Re: Hello! An introduction and some questions of course :)

[Guest guest]

Hello ,Welcome to the group. My daughter was banded two days before she turned 8 months. It was her PT(for right-side tilt tort) who actually brought up the helmet issue. The ped was concerned with the tort, but very nonchalant about my daughter's head shape. I had a consult w/ Cranial Tech and 's ped refused to write a script, instead referring her to a neurosurgeon. My husband really wanted to hear from an independent source(ie. someone other than a provider who sells bands) that our daughter actually NEEDED the band. I could understand this for peace of mind, but it was obvious from 's deformed head shape that she needed a band. The neurosurgeon did indeed recommend a band. When I expressed concern about her age, he said that she was at the right age for a

band because there was no way it would resolve on its own and that she would still get great correction. Well, he was right. She wore her band for 15 weeks and went from 14.5/13mm to 2.47mm. At just under four months, there is certainly plenty of time to make up your mind. You shouldn't feel like you have to rush into treatment. You could wait and see how things go w/ the PT. There was absolutley no question in my mind that banding was the right thing for . Her head shape was no longer round, instead taking on a paralellogram shape. She also had forehead bossing and her right ear was pushed forward 6mm. At over 6 months, there was no way she would get correction at her age. Banding was a no-brainer for us. When finished treatment at 11 months, her orthotist said that at her age, the chance of regression was less than 1%. He also said that there is a such thing as banding too soon(regression more likely)

and I've even seen him tell the parent of a 5 month-old to wait another month and then come back. Correction with repositioning can definitely be successful before six months of age. was already 6 months when her ped diagnosed her tort, so banding was our only option. It would have been nice to have had another option as you do before resorting to the band. Don't get me wrong. Banding did a wonderful thing for my baby, but if I had it to do over, I would have preferred PT at 8-9 weeks when I first noticed the flattening and avoiding the helmet if at all possible. Hope this helps. Good luck with your decision. -AmyFrom: lallyrizzo <lallyrizzo@...>Plagiocephaly Sent: Thu, July 15, 2010 8:38:15 PMSubject: Hello! An introduction and some questions of course

Hi! My name is and my daughter Nora has severe torticollis with the accompanying plagio. We have been trying to absorb all the news and roll with the punches! She has been in PT for a little over a month now, and we're seeing great improvements, but we had an eval with DocBand the other day and they marked her as "severe" and in need of "at least one band, maybe two." We were a little shocked, but are coming around now and have questions of course! My PT seemed kind of surprised that we were contemplating starting it soon (she's almost 4 months old and would start the band at nearly 5 months, which I know is the ideal time) because she thinks we can get her to a good place without a band necessarily. So I guess my question is- how do you know when you really need a band or not? She has what CT says are pretty severe asymmetries- we notice them too but have also noticed some good improvements with PT. So- how did you know a band was the

right move for you?

Thanks- I look forward to getting to know you all!