Re: How do you know they need a band?

November 9, 2009

,

It's great that you are catching it early. I'd say if his head still seems

asymmetrical at 5 months then get going on the banding process. In fact you

should get a referral now, in case there's a wait. Ideally you get the helmet

at 6 months. It's early enough so it works quickly and late enough so the baby

has strength in the neck (some doctors say that's important).

It sounds like you're already doing a lot about the tort. Let me add one more

thing that is pretty easy. When Silas is awake, make sure all objects of

interest to him are to his left. That would include older siblings, objects in

the car in view from his seat, etc. If he has one of those baby gyms, position

him so he has to turn to his left to see the hanging toys. One P.T. we saw said

that putting pressure on the non-flat side will help the flat side pop out, so

keep that in mind.

Also, if you are still breastfeeding, hold him so that he has to turn his head

to the left to feed. This worked well for my guy. (Of course you wouldn't want

to do this if you are still having latch problems.)

That's really interesting what you brought up about hip problems in pregnancy.

I was pretty sure my son dropped early too and I had excruciating hip pain. I

also was running to the hospital for non-stress tests during the last few weeks

because I thought the baby wasn't moving enough. He was fine, but he really was

probably pretty tight in there. He wasn't huge, but I am small in the middle.

Good luck! And if you do end up getting a helmet for Silas, don't worry about

it. It's totally not a big deal, nothing compared to the stress of wishing you

had treated the problem when it's too late.

>

> Hi -

>

> I'm new here. My son, Silas, is almost 4 months old. He has a flat area on

the rear right side of his head. We're waiting to see if he's going to need to

be banded... instinct says there is a fair chance he will, but we don't know

yet.

>

> There were some indications just after his birth that there was something

going on - he looked to the right most of the time from the very beginning, and

his jaw seemed a little lopsided. Nothing was said at the time about it. He

had some issues with breastfeeding in the first weeks - shaking his head,

clamping down, and frequent pulling off. We did cranialsacral therapy for it,

which seemed to help. The therapist pointed out that he had some asymmetry in

his skull (forehead more prominent on the right side especially), and did a few

things to try to address it. I've since read that if a woman has serious pain

in one hip and tailbone, that there could be some kind of positioning

restriction. He went head-down early and the hip pain started a couple of weeks

later, so I wonder if this process got started weeks before his birth.

>

> As far as doctors, I was not happy with the first pediatrician we went to, for

a variety of reasons. About his head and neck, all the old pediatrician said at

2 months was to get him to turn his head to both the right and the left, nothing

about the developing flatness (which we hadn't picked up on yet), etc. We

switched pediatricians by the time he was 3 months old. Silas will look to

either side now, although he still has a preference to look right. And more

worrisome to me, he tilts the upper left side of his head to the left, so his

head often appears crooked. That part of it seems like it might be a little

worse, possibly.

>

> But by 3 months, we had started noticing a more significant flatness on the

right side of the back of his head as well as the prominence of his right

forehead. I like the new pediatrician much more, fortunately, and he

immediately flagged the torticollis and flat area. Apparently he is very

proactive about possible plagiocephaly cases, and gave me a sheet with exercises

we need to do for his neck, the need to greatly increase his tummy time, etc.

(I've heard that other moms of similar-aged babies have all gotten the " tummy

time speech " from this particular doctor.)

>

> I want to say that his flat area has improved a little in the last couple of

weeks since that appointment, but maybe it's just wishful thinking. And I just

don't know if doing just more tummy time, upright time, and the neck exercises

will be enough. How do I know? How insistent should I be on getting him

evaluated by a specialist doctor and/or a place that makes the bands, rather

than another couple of months of wait-and-see? I am not thrilled with the idea

of him having to get banded, but if he really does need it and it can't be

avoided, I'd rather get it done at a younger age so hopefully we can get it over

with in a fairly short amount of time. But the question is, how do we know if

we should be progressing quickly to the band so as to not lose time?

>

> And what about doing more CST and/or chiropractic care to try to help the

situation, either before banding (possibly to try to avoid banding), or in

conjunction with banding? Can anyone offer any insight into this possible path?

>

> I know I should post some pictures, I just haven't had a chance to get some

good ones of his head. I'll try to do it tomorrow, if possible.

>

> I also just want to say thank you to everyone who has been posting - it's been

helpful already just in the last couple of weeks to read about people's

experiences and perspectives related to plagiocephaly and torticollis.

>

> For now, we're doing the positioning, stretches, and tummy time, and waiting

for his 4-month appointment in a couple of weeks, at which time I will be

discussing the plagio/tort issues in a lot more detail with the pediatrician to

determine next steps. Any insight on how you came to realize that your baby had

an issue that required more than just neck exercises and repositioning (whether

or not the baby did eventually get a helmet) would be greatly appreciated.

>

> Thank you for reading my long intro, and for any feedback you may be able to

give me.

>

> --

>

November 11, 2009

Hi -

First of all, thank you to those who responded. I figure there probably isn't

much we can do between now and the 4-month pediatrician's appointment in less

than two weeks, as far as getting set up for an evaluation.

In the meantime, we're trying to figure out insurance coverage (*sigh*) for the

helmet, in case he does need it - I know we're far from alone on that. It

appears that the local Hanger location is the one that is in-network for our

insurance (and our out of network coverage is pretty bad). But, through a local

moms' network, I've heard really good things about the CT location near us

(northern NJ).

Has anyone had experience with the northern NJ Hanger location, especially vs.

the CT location? Should we just plan on biting the bullet and finding some way

to pay for this out of pocket while going with CT, or is Hanger just as good?

Obviously, these people will be messing with my son's head, so I don't want

somewhere that is just okay...! But it's a lot of money, as we all know, if we

have to do this out-of-pocket.

I would appreciate any tips specifically about the options in northern NJ.

Thank you,

--

> >

> > Hi -

> >

> > I'm new here. My son, Silas, is almost 4 months old. He has a flat area on

the rear right side of his head. We're waiting to see if he's going to need to

be banded... instinct says there is a fair chance he will, but we don't know

yet.

> >

> > There were some indications just after his birth that there was something