Re: Asking the Pediatirican WAS New here - Brachy Boy soon to get his 1st DOC band - long story :)

[Guest guest]

Amy,

I totally understand your difficulty with pushing with the pediatrician. I am naturally a more passive "do what the doctor says" type of individual.

This has not been 's only issue. My daughter also has food allergies and reflux. Pediatiricans may not know much about plagio, but they also don't know much about food allergies, especially of the intolerance kind (which my daughter has). I learned from other moms early on that my daughter was at higher risk for certain things because of her intestinal issues and the family history. So, following a horrible reaction to her 2-month shots, I pushed for an alternative vaccine schedule starting at 4 months. Recently, I refused the flu shot because of my daughter's severe reaction to her H1N1 shot. That was very difficult for me to do. I also went against her advice in terms of starting solids and the time in between exposures to foods. It's a good thing that I did because she was allergic to the first 3 foods that we tried (she has now outgrown those). You have no idea how hard it was for me to not go with the pediatrician's advice on these things, but my mommy instinct told me not to. I guess it was too busy to notice that I should have been doing something about her head.

Anyway, I'm going off topic, but my point is that you are your child's advocate. I sometimes deal with difficult parents in my job, but I know that I will be one of the most difficult parents out there because I will advocate for my kids. For some people it is natural. For others (like me), it's a learned thing.

If I had known about the urgency of insisting on a helmet prior to 12 months, I think I could have made myself do it, although it would have been hard for me. I can tell you that I probably would have practiced what I was going to say and then checked out my plan with all of the supports in my life. They would have all thought I was silly for making such a big deal, but still would have given me feedback about how I was planning to say it. This is what I did for my daughter's issues. We ended up seeing specialists and are now working with a top notch allergist who truly understands just what we are dealing with. For me, it was a test of my pediatrician to see how she responded to my requests. In our case, she passed in that she was willing to go ahead and accomodate me. I have to remind myself that they are generalists and don't know everything.

I had to do this again when I called her for a referral to a chiro. She doesn't believe in chiro for young children. I was so nervous that I was sweating, but I did it. She finally agreed to let try it as long as I promised to leave if appeared to be in any kind of pain at all. Of course, it was all so gentle that played right through it. The pediatirican asked me about it later and seemed pleased that we had found someone who was gentle with her. She also did not fight me when I told her that I finally said that I wanted to see a specialist when was 13 months old. So, we stay with her because we like her for other reasons and she has never outright refused something we have pushed for.

I guess what I'm saying is that it may be hard, but do it anyway. Practice if you need to. Visualize the conversation and how you will respond if he/she says yes or no. If they won't give a script, ask to see a specialist. At your baby's age, it will still be okay if it takes a couple of months to get into the band. Let the pediatrician think that you are difficult. Who cares? In the end, we all know that if you don't advocate for your baby, no one else will. As much as I don't like dealing with those ultra difficult parents, in the back of my mind, I know that they are just advocating for their children (but I wish they'd be nicer about it). And, you don't have to be rude, but be insistent. If your pediatrician can't respect these wishes, then maybe it is a sign that you need to find someone else. Peditrician's may be experts on our children's bodies, but we are the experts on our children. The good ones respect that.

, mom to , 2.5 years

STARband grad May 2009 (at 20.5 months)

Chiro and CST

land

New here - Brachy Boy soon to get his 1st DOC band - long story Plagiocephaly Date: Monday, March 15, 2010, 7:15 PM

Hi I am Amy, mom to Devin 5 months old. Devin has had a flat head since the day he was born. Apparently since I carried so low his little head got wedged into my pelvis and started the whole "high in the back" prone to flat thingy... I am still learning the terms to all of this. Anyway, I have brought his head shape up at each well visit since birth and the ped just kind of brushed it off. He said that as long as it was symmetrical it wasn't anything to be concerned about. By his 4 month well visit it was obvious that he had a bit of torticollis too so he started us with some neck stretching exercises. We have been doing the exercises religiously and are not seeing a whole lot of improvement. He has a tendency to always turn his head to the right no matter what position I put him in, or what end of the bed or changing table he is at. I am starting to notice that the right side of his forehead is starting to protrude out. I came across Cranial Technologies website one night looking for more information and saw they offered a free evaluation. I figured why not go get it checked out - maybe they will say that I am seeing things and not to worry. No such luck. I didn't think to ask for the measurements at the time but here are the comments along with his photo study..."Devin is a 5.0 month old male referred to Cranial Technologies for treatment of his brachycephaly. He presents with occipital flattening and an increased head width to length ration. Increased width. Increased posterior head height; sloped forehead. Occipital flattening; increased head width to length ratio. " Then the OT said on her notes...Devin is an appropriate candidate for the DOC band given his width, severe posterior height and asymmetries. "I got a call back to day to let me know that my insurance will cover 100% with a pre-authorization and doctor's prescription. that is fantastic news but I am really nervous about asking our primary doc for an rx since he kept saying that we didn't need to worry. So, if you made it this far I have a couple questions.1. Did you have any trouble getting an prescription from your doctor?2. Were you happy with the DOC band? Should I get an eval from another place?3. what was the length of time your little one was in the band? 4. Where are all the older kids with the flat heads??? Is this honestly something that would get better without intervention?Thanks for your time! I look forward to being an active member on here!