Re: Looking for support> trying to get dad to be ok with our son's getting a helmet.

[Guest guest]

My daughter wore her band about 4 yrs ago and we got very few odd stares or

comments. Most were curious or friendly. Also they quickly figure out your kid

is " normal " because that is how they act. If anything they may assume an injury

on the head, or that you are over protective and don't want them to bump their

head (I've had people ask where they can buy one).

Kids do very well and once you start seeing improvement it is easier to be happy

about the band. My daughter improved some within 2 weeks (although she needed

her band for 5 months). It didn't slow my daughter down at all. She started at 5

mo and learned to sit, crawl and walk while in her band (before 10 mo old).

My daughter had severe brachy (starting at 97%) and got a lot of improvement.

However, after graduating I don't think she's really improved. So I really can't

imagine if I had decided to skip banding - her head would be really odd now. I

still notice some problem areas, but to the rest of the world I think her head

looks fine. If you don't do the band you'll have to worry about short hair cuts

etc as he gets older.

I hope his dad will feel better about it. If not please ask him to fake it so he

doesn't pass along negative feelings to your son :-)

-christine

sydney, 4.5 yrs, starband grad

>

> Hi my son is almost 10 months old and we were just told today that helmet was

a good idea for him. He has a mild case of plagiocephaly. I feel happy that he

will get the shape of his head fixed. Maybe the frequent ear infections will

stop. His dad is having trouble adjusting to the fact his son will be wearing

the helmet. He feels that people will see his son as something is wrong with his

son. Even though his brain development is good and the case is considered mild,

he fears the view of the eyes of the public. I tried to get him to feel more

comfortable with the fact that there is a lady who will put stickers on it for

free. And we could make it Dallas Cowboys for football season coming up. He was

still bummed out for the baby though. And if any one can explain more about

cranial vault measurements and cephalic index. they sd his cranial vault is 14mm

normal is 3mm and cephalic index is 89% and normal for him is 78%

>

[Guest guest]

I had the same issue with my husband. My son has a very mild case of

brachycephaly and my husband didn't think it was severe enough to " put him

through it " . I happen to fit these orthoses myself and I had to explain to my

husband that it is completely painless and that we owe it to our son to correct

whatever issues he may have now so he doesn't hate us when he is older Think

of your child approaching you at 18 and asking you why you didn't fix the shape

of his head when you had the chance! You have a small window of opportunity and

your child will never even remember it. My husband had a hard time thinking

something is " wrong " with his son, but it isn't the case at all! I had his

favorite hockey team logo printed on the back and onlookers just think its

adorable. Yes, people look. But my son is 9 months and just adores the

attention! If anything this gives you an opportunity to make others aware of

plagiocephaly. If your husband is worried about people staring, try explaining

to him that if you don't do anything now, your child may become self-concious

about the shape of his head as he gets older and will have those feelings of

people staring, the same feelings your husband is having now.

As for cranial vault - this refers to the difference between the diagonal

measurements taken of your sons head. Cephalic Index is the difference between

the width and length of the head, multiplied by 100. As for " normal " , keep in

mind that those numbers are just a guide, just as the growth measurement charts

at the pediatricians office are. I hope that helps!

> >

> > Hi my son is almost 10 months old and we were just told today that helmet

was a good idea for him. He has a mild case of plagiocephaly. I feel happy that

he will get the shape of his head fixed. Maybe the frequent ear infections will

stop. His dad is having trouble adjusting to the fact his son will be wearing

the helmet. He feels that people will see his son as something is wrong with his

son. Even though his brain development is good and the case is considered mild,

he fears the view of the eyes of the public. I tried to get him to feel more

comfortable with the fact that there is a lady who will put stickers on it for

free. And we could make it Dallas Cowboys for football season coming up. He was

still bummed out for the baby though. And if any one can explain more about

cranial vault measurements and cephalic index. they sd his cranial vault is 14mm

normal is 3mm and cephalic index is 89% and normal for him is 78%

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Just a clarification - cephalic index is actually the width divided by the length multiplied by 100 and not the difference (difference implies subtraction).

