- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
Austin Babies
Cranial technologies?
Hi everyone, I'm new at this - I introduced myself awhile ago but I haven't posted much. I was wondering if anyone has experience with Cranial Technologies or if anyones child had to wear a DOC band? We have been seeing a physical therapist since Andrew was 3 weeks old due to torticollis and we have an appointment tomorrow at Cranial Technologies. I don't know what to expect and I'm curious if there is an age limit (he is almost 10 weeks old). Thanks in advance and I hope to get to know more of you soon!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Cranial technologies?
Oh, you're super early to catch it then! My son, Cooper, had to wear a helmet for about 3 months--from 3 months old til almost 7 months (I think!).
We went to CT and really had a good experience with them. Our therapist was Amy and she was really sweet and just awesome with Coop. Cooper also had tort and plagiocephaly. If your son just has the tort, she'll probably just suggest doing the exercises and honestly, if he has no flatness (they'll assess that), I would think you won't even need a helmet for him.
Good luck!
They do this thing where they put a stocking on the child's head and then take these neat-o pictures from all angles so they can show you how the flatness compares to what it "should" be and then they do other pics so you can see the tort--which way your kid's head sags, etc--so by the end of the physical therapy (which, if you have Baby 411, they have pics of the exercises you can start doing, those are the exact ones we had to do w/ Cooper--who btw, has NO sign of tort anymore), they'll take the pics again and show you the major difference. It's really cool how they do all this stuff.
I don't know what insurance you have, but we have Humana and they paid quite a bit for the helmet, so make sure to check into that!! My guy had severe plagiocephaly b/c he had like 3 of the 4 major reasons for flat head: multiple birth, breech baby, boy... Spencer's feet were on Coop's head for most of my pregnancy, so I noticed he had a flat-ass head very early on too.
Anyway, I could talk about this all day! Can't wait to hear what they tell you at the appointment.
Wow! Thanks for all the info - does it matter if he can't sit up? From all the pictures on the website the kids look so much older than Andrew does... he can't hold his head up and I'm curious how they are going to get these pictures. We have been seeing a physical therapist since he was three weeks old, and I think he's made lots of progress - the therapist says he has a good range of motion, but because of the flatness I feel like his head just rolls to the flat spot all the time. For naps and supervised times I try to put him on his side or turn his head, but at night I almost always find his head facing to the right. We tried a sleep positioner one night, but he managed to scoot off of it (while swaddled) and his head was by it, and I'm way too terrified of SIDS to try that again.
Thanks again for all the info! I'll update you on the appointment tomorrow, and I may have more questions for you! My name is Stephanie, by the way!
I'm Joyce.
For the pics, I had to hold Cooper--he couldn't sit up at that point either--they just had me squat a bit to just get him in the pics. It wasn't a big deal, they see kids that young all the time.
With Cooper's flatness and being on his back, the main reason I got the helmet for him was because I have twins and cannot be making Coop do tummy time or making sure he wasn't spending too much time in the swing, blah blah, so I felt the helmet would do what I couldn't. I highly recommend a helmet if your kid is dealing w/ a bad case of flatness.
It was SO hard, especially at such a young age, to be making them be off their backs when everything we're told says to have them sleep on their backs. At that age, they're sleeping all the time!
We put Cooper in his crib with a little blanket all folded up under the sheet and when Coop was in his swaddle, he'd at least have the weight off that side for a portion of the night, but again, it's hard work trying to keep them where you put them and hope it's working!
I agree, it is tough to keep him off of his back, and I only have 1 - I can't imagine having 2 kids and trying to do all of this. We have tried the rolled up blanket, but I like your idea of putting it under the sheet - we didn't do that and I was worried about the blanket in there with him. I think it would work well under the sheet.
Thanks again for your insight into this!
I'm looking forward to the appointment tomorrow and I'm so interested to hear what their assessment of his head will be!
Just to butt in...
Adley was diagnosed with torticullis as well. Although she still sees a physical therapist every week, she never had to have the DOC band. They considered it for a little bit, but decided to wait. We had to do a ton of tummy time, but it got easier as she got older, when she could hold her head up better. Over time, the flatness has corrected itself, but it definitely took time. Good luck with your appointment.
