Re: son is 16 mos - 2nd band, or try to stay in existing band past grad date???

[Guest guest]

Hi,

I absolutely wound NOT keep your son in the Docband unsupervised

after graduation! This may be unsafe. I don't see any reason to

anyhow, since you can get a second band. I've read of many toddlers

getting correction in a band starting at your son's age. It is just

not as much or fast as for a younger baby. We kept our Starband on

past age 2, but supervised, and the band continued to help until at

least age 2. The improvement was extremely slow by 20 months, but

our improvement was also very slow at 13 months. I'm extremely glad

we kept the helmet on! We got at least a few mm improvement off the

back right after 16 months. My son is 29 months, and his head looks

quite a bit better than it did at 16 months. In addition to the

helmet, we also did alternative treatments, which you can read about

on this board and the one for older plagio children. Good luck!

Best,

Kathy

On 11/8/2010 1:19 PM, rharvell wrote:

My son will be 16 months Nov 11th. He is currently in his

first DOCBand, which he received at 13 months (Aug 9,

2010). At his initial eval, CT told us his Cranial Vault

Asymmetry was 14mm and that best we could hope for was

7mm, and even that was being generous, and that he would

likely be in 2 bands. Thankfully, our insurance covered

the first band in full.

When I've been going in recently for adjustments, CT is

telling me that he doesn't need the second band. I can see

that he's made great progress, but I can also see that he

still needs correction. They did another set of

measurements for me on 10/25/10 and he's down to 5mm of

asymmetry. This is great news, but I also take it with a

grain of salt, since we all know how imprecise measuring

with calipers is.

Honestly, I was disappointed to hear they didn't want to

do the second band. I was mentally prepared for two. He

has adjusted to it without any problems. Clearly, it's

working. So, why would we give up now? Why would we let

these last few months of growth go by without taking

advantage of them to capture the growth and get additional

correction?

Wanting to get more precise measurements, a second

opinion, and some peace of mind about not pursuing the

second band, I took him for a STARScan on Nov 3. They

measured his diagonal asymmetry at 9.3mm. (I was a little

surprised that the difference between the calipers

measurement & the scan was as big as it was. (5mm vs.

9.3mm)) They could put him in a band, but by the time I

get him in a STARBand, he'd only be in it for about 1

month (since they are pretty confident they'd take him out

at 18 months of age). They agreed that he had made great

progress, that his head looks good. They also said his

asymmetry measures 5/16ths of an inch and they have a goal

of getting babies down to 4/16ths of an inch or less. So,

we only have 1/16th of an inch to go. Because of his age,

they were not confident that we'd see much, if any,

change. They would do it, but really didn't recommend it.

I left the STARscan appointment thinking, "Well, maybe

I'll just keep him in the DOCBand even after his scheduled

graduation date of Nov 30." It would just be

"unsupervised" from an orthotist perspective. It seems to

me that his current band still has "room" for his head to

fill in those flat spots. At the same time, I'm a little

scared to do that... that I don't really know what I'm

doing and I don't want to mess up his head any further.

So, I went to CT for another adjustment and told my tech

about the STARScan and what I was thinking about keeping

him in the band after graduation. She didn't think that

was wise since the band might not be fitting him

correctly. She finally relented and suggested that if I'm

not going to be happy and not able to let it go, I should

move forward with the second band. But she cautioned me

that we would likely see very little change. I doubt

insurance will cover any portion of the second band.

However, the financial aspect doesn't play into it for me.

I'll pay the money for the band without any regrets.

So, my questions are...

1. Has anyone banded this late in the game? (He'll be 16.5

months by the time he gets a second DOCBand.) If so, did

you see results? Were you happy you did it? If you didn't

see results, do you regret it? How old was your child when

they came out of the band?

2. Has anyone ever kept their child in a band after the

graduation date? If so, did you keep with 23 hours a day

so your child would stay adjusted to it? How did you

monitor the fit? How much longer beyond graduation did you

keep it on your child (e.g., a few days, a few weeks, a

few months)?