I also had a hard time thinking of my daughter in a helmet when I first noticed her flat head at 2.5 months. I was relieved that the ped said she probably wouldn't need one. A year later, I was first bummed, but then I spent sometime online looking around and saw just how cute many of the babies looked. I read more about the band and began to feel more comfortable with it. I had already decided that I wanted to band, but doing some research helped me feel better about what we were about to start.

From: cranialspecialist <cranialspecialist@...>Plagiocephaly Sent: Tue, July 13, 2010 1:22:32 PMSubject: Re: Looking for support> trying to get dad to be ok with our son's getting a helmet.

I had the same issue with my husband. My son has a very mild case of brachycephaly and my husband didn't think it was severe enough to "put him through it". I happen to fit these orthoses myself and I had to explain to my husband that it is completely painless and that we owe it to our son to correct whatever issues he may have now so he doesn't hate us when he is older Think of your child approaching you at 18 and asking you why you didn't fix the shape of his head when you had the chance! You have a small window of opportunity and your child will never even remember it. My husband had a hard time thinking something is "wrong" with his son, but it isn't the case at all! I had his favorite hockey team logo printed on the back and onlookers just think its adorable. Yes, people look. But my son is 9 months and just adores the attention! If anything this gives you an opportunity to make others aware of plagiocephaly. If your husband is worried about

people staring, try explaining to him that if you don't do anything now, your child may become self-concious about the shape of his head as he gets older and will have those feelings of people staring, the same feelings your husband is having now.As for cranial vault - this refers to the difference between the diagonal measurements taken of your sons head. Cephalic Index is the difference between the width and length of the head, multiplied by 100. As for "normal", keep in mind that those numbers are just a guide, just as the growth measurement charts at the pediatricians office are. I hope that helps!> >> > Hi my son is almost 10 months old and we were just told today that helmet was a good idea for him. He has a mild case of plagiocephaly. I feel happy that he will get the shape of his head fixed. Maybe the frequent ear infections will stop. His dad is having trouble adjusting to the fact his son will be wearing the helmet. He feels that people will see his son as something is wrong with his son. Even though his brain development is

good and the case is considered mild, he fears the view of the eyes of the public. I tried to get him to feel more comfortable with the fact that there is a lady who will put stickers on it for free. And we could make it Dallas Cowboys for football season coming up. He was still bummed out for the baby though. And if any one can explain more about cranial vault measurements and cephalic index. they sd his cranial vault is 14mm normal is 3mm and cephalic index is 89% and normal for him is 78%> >>

[Guest guest]

Hi! I just wanted to add that my daughter's measurements are close to your

sons.... she has a 10mm difference and 93% CI. We started on the doc band 2

weeks ago (she was just shy of 5 months old when we began) and I can already see

some great improvement. The specialist doesn't think she'll need it on much

past 8 weeks total. Since your son is a bit older, he may have to wear it

longer than my daughter, but since it's mild, it shouldn't be too long.

As far as the appearance of the helmet, most people who knew we were getting it

are shocked at how " cute " it is, and how it's really not like a helmet at all.

As for the general public, I've had no bad experiences. People either just ask

what it's for or tell me they know someone who had one, or have a child who had

one, etc. Plus, you can tell your husband, you CAN take it off! If he's THAT

worried about a certain situation, then just take it off for the time period and

put it back on when you get home. That shouldn't be done too often, but once in

a while won't hurt, esp since your son is mild. My daughters has been off

occassionally for a few hours at a time because it's been really hot and we've

been outside. I just don't feel right about making her get so hot in it. And

at yesterday's appt the specialist said she's improved a ton already.

Anyway, sorry for the rambling, but just some thoughts on how you might get your

baby's dad to feel more comf with the idea.

Good luck!

