DOC Band

ChristinaWild

Any mamas out there have experience with DOC bands? Our little munchkin was diagnosed with plagiocephaly about a month ago. We went through several weeks of cranial sacral therapy to try to avoid needing one, but didn't make enough improvement to avoid it. I'd love to hear how other LO's adjusted to wearing one. Thanks!!

n3na94

No advice here but hope everything goes good with your little one! Sending lots of hugs and God bless!

ChristinaWild

Thank you!

sgb721

Yup. We have a Hanger Band (Similar to a Doc Band, but different 'brand). She's adjusted just fine. Honestly, they are right when they say it bothers you the parent more then it bothers them. She sleeps like normal, does everything regular. The only downside is snuggling her int he mornings is harder because of the helmet.

It's such a short term thing, it'll fly by (we've had it on 2 weeks now). Hopefully she'll have it off by May.

ChristinaWild

Thank you! It makes me feel better to hear that from someone who has been going through it! I'm hoping he'll only have to wear it for a couple of months. We've spent 2 months doing some cranial sacral adjustments in the hopes of avoiding it completely, but didn't see enough progress for that. His little flat spot is definitely better, but his ears are still out of alignment. I have an appointment on Friday that will give us a better idea of a timeline. 

Good luck with you're little one! I hope it keeps going smoothly!

audi681

Here is our story:

My pediatrician suggested I go to Cranial Diagnostics and physical therapy for plagiocephaly. We went to CD, and they recommended a Doc Band.

2 days later we went to pediatric pt at the hospital where he was born. The PT there made it seem like the Doc Band people are a sham who are just trying to sell us a product. She said "no one ever goes and doesn't get a Doc Band recommendation." She went on to say that there is no evidence that the Doc Band is what helps the rounding of the skull, or if it is just normal development since at 6 months they are off of their head much more from sitting up. She said it won't hurt him, obv, but who knows if it is what will really fix the "problem." She set me up with a neuro surgeon, who would have more of a third person opinion about the growth and shape of head plates, on Feb. 8th.

I don't know! I'll wait and see what the Neuro has to say. I understand that the Doc band is purely cosmetic, and also costs quite s lot of $!

lilyan1522

My son also has mild left sided torticillis and right sided plagiocephaly. He just turned 6 mos and has been in PT for about a month. I think it's helping a ton and his head shape has improved slowly. As a worried mom though, I was wondering if we needed to have his head measured by an orthotist to see if the plagiocephaly is mild, moderate, etc. Our pediatrician also said there is no evidence that the helmets do anything, and she didn't recommend getting him measured and that it will correct itself. I think his case is mild and his head isn't that bad, but I still worry it won't go back to normal completely. Do you guys have any pics of your babies heads to share? Just wondering where we are on the scale...

lilyan1522

lindseystans

Just some insight from our experience...did you see a specialist to make 100% sure he needs one? We had our 2 month pedi apt and she said my LO had a slight flat spot, but to just watch it and do more tummy time. She said she'd look at it again at our 4 month apt and if it hadn't improved she'd send us to a specialist. Well being the worry freak mom that I am I obsessed over this flat spot and by 3 months I took my LO to a place called Cranial Tech... They specifically make bands for babies. They told us that she absolutely needed a helmet and that no amount of tummy time or therapy would improve the flat spot. The mom in me just didn't feel right about it...so I went to a specialist. He met with us and said no way did my LO need one. He said it was so very mild that once she could sit and crawl it would be fine. We then saw our pedi at 4 months and I told her my story of who I've seen and she agreed no way to a helmet and that her head was totally fine!