My DS had torticollis as well as a very flat head. We did go to Cranial Technologies and they gave us great exercises for his tort. They did recommend the band for him, but our insurance wouldnt pay a penny for it and we did not have the money for it so I wanted a second opinion. We ended going to a Pediatric Cranialfacial Reconstructive Plastic Surgeon. They were amazing there. They said a band was not necessary and gave me ideas on how to round it out. They continued to see him for the following year to make sure his head was rounding out and his tort was getting better. His head has completely rounded out by itself and you would never know that he had a flat head. It did take a while and it was a huge commitment on my part to do his exercises and do everything I had to to prevent him from putting pressure on the flat part of his head.
Let me know if you want the name of the Plastic surgeon if you decided to get a second opinion. Good luck.
We went to CT because DD had brachycephaly (it was flat straight across the back of her head). I felt a lot of pressure from them to get the band but decided to get a second opinion from a pediatric plastic surgeon. They said that she was fine and wanted to monitor her progress over time without the band.
Her head is fine now, it rounded out on its own (though CT said that was impossible).
If DD would have had asymmetry in her face, we probably would have gone with a band, but I'm glad we decided not to in our situation. FWIW, we have BCBS insurance and you have to pay the entire cost up front, then you get reimbursed for a small amount of what you paid.
The Blog
The Blog
My turn...
My son also had tort and plagio with a bit a facial asymmetry. We took DS to CT at 4 weeks and they gave us great exercises for the tort and also recommended the helmet. My insurance wouldn't cover the doc band but after doing a ton of research on my own and seeing other specialists I found Hanger Technologies in Dell Children's hospital. They also make helmets just a bit different from CT but do the same exact thing. For some reason my insurance covered the helmet from Hanger but not the one from CT.
After doing the exercises from CT for about 3 months the tort went away and after wearing the helmet for a little over 2 months the plagio and facial asymmetry went away.
If you end up getting a helmet and want a great place to get decorations for it, this person from Etsy (Bling Your Band) makes wonderful personalized stickers.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/blingyourband?ga_search_query=blingyourband&ga_search_type=seller_usernames
Chiming in late...
DS2 had a flat spot from the get-go. He didn't have tort, so I can't speak to that. Pedi noticed the flat spot at 2wks and recommended we try some repositioning and we'd reassess. We did all the tummy time/repositioning tricks and he still had the flat spot. We took him to CT at 4 months and they rec the band, but we took our pedi's advice and waited. Knowing what I know now, I wish we would have gotten it at 4mo. Instead we waited to see how his head did on its own and ended up getting the band at 7mo. DS still had really good results, but I think he probably would not have had to wear it for 12 weeks if we had started earlier.
This is where it's a hard call, imo. I think some babies' heads do round out on their own with repositioning and tort exercises, but some don't. What makes it a hard call is that if you wait to see if it does & it doesn't, you've missed the window of growth. But if you get the band, you're spending $$ and putting your baby in a helmet for x weeks & maybe it would've been fine on its own - you'll never know.
As for ins (same as bobcatsteph), we paid up front and were reimbursed. Ins paid for 60% and it took about 2 months to get the reimbursement check.
Good luck! Let us know how the appt went & if you have any other Qs.
We're more than likely going to have to take DS to get a helmet as well for his flat head. He is not sitting on his own yet either. I'm assuming that by the time you had to remove the helmet, Coop was sitting up? The reason I ask is because we're worried that if we go through this process now (DS will be 4 months tomorrow) that if by the end of it he is still not sitting up, then he'll more than likely still be on his back a majority of the day. Which then our thinking is that it would negate any progress he would have made with the helmet. KWIM? We try and get him to sit in the BUMBO but either his neck isn't strong enough or he's got one big noggin and his neck just bends to one side.
And I agree that it's almost impossible to get DS to keep his head to one side over the other. Is the helmet really as light as they claim on the webpage? I wonder if it will hinder his progress when it comes to rolling or crawling.
Oooohhhh....Could I get the name of the plastic surgeon?
Sure, his name is Dr. Kelley and here is the link to his office. I highly recommend you get a second opinion from him!
https://www.dellchildrens.net/services_and_programs/craniofacial_center/index.asp
Sweet! Off to research if they're in network. Thanks!