> > >

> > > Hi my son is almost 10 months old and we were just told today that helmet

was a good idea for him. He has a mild case of plagiocephaly. I feel happy that

he will get the shape of his head fixed. Maybe the frequent ear infections will

stop. His dad is having trouble adjusting to the fact his son will be wearing

the helmet. He feels that people will see his son as something is wrong with his

son. Even though his brain development is good and the case is considered mild,

he fears the view of the eyes of the public. I tried to get him to feel more

comfortable with the fact that there is a lady who will put stickers on it for

free. And we could make it Dallas Cowboys for football season coming up. He was

still bummed out for the baby though. And if any one can explain more about

cranial vault measurements and cephalic index. they sd his cranial vault is 14mm

normal is 3mm and cephalic index is 89% and normal for him is 78%

> > >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

While my thoughts are basically similar to everyone else's comments, I just

wanted you and him to know how many people feel the same way.

My daughter's measurements were close to your sons.... she had a 6mm difference

and 91% CI. We started on the doc band at 6 months old. Because her head has

been growing slowly (nothing wrong with her; meeting all benchmarks; we're just

a petite family), she's been wearing it for 5 months. Starting in the summer

isn't ideal, but it is important to start as early as possible, so don't wait.

As far as the appearance of the helmet, most people exclaim how cute she looks

in it! (My husband has military connections, so we went with the camouflage

design.) As for the general public, I've had no bad experiences. People either

just ask what it's for or tell me they know someone who had one, or have a child

who had one -- or that they know someone who should have gotten one but didn't

(which is a bit heart-breaking). It gets her even more attention than her twin

sister!

Tell your husband, you CAN take it off! If he's THAT worried about a certain

situation, then just take it off for an hour or two. That shouldn't be done too

often, but once in a while won't hurt, esp. since your son is mild. My

daughter's helmet has been off occasionally for a few hours at a time when we've

been sitting/walking outside in the heat >85 or so.

We're almost done, and now her head looks completely normal. She'll never

remember this time anyway, and children are too young to make fun of her --

which is very different than what she might have had to live through in junior

high or high school! And, if anything, she's been saved from a lot of painful

head bumps as she learns to walk (unlike her poor sister)!

Best of luck!

>

> Hi my son is almost 10 months old and we were just told today that helmet was

a good idea for him. He has a mild case of plagiocephaly. I feel happy that he

will get the shape of his head fixed. Maybe the frequent ear infections will

stop. His dad is having trouble adjusting to the fact his son will be wearing

the helmet. He feels that people will see his son as something is wrong with his

son. Even though his brain development is good and the case is considered mild,

he fears the view of the eyes of the public. I tried to get him to feel more

comfortable with the fact that there is a lady who will put stickers on it for

free. And we could make it Dallas Cowboys for football season coming up. He was

still bummed out for the baby though. And if any one can explain more about

cranial vault measurements and cephalic index. they sd his cranial vault is 14mm

normal is 3mm and cephalic index is 89% and normal for him is 78%

>

[Guest guest]

Oh, I can really relate to this one...

My husband had a very hard time at first. He didn't even want me to bring my son

to get checked in the first place. He was in complete denial. He even asked me,

" What are we going to do with him for 3-4 months? He's going to get so bored at

home. " I was like, " Uh... what do you mean by that? " He actually had to nerve to

say, " Well, we can't bring him out in that helmet, can we? " Yes, he actually

said that. No, he's not usually an idiot. He was just that upset about it.

So, I decorated the helmet to look like a Red Sox batter helmet. He admitted it

was actually really cute and didn't think twice about taking our son out in

public. The minute our son got his helmet, my husband's idiocy magically went

away. Hopefully, the same will happen to you. Good luck and try not to worry!

> >

> > Hi my son is almost 10 months old and we were just told today that helmet

was a good idea for him. He has a mild case of plagiocephaly. I feel happy that

he will get the shape of his head fixed. Maybe the frequent ear infections will

stop. His dad is having trouble adjusting to the fact his son will be wearing

the helmet. He feels that people will see his son as something is wrong with his

son. Even though his brain development is good and the case is considered mild,

he fears the view of the eyes of the public. I tried to get him to feel more

comfortable with the fact that there is a lady who will put stickers on it for

free. And we could make it Dallas Cowboys for football season coming up. He was

still bummed out for the baby though. And if any one can explain more about

cranial vault measurements and cephalic index. they sd his cranial vault is 14mm

normal is 3mm and cephalic index is 89% and normal for him is 78%

> >

>