I appreciate any advice / feedback you can provide.

Thanks!

[Guest guest]

Hello,Sounds like you've gotten some good advice from both CT and the StarBand provider. Appreciate the improvement your son has gained and move on. Remember, many children continue to improve once the band comes off. I most definitely would not leave the band on w/o supervision. What if you undo the work that's been done or even harm your child? Is that little amount of correction worth the risk? Something to think about. Also, if there is indeed room in the band, the orthotist should allow your son to wear the band longer. We were in that position and instead chose to allow our daughter to be free of her band(she had been through enough and sleeping better, learning to walk were more important for her at that time.) Good luck!-AmyFrom: rharvell <rharvell@...>Plagiocephaly Sent: Mon, November 8, 2010 4:19:56 PMSubject: son is 16 mos - 2nd band, or try to stay in existing band past "grad" date???

My son will be 16 months Nov 11th. He is currently in his first DOCBand, which he received at 13 months (Aug 9, 2010). At his initial eval, CT told us his Cranial Vault Asymmetry was 14mm and that best we could hope for was 7mm, and even that was being generous, and that he would likely be in 2 bands. Thankfully, our insurance covered the first band in full.

When I've been going in recently for adjustments, CT is telling me that he doesn't need the second band. I can see that he's made great progress, but I can also see that he still needs correction. They did another set of measurements for me on 10/25/10 and he's down to 5mm of asymmetry. This is great news, but I also take it with a grain of salt, since we all know how imprecise measuring with calipers is.

Honestly, I was disappointed to hear they didn't want to do the second band. I was mentally prepared for two. He has adjusted to it without any problems. Clearly, it's working. So, why would we give up now? Why would we let these last few months of growth go by without taking advantage of them to capture the growth and get additional correction?

Wanting to get more precise measurements, a second opinion, and some peace of mind about not pursuing the second band, I took him for a STARScan on Nov 3. They measured his diagonal asymmetry at 9.3mm. (I was a little surprised that the difference between the calipers measurement & the scan was as big as it was. (5mm vs. 9.3mm)) They could put him in a band, but by the time I get him in a STARBand, he'd only be in it for about 1 month (since they are pretty confident they'd take him out at 18 months of age). They agreed that he had made great progress, that his head looks good. They also said his asymmetry measures 5/16ths of an inch and they have a goal of getting babies down to 4/16ths of an inch or less. So, we only have 1/16th of an inch to go. Because of his age, they were not confident that we'd see much, if any, change. They would do it, but really didn't recommend it.

I left the STARscan appointment thinking, "Well, maybe I'll just keep him in the DOCBand even after his scheduled graduation date of Nov 30." It would just be "unsupervised" from an orthotist perspective. It seems to me that his current band still has "room" for his head to fill in those flat spots. At the same time, I'm a little scared to do that... that I don't really know what I'm doing and I don't want to mess up his head any further.

So, I went to CT for another adjustment and told my tech about the STARScan and what I was thinking about keeping him in the band after graduation. She didn't think that was wise since the band might not be fitting him correctly. She finally relented and suggested that if I'm not going to be happy and not able to let it go, I should move forward with the second band. But she cautioned me that we would likely see very little change. I doubt insurance will cover any portion of the second band. However, the financial aspect doesn't play into it for me. I'll pay the money for the band without any regrets.

So, my questions are...

1. Has anyone banded this late in the game? (He'll be 16.5 months by the time he gets a second DOCBand.) If so, did you see results? Were you happy you did it? If you didn't see results, do you regret it? How old was your child when they came out of the band?

2. Has anyone ever kept their child in a band after the graduation date? If so, did you keep with 23 hours a day so your child would stay adjusted to it? How did you monitor the fit? How much longer beyond graduation did you keep it on your child (e.g., a few days, a few weeks, a few months)?

