Alexander is a twin brother. He was born on April 25th, 2008 weighting 6.6 pounds. His head's shape at birth was normal and symmetric, same as his twin brother. As months went on, we noticed that his head didn't have a normal shape anymore, now on his right back part of his head your could see a flattened area. At that point we noticed that he always lied and turned his head only to one side when he was laying down. Even though we tried to change his head position, he turned it again to his favorite position.
He was going to have his two months check up soon, so we decided to wait to talk this to our pediatrician and know what we should do.
At the appointment, our pediatrician informed us that this condition was very common in babies because they spend almost all the time laying down. He told us we should do more tummy time and change his position so that he received less pressure on that side of this head. Doing this, within some months, his head shape will be corrected.
Alexander suffered from torticollis
At three and a half months we noticed that tummy time and changing his position were not enough to correct his head's shape. At that point we decided to ask our pediatrician a referral for physical therapy.Alexander's main problem was torticollis. The lack of enough space in my uterus (twins) caused his head to tilt to one side and that was why he always turned his head to that side when sleeping, or on the bouncer, swing, etc. The constant pressure on that side of his head caused the flattened (plagiocephaly). Alexander's torticollis was not severe and only four physical therapy sessions were enough, now he could turn comfortably his head to both sides. Torticollis was corrected, now we had to fix his head shape.
Cranial Technology - Doc Band® and our experience
We started to do some research and we found out that this flattened head condition was called plagiocephaly. We found on the Internet information about DocBand®, a cranial helmet that helps to correct head shapes in children. According to what we researched, the younger the baby the faster the head shape improves because it is when a baby's head grows more. Our pediatrician recommended us Cranial Technology as a cranial helmet provider and even though we researched and looked for other providers and options, we couldn't find any at that point.
At four months we took Alexander to a free appointment at Cranial Technology to have a diagnosis and see if he was a candidate for the helmet. So he was and Alexander started to use the cranial helmet at four and a half months and he should wear it 23 hours a day for six weeks. The service at Cranial Technology was always very good. The complete treatment cost us US$3,300 and it included all the visits, pictures, measurements, mold and adjustments. They don't take medical insurances and we had to pay that amount the first time and then make a claim for reimbursement to our medical insurance. What they never told us, was that if Alexander's head grow and the shape of his head was not corrected and the helmet was too small for him at that point, the only way we could continue with treatment was if we pay for another helmet and that was going to be another US$3,300!!! money that our medical insurance was not going to reimburse us again. After six weeks using the helmet, Alexander could not use it anymore because it was small for his head. The shape of his head was not totally corrected yet. Cranial Technology's answer was that his head was within the normal percentage of the rest of the population.
Personally, we are not satisfied with the results. We think that Cranial Technology more than anybody should know that babies with the same head shape and measures as Alexander's most of the time take more weeks to correct it than the time indicated and helmets should be bigger to be used for more weeks or they should offer other options to parents.
It is very important that we leave clear that from week one to three using the helmet, we noticed a huge improvement and we thought his head shape was going to be normal after six weeks as they indicated but unfortunately it was not.
Due to Cranial Technology's response on treatment results, we decided to wait and see if with time and growth, his head achieved a normal shape. Today, four months after finishing DocBand® treatment, his head shape is still not normal and still has a flattened area, we hope that with more time we won't be able to see the flattened.
Please, read carefully our story and if you think your baby has this condition, contact your pediatrician with this concern, don't let months pass, and find out what other companies or helmet providers are out there before starting treatment with one.