I'm glad I double checked and asked for more opinions. Just my story though. I have a friend who's LO has one and he did just fine with it! He wore it for maybe 8 weeks and now he's all good to go

lindseystans

Oh and 6 1/2 months later my LO doesn't have a flat spot anymore.

sgb721

There is evidence that the bands do help children with certian flat spot issues. It's very dependant on their Cephalic Index and assymetry. Our daughter is a good sleeper - knock on wood-. She has slept 12hrs a night since about 6 weeks. (Don't shoot!). That said, she'll only sleep on her back (we tried the side). As a result, she's got a moderate flat spot. The band has been on 3 weeks and we can already seen an improvement.
Also her forehead was starting to boss out and it's no longer doing that. Her ears were only ever so slightly off so I can't tell if that has changed yet (we go for a re-scan soon).

sgb721

This is her scan prior to putting on the helmet

sgb721

This was taken in the tubhttps://forums.thebump.com/discussion/12657237/%5BIMG%5Dhttps://i65.tinypic.com/24e4cok.jpg%5B/IMG%5D

ChristinaWild

I realized I said originally we had it diagnosed a month ago. It was actually two months ago..right before thanksgiving. My days are running together. We've seen several different doctors and specialists and are getting told from all of then that he needs it. I will say that finding someone to do cranial sacral adjustments helped a ton. The flat spot is far less noticeable, but his little ears are still very far out of alignment. We went Friday for a second scan. I think after the amount of work I know we have put in to try to avoid it, I'm just trying to accept it.

The saddest part of this for me is the fact that our daycare hasn't been very helpful. I've asked them not to put him in the little vibrating chairs, since they aggregate the torticollis issues, and can make his flat spot worse if he's in them for long periods of time. Three times in the last two weeks I have shown up early and he's sleeping in one. Now we are changing daycares!

n3na94

ChristinaWild said:

I realized I said originally we had it diagnosed a month ago. It was actually two months ago..right before thanksgiving. My days are running together. We've seen several different doctors and specialists and are getting told from all of then that he needs it. I will say that finding someone to do cranial sacral adjustments helped a ton. The flat spot is far less noticeable, but his little ears are still very far out of alignment. We went Friday for a second scan. I think after the amount of work I know we have put in to try to avoid it, I'm just trying to accept it.

The saddest part of this for me is the fact that our daycare hasn't been very helpful. I've asked them not to put him in the little vibrating chairs, since they aggregate the torticollis issues, and can make his flat spot worse if he's in them for long periods of time. Three times in the last two weeks I have shown up early and he's sleeping in one. Now we are changing daycares!

I hope everything gets better mama and yeah definetly would also change day cares because they need to do what is right and fade for your baby!! Keeps us updated and hope you find a good day care!

sgb721

It's hard. I know. We tried re-positioning, we tried cranial sacral massage but in the end, we felt the band was what was best in our situation. We never used a bouncer/vibrator seat (IDK why actually, we had one, it just never got used). We eliminated the swing just shy of 3 months old when I started noticing the flatness. She was pretty much always on the floor.

I'm sorry the daycare is not listening to your instructions. They shouldn't be allowing babies to sleep in vibrating seats regardless. They should be transferring them to a crib. I know when I worked at a day care part time a few years ago they were very strict that if they fell asleep (which we weren't supposed to let them) they had to be transferred as soon as possible.

Vik9

lindseystans said:

Just some insight from our experience...did you see a specialist to make 100% sure he needs one? We had our 2 month pedi apt and she said my LO had a slight flat spot, but to just watch it and do more tummy time. She said she'd look at it again at our 4 month apt and if it hadn't improved she'd send us to a specialist. Well being the worry freak mom that I am I obsessed over this flat spot and by 3 months I took my LO to a place called Cranial Tech... They specifically make bands for babies. They told us that she absolutely needed a helmet and that no amount of tummy time or therapy would improve the flat spot. The mom in me just didn't feel right about it...so I went to a specialist. He met with us and said no way did my LO need one. He said it was so very mild that once she could sit and crawl it would be fine. We then saw our pedi at 4 months and I told her my story of who I've seen and she agreed no way to a helmet and that her head was totally fine! I'm glad I double checked and asked for more opinions. Just my story though. I have a friend who's LO has one and he did just fine with it! He wore it for maybe 8 weeks and now he's all good to go

What type of specialist did you see for the plagio? I was considering going to cranial tech but figured they would just tell me he needed one. Im not sure who i can see about the plagio, his pedi just keeps telling me it will go away but i want a second opinion.