Re: Do you feel like you are missing out on their babyhood?

[Guest guest]

I guess I look at the situation a bit differently. My son is nearing

the end of what will be a 6 month period of DOC Band wear, with 3

consecutive bands and not even a day lapse in between bands. So he has

been in a helmet for 6 out of the 10 months of his life. In the

beginning, I was sad that this happened to me. After I got over that, I

began to feel thankful and blessed that my son was receiving, what is in

my opinion, the best treatment possible with a DOC Band. Not to mention

the outstanding service and our wonderful clinician at Cranial Tech. My

baby looked different without his band on too, for the first half of

treatment. It made me sad to look at his head shape because it was not

yet " normal " enough. I felt comfortable with seeing the helmet on

rather than off. I knew that he was making great progress with it on

and that made me feel better. CT did not recommend a 3rd band for my

son, but I insisted because I knew he would make even more progress. He

has made tremendous progress in this 3rd band, more than I ever would

have thought possible. If I hadn't banded my son, it makes me sick to

think about what his head shape would look like now, and the struggles

he would have had in life due to looking different. His head shape looks

completely normal now to everyone, including myself. I am looking

forward to him graduating soon. He's still a baby and I can relax and

enjoy him.

>

> We decided over the weekend to move forward with a 2nd DOC Band after

9 weeks in the first Band. My son will be 7 months old this Thursday

and they are saying 3-4 months with the second Band. We achieved

amazing results with the first Band (from 20 to 7 mm) and I am so glad

that we did it but I feel like I am missing out on his babyhood. He

looks so different without his Band and I am so sad to basically start

over again. We are doing it because it will be best for him in the long

run but I feel like all of my memories of his babyhood will be of him in

his Band. Anyone else feel like this and if your little ones have

graduated how did your perspective change?

> Thanks,

>

>

[Guest guest]

,

It's like you were reading my mind with your post. My daughter has been in the

helmet 10 weeks now. At first I was relieved at how much easier it was than I

expected and so thrilled to not be stressed constantly about her position. But I

just now have started feeling like I may be missing out on my sweet little baby

time because of the helmet. And I know she'll be in the helmet another 5 weeks

at least (optimistically).

One thing I started doing to help me get past this feeling (because I think it

will pass soon and I won't notice the helmet much -- like the in the beginning)

is I skip the bath some days, and give myself 15 minutes of helmet-free time

several key times throughout the day in place of that hour. This is when I video

her learning to walk, let her get sweet potatoes all over her face, or rock her

to sleep kissing the top of her head.

I also think that though my baby looks different in the helmet, she is still

really cute in it. Kind of like Tim McGraw with his cowboy hat. He looks

different, but really good both ways!

Another thing to remember is you are doing the right thing, and you'll have a

life time with your beautiful baby where he will thank you so much for taking

such good care of him now.

Best wishes,

> >

> > We decided over the weekend to move forward with a 2nd DOC Band after

> 9 weeks in the first Band. My son will be 7 months old this Thursday

> and they are saying 3-4 months with the second Band. We achieved

> amazing results with the first Band (from 20 to 7 mm) and I am so glad

> that we did it but I feel like I am missing out on his babyhood. He

> looks so different without his Band and I am so sad to basically start

> over again. We are doing it because it will be best for him in the long

> run but I feel like all of my memories of his babyhood will be of him in

> his Band. Anyone else feel like this and if your little ones have

> graduated how did your perspective change?

> > Thanks,

> >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

My daughter wore a starband for 5 mo. I definitely don't feel I missed out on

anything. When I think back now, I don't even think of the band unless there is

a reason to. It was a big part of our lives at the time because it was unusual

compared to friends etc, but it doesn't seem like that now. I've been in this

group for years, so involved in banding, but that doesn't influence how I feel

about my daughter. I do still think of it now and then when her hair is wet and

I see the imperfections, but that part would be worse if I had skipped banding.

If I was comparing memories of my daughter's babyhood with a friend I think it

would take a long time for the band to come up. Compared to everything else it

is far less memorable.

-christine

sydney, 4 yrs, starband grad

>

> We decided over the weekend to move forward with a 2nd DOC Band after 9 weeks

in the first Band. My son will be 7 months old this Thursday and they are

saying 3-4 months with the second Band. We achieved amazing results with the

first Band (from 20 to 7 mm) and I am so glad that we did it but I feel like I

am missing out on his babyhood. He looks so different without his Band and I am

so sad to basically start over again. We are doing it because it will be best

for him in the long run but I feel like all of my memories of his babyhood will

be of him in his Band. Anyone else feel like this and if your little ones have

graduated how did your perspective change?

