Starband Adjustment Question

[Guest guest]

First of all, I want to thank those of you who responded to my very first post

here. Gosh, I think that was back in January. We've had a nasty winter as far

as sickness goes, and I just haven't had much time to get on my computer. I

have a desktop, so I can't take it with me.

I also pump over 3 hours a day for my little guy as breastfeeding didn't work

out. I can " lurk " on the computer while I type, but I can't really type.

As a reminder, my 9 month old son has brachy. He did finally get the Starband.

I think it was the end of January. The orthodist I originally saw was out of

town when it came time for my son to get his helmet, so we've been seeing a

different once. He says he's done at least 100 helmets, but he seems fairly

young.

While he has made some adjustments, they are basically to the entire helmet, not

necessarily the foam. He cut off part of the helmet that was too far down on

his face and getting into my little guy's eyes. Then he took some off the front

of the ear. But my concern comes with the foam.

When we were talking about the helmet, I said to him " This is my understanding

according to what I've read. " Once we get the helmet, we come back periodically

for you to adjust it, shaving out any foam that you need to. He shook his head

yes. Fast forward to actually having the helmet, he tells me that they rarely

have to shave out anything from the helmet. And when I say rarely, he said that

out of the 100 or so helmets he's done, he's only had to shave foam on the

inside from one or two helmets.

Has anyone else experienced not having the foam shaved in a Starband or at least

shaved very little? I know that sounds quite contradictory to a DocBand, but it

is my understanding that the Starband has a looser fit and typically needs less

adjusting.

[Guest guest]

It is much less common to have STARbands shaved. You are right - they make them looser so unless there were areas where the fit wasn't so good or the baby is very young, then shaving doesn't usually happen in the first little while. The holding points should be closer, but the areas that will need growth typically have more room in the band from the very beginning. My ortho told me that she typically doesn't shave from the back of a brachy band until there has been somewhere close to 3 or 4 cm of circumferance growth. Older babies often don't get that much growth during the whole helmet. In my daughter's case, I could see that the back of the band was not dirty from being against the head like the sides were. Plus, I could get my hand up the back of the band, even after she graduated, but she only grew 1.4 cm while in the band (she was older).

My daughter had some foam shaved out of her holding points because of redness, but I regret that I ever asked for that.because she had very little improvement after that was done. No where else was ever shaved.

It may be different for the plagio bands. I only know about brachy bands. I do know that my coworker had a 5.5 month old banded for plagio and he did have foam shaved out a couple of times. Of course, he grew nearly 2 cm in the first 6 weeks. He just recently graduated and got down to 4 mm from 17 mm. .

, mom to , 2.5 years

STARband grad May 2009

Chiro and CST

land Starband Adjustment Question

First of all, I want to thank those of you who responded to my very first post here. Gosh, I think that was back in January. We've had a nasty winter as far as sickness goes, and I just haven't had much time to get on my computer. I have a desktop, so I can't take it with me.I also pump over 3 hours a day for my little guy as breastfeeding didn't work out. I can "lurk" on the computer while I type, but I can't really type.As a reminder, my 9 month old son has brachy. He did finally get the Starband. I think it was the end of January. The orthodist I originally saw was out of town when it came time for my son to get his helmet, so we've been seeing a different once. He says he's done at least 100 helmets, but he seems fairly young.While he has made some adjustments, they are basically to the entire helmet, not necessarily the foam. He cut off part of the helmet that was too far down on his face and getting into my little guy's eyes. Then he took some off the front of the ear. But my concern comes with the foam.When we were talking about the helmet, I said to him "This is my understanding according to what I've read." Once we get the helmet, we come back periodically for you to adjust it, shaving out any foam that you need to. He shook his head yes. Fast forward to actually having the helmet, he tells me that they rarely have to shave out anything from the helmet. And when I say rarely, he said that out of the 100 or so helmets he's done, he's only had to shave foam on the inside from one or two helmets. Has anyone else experienced not having the foam shaved in a Starband or at least shaved very little? I know that sounds quite contradictory to a DocBand, but it is my understanding that the Starband has a looser fit and typically needs less adjusting.