I appreciate any advice / feedback you can provide.

Thanks!

[Guest guest]

Hi. I unfortunately cannot answer your questions but am in a similar situation if it comforts you any. We went through a Hanger helmet from about 11 months to 14 months - have had a lot of fit issues during month 15-16 and I now have an appointment with Cranial Tech on Thursday for a consultation and scan for a band. We are also down from around 14mm to 9mm but I would like more correction and wish we had gone with CT in the first place. My doctor said if her soft spot is still open to go forward so that is what we plan to do. The Hanger band we only paid about $500 with insurance but insurance doesn't cover CT but I don't care and just want what is going to give us the best results. Good luck and keep us posted!

From: rharvell <rharvell@...>Plagiocephaly Sent: Mon, November 8, 2010 4:19:56 PMSubject: son is 16 mos - 2nd band, or try to stay in existing band past "grad" date???

My son will be 16 months Nov 11th. He is currently in his first DOCBand, which he received at 13 months (Aug 9, 2010). At his initial eval, CT told us his Cranial Vault Asymmetry was 14mm and that best we could hope for was 7mm, and even that was being generous, and that he would likely be in 2 bands. Thankfully, our insurance covered the first band in full.When I've been going in recently for adjustments, CT is telling me that he doesn't need the second band. I can see that he's made great progress, but I can also see that he still needs correction. They did another set of measurements for me on 10/25/10 and he's down to 5mm of asymmetry. This is great news, but I also take it with a grain of salt, since we all know how imprecise measuring with calipers is.Honestly, I was disappointed to hear they didn't want to do the second band. I was mentally prepared for two. He has adjusted to it without any problems. Clearly, it's working. So,

why would we give up now? Why would we let these last few months of growth go by without taking advantage of them to capture the growth and get additional correction?Wanting to get more precise measurements, a second opinion, and some peace of mind about not pursuing the second band, I took him for a STARScan on Nov 3. They measured his diagonal asymmetry at 9.3mm. (I was a little surprised that the difference between the calipers measurement & the scan was as big as it was. (5mm vs. 9.3mm)) They could put him in a band, but by the time I get him in a STARBand, he'd only be in it for about 1 month (since they are pretty confident they'd take him out at 18 months of age). They agreed that he had made great progress, that his head looks good. They also said his asymmetry measures 5/16ths of an inch and they have a goal of getting babies down to 4/16ths of an inch or less. So, we only have 1/16th of an inch to go. Because of his age, they were

not confident that we'd see much, if any, change. They would do it, but really didn't recommend it.I left the STARscan appointment thinking, "Well, maybe I'll just keep him in the DOCBand even after his scheduled graduation date of Nov 30." It would just be "unsupervised" from an orthotist perspective. It seems to me that his current band still has "room" for his head to fill in those flat spots. At the same time, I'm a little scared to do that... that I don't really know what I'm doing and I don't want to mess up his head any further.So, I went to CT for another adjustment and told my tech about the STARScan and what I was thinking about keeping him in the band after graduation. She didn't think that was wise since the band might not be fitting him correctly. She finally relented and suggested that if I'm not going to be happy and not able to let it go, I should move forward with the second band. But she cautioned me that we would

likely see very little change. I doubt insurance will cover any portion of the second band. However, the financial aspect doesn't play into it for me. I'll pay the money for the band without any regrets.So, my questions are...1. Has anyone banded this late in the game? (He'll be 16.5 months by the time he gets a second DOCBand.) If so, did you see results? Were you happy you did it? If you didn't see results, do you regret it? How old was your child when they came out of the band?2. Has anyone ever kept their child in a band after the graduation date? If so, did you keep with 23 hours a day so your child would stay adjusted to it? How did you monitor the fit? How much longer beyond graduation did you keep it on your child (e.g., a few days, a few weeks, a few months)?I appreciate any advice / feedback you can provide. Thanks!