> Thanks,

>

>

[Guest guest]

You make a very good point. I have lots of pictures of my daughter before her STARband as a baby and I see the brachy in all of them from 2 months on. So, in a sense, I lost part of her babyhood to worrying about her head shape and always having to see the brachy in those pictures. Once she got her STARband, I also knew that I was doing the best that I could for her and I didn't mind pictures of her in the band. She looked very cute in it. In fact, we actually took some of her 18-month professional pictures with her in the band. I actually felt less bad about the pictures in the helmet than I did about the pictures that totally showed her brachy.

Luckily, despite her late age, she got wonderful improvement and now she looks great in most of the pictures that we have taken since she graduated.

So, what are you really losing of babyhood by banding? You are losing the worry of the head not rounding out and other future problems if you don't fix this. Sure, if the head wasn't flat that you wouldn't have to face this, but it is flat. You can't go back and change that, so just focus on fixing it now. I know that it is all hindsight in my case, but I would have rather lost some of 's babyhood in exchange for that worry and for a rounder head as a toddler. And, it was totally worth losing 6 months of her 2nd year of life for the head that she has now. In fact, if CT would have agreed to another band, I would have gladly traded a few more months for even more possible improvement.

, mom to , 2.5 years

STARband grad May 2009

Chiro and CST

land

Re: Do you feel like you are missing out on their babyhood?

I guess I look at the situation a bit differently. My son is nearingthe end of what will be a 6 month period of DOC Band wear, with 3consecutive bands and not even a day lapse in between bands. So he hasbeen in a helmet for 6 out of the 10 months of his life. In thebeginning, I was sad that this happened to me. After I got over that, Ibegan to feel thankful and blessed that my son was receiving, what is inmy opinion, the best treatment possible with a DOC Band. Not to mentionthe outstanding service and our wonderful clinician at Cranial Tech. Mybaby looked different without his band on too, for the first half oftreatment. It made me sad to look at his head shape because it was notyet "normal" enough. I felt comfortable with seeing the helmet onrather than off. I knew that he was making great progress with it onand that made me feel better. CT did not recommend a 3rd band for myson, but I insisted because I knew he would make even more progress. Hehas made tremendous progress in this 3rd band, more than I ever wouldhave thought possible. If I hadn't banded my son, it makes me sick tothink about what his head shape would look like now, and the struggleshe would have had in life due to looking different. His head shape lookscompletely normal now to everyone, including myself. I am lookingforward to him graduating soon. He's still a baby and I can relax andenjoy him.>> We decided over the weekend to move forward with a 2nd DOC Band after9 weeks in the first Band. My son will be 7 months old this Thursdayand they are saying 3-4 months with the second Band. We achievedamazing results with the first Band (from 20 to 7 mm) and I am so gladthat we did it but I feel like I am missing out on his babyhood. Helooks so different without his Band and I am so sad to basically startover again. We are doing it because it will be best for him in the longrun but I feel like all of my memories of his babyhood will be of him inhis Band. Anyone else feel like this and if your little ones havegraduated how did your perspective change?> Thanks,> >

[Guest guest]

Thanks everyone. I know we are making the right decision for but it is

good to be reminded that we will one day be graduates. This journey is so full

of conflicting emotions. Fear over the diagnosis (tortocollis & plagiocephaly??

who ever heard of that!); thankfulness that it wasn't something worse; relief

that there is a painless treatment; worry about the cost of treatment; sadness

at seeing their little heads covered up; stress over juggling all of the

appointments; elation as you start seeing improvement. What a roller coaster!

>

> We decided over the weekend to move forward with a 2nd DOC Band after 9 weeks

in the first Band. My son will be 7 months old this Thursday and they are

saying 3-4 months with the second Band. We achieved amazing results with the

first Band (from 20 to 7 mm) and I am so glad that we did it but I feel like I

am missing out on his babyhood. He looks so different without his Band and I am

so sad to basically start over again. We are doing it because it will be best

for him in the long run but I feel like all of my memories of his babyhood will

be of him in his Band. Anyone else feel like this and if your little ones have

graduated how did your perspective change?

> Thanks,

>

>

[Guest guest]

My guy is getting his band next week at 5 months and one day and I have

definitely been thinking these same thoughts. Like a lot of you, I feel

bad for him that he has to do this, but, it will be better in the long

run.

One thing that I noticed is that at the CT initial consultation where

they show the before and afters, I was drawn to the befores as being

much cuter, and I think it is just because they are younger? I think

that some of the doubts that I had were related to how his look may

change, because of course I think he is the cutest thing ever now....

