Update on : Seeing Correction Already!

[Guest guest]

I had a couple people email me to ask about , so I'll follow up here to

my previous posts about my son for any who are interested (sorry for the

length)…

got his DOCband on Dec. 29th (four days shy of being 9 months old) at

CT in Pasadena. We've been extremely pleased with our experiences there and

feel confident that we're in good hands. 's adjustment to the band thus

far has been very smooth. Aside from being a bit sweaty the first couple of

days and waking up each night (where he usually sleeps through), he's had no

problems and seems to not even realize it's there. This has made the adjustment

easier on me as well. As many people here have said, the parents' anticipation

of the band can be worse than actually having it on the baby! I was pleasantly

surprised by just how much kissability space is left exposed on the top of his

cute little head—a big relief for a mom who relishes in cuddle time!

When we took back to CT on Monday for his first band adjustment, it was

just six days after he'd gotten the band. During that time, his head grew 5 mm!

Before the appointment, my husband and I had both started to think we were

seeing some change, but were hesitant to say so, fearing that perhaps that was

too good to be true. But sure enough, he'd had a growth spurt! (This might

also explain some of his nighttime waking, since it had started a little before

we got the band too.) That appointment was our first time seeing his

" headsicle, " and it was amazing to be able to compare the mold to his current

headshape and both see and feel some difference already. Granted, they're small

changes, but we're heading (no pun intended) in the right direction! I had read

that you can expect to see changes this early, but had a hard time imagining

that being possible. Sure enough, it is!

On another note, 's regularly scheduled 9 month check-up with our

pediatrician was today. This is the pediatrician's office where various doctors

and nurse practitioners repeatedly brushed us off about our concerns over

's head; they didn't know we'd since gone to a neurologist and then to

CT. I decided not to get too confrontational w/ the doctor, but to focus on

trying to make things better for the next mom who comes along with a baby who

has plagio. They're so unfamiliar with bands; the receptionist asked me if

's band was a toy! The doctor admitted he's only had one other patient

with a band, and that it didn't work for that patient. I spent close to an hour

with him explaining our history, and educating HIM about the research I'd done

on plagio, tort, cranial bands, etc. (And to think that a couple months ago I

had never heard of any of these things! All of you have been the BEST resource).

He was anxious to hear it all, admitting that " plagiocephaly is a big problem,

and we're seeing a ton of it, but we don't know what to do about it. " He said

he wasn't very familiar with banding, other than hearing a decade or more ago

that it wasn't effective and having a resulting distrust. He wanted to know if

the results are PROVEN. CT had given me an excellent educational packet they

give out to doctors, and I gave that to him and he was extremely receptive. He

said he plans to call and talk to someone at CT with some of his questions and

get more info, but was excited about the possibility of having SOMETHING to

refer people to when they bring up their plagio concerns. I hope that he does

follow up and do the research and learn about the treatment options and educate

the people in his office so that none of his other patients get brushed off the

way we did. This guy is not really an old school doctor, so if he's this

uneducated about all this, I shudder to think about how many old school doctors

are missing the boat altogether. There's definitely a huge need for education

of doctors.

So we'll continue to make our trips down to Pasadena (from Sacramento) every

couple of weeks. Thankfully we have lots of family in Southern Cal whom we get

to see and stay with, and there are lots of great attractions and restaurants in

Pasadena to make our trips there fun as well; last week we went and saw the

floats being decorated for the Rose Parade! Our three older daughters loved

that. We hold out great hope that will continue to grow and get good

correction while in the band.

Thanks again for all your advice and help! At some point I'll post a picture of

in his band.

Mom to , DOCband on 12/29

[Guest guest]

Thank you for the update and I am glad 's treatment is going so well!

>

> I had a couple people email me to ask about , so I'll follow up here to

my previous posts about my son for any who are interested (sorry for the

length)…

>

> got his DOCband on Dec. 29th (four days shy of being 9 months old) at

CT in Pasadena. We've been extremely pleased with our experiences there and

feel confident that we're in good hands. 's adjustment to the band thus

far has been very smooth. Aside from being a bit sweaty the first couple of

days and waking up each night (where he usually sleeps through), he's had no

problems and seems to not even realize it's there. This has made the adjustment

easier on me as well. As many people here have said, the parents' anticipation

of the band can be worse than actually having it on the baby! I was pleasantly

surprised by just how much kissability space is left exposed on the top of his

cute little head—a big relief for a mom who relishes in cuddle time!

>

> When we took back to CT on Monday for his first band adjustment, it

was just six days after he'd gotten the band. During that time, his head grew 5

mm! Before the appointment, my husband and I had both started to think we were

seeing some change, but were hesitant to say so, fearing that perhaps that was

too good to be true. But sure enough, he'd had a growth spurt! (This might

also explain some of his nighttime waking, since it had started a little before

we got the band too.) That appointment was our first time seeing his

" headsicle, " and it was amazing to be able to compare the mold to his current

headshape and both see and feel some difference already. Granted, they're small

changes, but we're heading (no pun intended) in the right direction! I had read

that you can expect to see changes this early, but had a hard time imagining

that being possible. Sure enough, it is!

>

> On another note, 's regularly scheduled 9 month check-up with our

pediatrician was today. This is the pediatrician's office where various doctors

and nurse practitioners repeatedly brushed us off about our concerns over

's head; they didn't know we'd since gone to a neurologist and then to

CT. I decided not to get too confrontational w/ the doctor, but to focus on

trying to make things better for the next mom who comes along with a baby who

has plagio. They're so unfamiliar with bands; the receptionist asked me if

's band was a toy! The doctor admitted he's only had one other patient

with a band, and that it didn't work for that patient. I spent close to an hour

with him explaining our history, and educating HIM about the research I'd done

on plagio, tort, cranial bands, etc. (And to think that a couple months ago I

had never heard of any of these things! All of you have been the BEST resource).

He was anxious to hear it all, admitting that " plagiocephaly is a big problem,

and we're seeing a ton of it, but we don't know what to do about it. " He said

he wasn't very familiar with banding, other than hearing a decade or more ago

that it wasn't effective and having a resulting distrust. He wanted to know if

the results are PROVEN. CT had given me an excellent educational packet they

give out to doctors, and I gave that to him and he was extremely receptive. He

said he plans to call and talk to someone at CT with some of his questions and

get more info, but was excited about the possibility of having SOMETHING to

refer people to when they bring up their plagio concerns. I hope that he does

follow up and do the research and learn about the treatment options and educate

the people in his office so that none of his other patients get brushed off the

way we did. This guy is not really an old school doctor, so if he's this

uneducated about all this, I shudder to think about how many old school doctors

are missing the boat altogether. There's definitely a huge need for education

of doctors.

>

> So we'll continue to make our trips down to Pasadena (from Sacramento) every

couple of weeks. Thankfully we have lots of family in Southern Cal whom we get

to see and stay with, and there are lots of great attractions and restaurants in

Pasadena to make our trips there fun as well; last week we went and saw the

floats being decorated for the Rose Parade! Our three older daughters loved

that. We hold out great hope that will continue to grow and get good

correction while in the band.

>

> Thanks again for all your advice and help! At some point I'll post a picture

of in his band.

>

>

> Mom to , DOCband on 12/29

>