Flattening on Head

My daughter had one b/c she was a preemie and her head was totally flat. We went to CT in Dallas too. Its the best thing we could have ever done. Her head is completly normal now.

Hi M.,

Our son needed one when he was 8 months old. You could barely tell his one side was flat unless you looked for it. We went to CT and they told us he too would benefit. We had it done and it was the best thing. His head was so much better in no time. He actually got it off a few weeks earlier than expected. It was harder on me then on him. Be prepared at the casting for lots and lots of crying. It will pass. Apparently all babies do it because they are scared. He did fine with it on and it was like it wasn't even there. I was the one who had a hard time with it. People do stare and that bothered me. If we had to do it again, we would. If you need to talk or have more questions, feel free to e-mail me. ____@____.com

Best of luck to you,
Patricia

M.,
Our son's head was quite flat on the back side b/c he refused to lay any other way. We bought a Noggin Nest (made by Boppy) and put it in his car seat, swing, etc and it straightened out on its own. However, he was much younger than your daughter. Let us know how this turns out!

We went through the same thing with our son. We decided to go ahead with it. I still wonder if we didn't really need to, but this way I have no regrets. I would hate to think he could have been teased at school or anything like that if we hadn't done it. He took to it just fine. In fact he took a nap about an hour after we got home with it. He barely even noticed it was there. His sleep wasn't disturbed at night either. I did take special care to keep him cool be keeping the fan on his his room and always cooling the car before putting him in it (we did it last summer). I still have his in case you would like to see one up close. Send me a PM if you'd like. Good luck. I know it's hard.

Our son had a flat spot on one side of his head because that is the way he always slept. It was b/c he had torticullus we took him to physical therapy to strenghten his neck and the flat spot went away, we were advised to do this before the cranial band. Hope this helps/

How many times did you see the cranialsacral therapist? Also, regardless of whether or not you go through with this, I would strongly recommend a chiropractic evaluation by someone who specializes in pediatrics. I see a lot of children w/ cranial issues in my practice, and there is often upper neck involvement. You can find someone in your area at www.icpa4kids.org, good luck!

My daughter has a flat spot in about the same place. Her old pedi said it wasn't bad enough to worry about, new pedi suggested banding but it was too late - she was 13 months by then and we were told it wouldn't work.

She has long hair and you honestly wouldn't see it if you didn't know about it. However, I would have done the band if it had been an option.

I had twins with flatheads; one worse than the other. We got pretty scared by the doctors, but the people at Cranial rated them about a 4 or 5 with 10 being bad. We opted against the head band because it's just terrible to think of leaving them in it for 23 hours per day. We tried instead to reposition the heads and we used a little upside down donut to give head different angles. For our daughters, it cleared up well by itself. for what it's worth

My son had the same thing, flat head at nine months the Peditrican refered us to a specialist before we even considered a band or helmet. I have heard that if you go to Caranial Technologies they will ALWAYS tell you that you need one weather or not your child needs one, because they are trying to make money. We went to see Dr Fearon who specilizes in this, he said my son did not need a band or Helmet and that his head would correct itself on its own, he was right, our son is 3 now and his head is completly normal Im glad we did not waste our money. Dr Fearon is very honest about this. He has children come from all over the country just to see him,with all kinds of deformities, I highley recomend him before considering this. He will be able to tell if your daughter really needs this or not and will help you make your decsion. His number is ###-###-####. Keep me posted.

At the age of 3 months, our pediatrician diagnosed my son with torticollus (tightening of the muscles on one side of his neck) and a flat head (more on his right side). He loved falling asleep in his car seat, which was the main reason he got this. And we mainly had him sleep on his back in his crib. My son was born around the time that doctors were pushing for parents to have their babies sleep on their backs to prevent SIDS. He was our first child so we did what we were told and we used the donut thing around his head to support it but that didn't prevent what he got.

We got the DOC band from Cranial Technologies (wore it for no longer than 3 months) and did physical therapy at Children's Medical twice/week for the torticollus (for about 8 weeks). I really didn't like the idea of having him wear the band 23 hours/day, especially since he had to wear it during the summer months and our car back then did not have A/C. For the most part, he didn't notice it was on his head, but he sweat a lot and the band developed an odor. I could only use rubbing alcohol to clean the band, but that didn't seem to be enough to take the smell away. Since he was still small and not able to sit up on his own, I had to wash his head really well over the sink every day like clockwork. This is the part he hated. To this day, he doesn't like water running over his head/face. (We're working on this. He likes swim class). Since your child is older, this shouldn't be a problem.

My son is now 8 years old. I can see the band made a difference in his head shape. It looks normal. Since he is a boy and boys wear short hair cuts, we thought it was best to go with the DOC band. We didn't want him to be teased. We were also told that it was up to us. It wasn't necessary but recommended. I think we made the best choice for him for his future. Wearing the DOC band was temporary, but his head shape would be permanent. Also, the people at CT were great and very supportive. They know what they are doing. But like another mom said, be prepared for the stares and the whispering. Eight years ago, it wasn't as common to see a band on a small child so you can imagine people's imaginations. In my opinion, I think it's worth going through this now when she won't remember wearing it. It may be harder for you mentally, than it would be for her physically. If you have any questions for me, feel free to send me a private msg. Hope this helps! :)

A friend's son had it, and it did wonders. It doesn't impede the baby, so I would say get it. Hope this helps!