a four-hour drive each way ... but it'll be totally worth it for peace of mind over alex's head. thank you again. i'm so glad to have found this group! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 3, 2008 Report Share Posted December 3, 2008 We went to CT-Charlotte for treatment (travelled from Raleigh), they are great there. We saw , but unfortunately he left right after my son graduated (to work closer to home). But we've seen at least two other therapists there as well and they are all wonderful. Please keep us posted on how it goes on the 11th. Good luck! Jake-2 (DOCBand Grad 9/19/08) Jordan-4.5 > > thank you so much for your replies, everyone! we've decided to seek a > second opinion and have an appointment with cranial technologies on > december 11. > > we live in atlanta and the closest cranial technologies is in > charlotte, so it's a four-hour drive each way ... but it'll be totally > worth it for peace of mind over alex's head. > > thank you again. i'm so glad to have found this group! > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 4, 2008 Report Share Posted December 4, 2008 Hi, Holly, I'm sorry you guys are going through such a rough time! My son, Marco, wore his STARband for about 5-1/2 months (two bands actually with two different orthos). Shifting is totally normal -- in fact that's the way it SHOULD be. And the band is usually going to shift in the direction of the flat spot. So it's ok for it to push against his ear -- just keep watching that ear to make sure it isn't getting red or too dry from friction. One other thing you should watch for since they cut the front up a bit is that his forehead isn't pushing up against the front too much, which may happen once he starts to grow into the helmet more. My son's first helmet was too tight and came up too high on his forehead towards the end (I had no clue -- my second ortho told me) so his forehead starting to boss (rounded out too much because his helmet wasn't low enough to restrict the growth). Every ortho has a different methodology and you will hear polar- opposite opinions all the time. It's very weird and very frustrating. I'm sure all of us would tell you that we considered scrapping the whole process at the beginning because it is so hard. But things will get much better, I promise. Good luck, Shana > > > From: hollyallen04 <hollyloo@...> > > Subject: new and upset > > Plagiocephaly > > Date: Tuesday, December 2, 2008, 4:17 PM > > hello. > > > > my name is holly and one of my twin sons, alex, just > > received his > > helmet last week. he's five months old and has > > positional > > plagiocephaly thanks to torticollis. > > > > it's not going well so far. the helmet was going on ok > > and he seemed > > alright, but then it would twist a little so that it pushed > > his left > > ear forward and covered up his right ear†" which > > caused lots of > > screaming. since it was thanksgiving weekend and nobody > > would call us > > back, we stopped wearing the helmet for fear that we were > > doing more > > harm than good. > > > > we were able to be squeezed in for an appointment today. > > the orthotist > > made some adjustments and sent us on our way. the helmet > > has been on > > for almost two hours now and it seems to be doing the same > > thing. it's > > twisting on alex's head so that it's pushing his > > left ear forward. > > it's no longer covering up his right ear, but > > that's because they made > > the hole so big there's no way it could. they also took > > away the > > " bangs " and i worry now that it's too short > > and will twist even more. > > > > i have pictures and would love some of you to let me know > > what you > > think. i'm so worried about my little one's head. > > he's so unhappy in > > his helmet and is usually such a smiley boy. i only want to > > change his > > head shape, not his personality. help! > > > > alex in his helmet before our appointment today. i felt > > like the fit > > was good, it was just twisty: > > http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3037/3063035770_80169d31d9_o.jpg > > > > and after our appointment today. now the fit seems totally > > off ... > > > > left ear still being pushed forward: > > http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3246/3077664675_21f80ee21d_o.jpg > > > > another view of left ear: > > http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3280/3078496044_cb2b8c1f22_o.jpg > > > > right ear: > > http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3037/3078496142_1544c53f81_o.jpg > > > > front view: > > http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3069/3077664749_43121a170b_o.jpg > > > > another front view: > > http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3017/3078496096_9ffebd22f7_o.jpg > > > > thanks so much if you read all this and extra thanks if you > > answer back. > > > > holly > > > > ps, this is the head shape we are trying to correct: > > http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3173/3078496224_8932d796cf_o.jpg > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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