>

> We decided over the weekend to move forward with a 2nd DOC Band after

9 weeks in the first Band. My son will be 7 months old this Thursday and

they are saying 3-4 months with the second Band. We achieved amazing

results with the first Band (from 20 to 7 mm) and I am so glad that we

did it but I feel like I am missing out on his babyhood. He looks so

different without his Band and I am so sad to basically start over

again. We are doing it because it will be best for him in the long run

but I feel like all of my memories of his babyhood will be of him in his

Band. Anyone else feel like this and if your little ones have graduated

how did your perspective change?

> Thanks,

>

>

[Guest guest]

Yes, I know how you feel. My daughter is 9 mos. old and has been wearing her helmet for 2 months. I miss her sweet little head and she's SO cute without her helmet. I kiss her head lots while it is off during baths, etc.I try to focus on the fact that we are doing what is best for her in the long run. We try to take pictures of her when her helmet is off, and we have been changing the decorations on her helmet on a regular basis, to make it a little more fun.It is what it is- this is her babyhood, helmet or no. I'm just trying to enjoy it and not think about it too much.

[Guest guest]

It's funny...before we started the band, I was so worried that I'd be m iserable

while he was in the band because I'd feel like I was missing out on his

babyhood. But then once he was in the band, it just seemed like a part of him

(like having socks on or something), and I didn't really get sad about it. Like

so many have said, we really thought he looked cute in it. It was way easier

than I expected. But the day he graduated, we were sitting at dinner and I

couldn't stop staring at him and that's when I just started crying. All of a

sudden I felt like someone had robbed me of the last three months of seeing him

like this. Maybe I had held it all in too long and just needed to get it out.

Since then, I've felt great, and I certainly don't ever regret banding him. I'm

glad we have photos both of him in the band and out, though I wish I had more of

him without it. I think the more you can see this as just one small element of

their lives and not the defining thing about them, the more you can enjoy their

babyhood. Sometimes if I felt I was obsessing about his head shape or thinking

about the band too much, I would take a break from reading the posts here so

that I would stop thinking about it so much.

Good luck with the second band! I'm sure your little one will end up with

amazing results.

Mom to , DOC band 12/29/09-3/29/10

>

> We decided over the weekend to move forward with a 2nd DOC Band after 9 weeks

in the first Band. My son will be 7 months old this Thursday and they are

saying 3-4 months with the second Band. We achieved amazing results with the

first Band (from 20 to 7 mm) and I am so glad that we did it but I feel like I

am missing out on his babyhood. He looks so different without his Band and I am

so sad to basically start over again. We are doing it because it will be best

for him in the long run but I feel like all of my memories of his babyhood will

be of him in his Band. Anyone else feel like this and if your little ones have

graduated how did your perspective change?

> Thanks,

>

>

[Guest guest]

We are taking our 8 month old son to get his DOC band tomorrow. I'm sure he'll

look cute, but we're expecting to miss feeling his soft little head when we

snuggle and hug him. He's a great hugger! I'm glad to read that it's not so

bad for must people.

anne

[Guest guest]

Honestly, I'm so happy MP has her helmet for the simple fact that it is an

excellent noggin protector! MP has become more mobile since we got it 3 weeks

ago. It's almost like it has given my somewhat cautious daughter a bit of

fearlessness. In just the past week, she figured out how to pull up to stand,

attempt stairs, and now trying to cruise. With these milestones come a lot of

not so graceful falls and face plants. I am positive her band has saved her head

from numerous bumps and bruises. After most thuds (some of which make me cringe

but she is smiling!), I have announced " Good thing you have your noggin

protector on! "

[Guest guest]

I have frequently heard this story that babies begin to blossom once they get their bands. My cranial doctor had told me that sometimes flat heads can cause temporary motor delays in some cases, but these often improve with bands. I know that this happened with my coworker as well. was kind of beyond this because she was so much older when she got her helmet.

I can say that she was saved from several bumps on the head. In fact, she kind of got used to not being hurt from bumping her head. One time, during her hour off, she walked right into a wall and screamed from the bump. She was so surprised that it had hurt. Another time, she ran right into another toddler in her gymnastics class. They bumped heads. That poor other kid, but didn't even notice it.

Just wait until that band hits you in the head or the mouth. It hurts.

, mom to , 2.5 years

STARband grad May 2009 Re: Do you feel like you are missing out on their babyhood?

Honestly, I'm so happy MP has her helmet for the simple fact that it is an excellent noggin protector! MP has become more mobile since we got it 3 weeks ago. It's almost like it has given my somewhat cautious daughter a bit of fearlessness. In just the past week, she figured out how to pull up to stand, attempt stairs, and now trying to cruise. With these milestones come a lot of not so graceful falls and face plants. I am positive her band has saved her head from numerous bumps and bruises. After most thuds (some of which make me cringe but she is smiling!), I have announced "Good thing you have your noggin protector on!"