Rubber Glove... Vaseline... This does not look fun.Erin has a three-part condition: reflux, torticollis, and plagiocephaly. None of these are serious, but they all have their little quirks. Apparently it works something like this: A child with gastric reflux will arch their back and throw their head back and to the right. (Back and to the right... back and to the right... Maybe JFK had terminal reflux?) Eventually, the position of "back and to the right" becomes the new normal, and the muscles in and around the neck adjust to it (torticollis). Also, the bones of the skull aren't quite solid, and lying "out of whack" causes them to develop "out of round" as it were (plagiocephaly). It wasn't obvious to a casual glance, but Erin's skull was out of round to over 12 mm (measured diagonally, outer corner of eye to over the ear).
Is this solid science? Probably not, but I understand that the three conditions are commonly seen together, and are somehow related to each other. If you're a medical professional, please excuse my simplistic explanation.
So Erin gets to take Prevacid (noted elsewhere) for her reflux. She goes twice a week to pediatric physical therapy. And she wears a DOC Band. Which is where she got plastered for the first time...
A DOC Band is like a helmet that doesn't cover the entire head. It exerts low levels of pressure on certain parts of the skull, slowly encouraging it to grow properly. They're the product of Cranial Technologies, nationwide company.
To create a DOC Band, the company needs an accurate model of the skull. For most children (and hopefully all adults), they have a really neat 5-camera system that creates a 3-D model of the subject's head. A sheer stocking cap somehow helps with the imaging (see picture), so Erin got to wear one for a few minutes. I don't know how it helps with the camera work, but it definitely makes for interesting conversation. (What's the line from Raising Arizona? "Boy, you got a panty on your head.") It also makes for quite a distraction, as Erin felt something against her lips, but no matter how much she licked it, she couldn't get it to produce milk.
However, this approach doesn't work terribly well on 2-month old babies, who have difficulty holding their head up for more than a few seconds. Since it only takes a few seconds to get the pictures, we tried nearly a dozen times to get Erin to hold still at just the right time, but no luck.
So we used plaster. It's not nearly as high-tech as 3-D imaging, but it made for some memorable pictures. They put a heavier knit stocking over Erin's head, cut a hole for her nose and mouth, and mark the location of her eyebrows and ears with a marker. I've gotta say, the eyebrow marks remind me a lot of the 'eyebrows' on the old Batman...
Thick layers of cast material are then laid over the stocking, and allowed to firm up. The entire sequence of pictures is on Erin's Photobucket site. Erin wasn't happy about the whole ordeal, but we produced a bottle, and she chilled out with a nice milk buzz, at least until they started removing the plaster.
The DOC Band was delivered a day early, which was fortunate as it was Christine's day off. Erin wasn't terribly happy with it; she had just managed to learn how to keep her head still for a few seconds, and here we were adding more mass to it. But a few days later, and she's only bothered when we put it on or take it off. (I think taking it off is more bothersome; when the velcro strap releases, it probably echoes around her little skull.)
UPDATE: We go back once a week for adjustments and checkups, and just had one today, accompanied by great news. That measurement that was off by 12mm? It's now down to under 4mm, which is the 'norm'. Further good news: Since Erin's so young and malleable, she'll probably only have to wear it for another week or two. Even better: We were expecting Erin to be in a DOC Band for at least three more weeks. Since she's growing like johnson grass in a Texas lawn, Erin would probably outgrow her band after another two weeks, and we'd have to buy a second one. While we are amazed at how well she responded to her 'helmet', we really don't want a second one, since our insurance isn't terribly keen on paying for the first one yet.
Is this solid science? Probably not, but I understand that the three conditions are commonly seen together, and are somehow related to each other. If you're a medical professional, please excuse my simplistic explanation.
So Erin gets to take Prevacid (noted elsewhere) for her reflux. She goes twice a week to pediatric physical therapy. And she wears a DOC Band. Which is where she got plastered for the first time...
A DOC Band is like a helmet that doesn't cover the entire head. It exerts low levels of pressure on certain parts of the skull, slowly encouraging it to grow properly. They're the product of Cranial Technologies, nationwide company.
To create a DOC Band, the company needs an accurate model of the skull. For most children (and hopefully all adults), they have a really neat 5-camera system that creates a 3-D model of the subject's head. A sheer stocking cap somehow helps with the imaging (see picture), so Erin got to wear one for a few minutes. I don't know how it helps with the camera work, but it definitely makes for interesting conversation. (What's the line from Raising Arizona? "Boy, you got a panty on your head.") It also makes for quite a distraction, as Erin felt something against her lips, but no matter how much she licked it, she couldn't get it to produce milk.However, this approach doesn't work terribly well on 2-month old babies, who have difficulty holding their head up for more than a few seconds. Since it only takes a few seconds to get the pictures, we tried nearly a dozen times to get Erin to hold still at just the right time, but no luck.
So we used plaster. It's not nearly as high-tech as 3-D imaging, but it made for some memorable pictures. They put a heavier knit stocking over Erin's head, cut a hole for her nose and mouth, and mark the location of her eyebrows and ears with a marker. I've gotta say, the eyebrow marks remind me a lot of the 'eyebrows' on the old Batman...
Thick layers of cast material are then laid over the stocking, and allowed to firm up. The entire sequence of pictures is on Erin's Photobucket site. Erin wasn't happy about the whole ordeal, but we produced a bottle, and she chilled out with a nice milk buzz, at least until they started removing the plaster.
The DOC Band was delivered a day early, which was fortunate as it was Christine's day off. Erin wasn't terribly happy with it; she had just managed to learn how to keep her head still for a few seconds, and here we were adding more mass to it. But a few days later, and she's only bothered when we put it on or take it off. (I think taking it off is more bothersome; when the velcro strap releases, it probably echoes around her little skull.)
UPDATE: We go back once a week for adjustments and checkups, and just had one today, accompanied by great news. That measurement that was off by 12mm? It's now down to under 4mm, which is the 'norm'. Further good news: Since Erin's so young and malleable, she'll probably only have to wear it for another week or two. Even better: We were expecting Erin to be in a DOC Band for at least three more weeks. Since she's growing like johnson grass in a Texas lawn, Erin would probably outgrow her band after another two weeks, and we'd have to buy a second one. While we are amazed at how well she responded to her 'helmet', we really don't want a second one, since our insurance isn't terribly keen on paying for the first one yet.
If your child or one you know has a 'flat head' from sleeping on their back, or has plagiocephaly (a misshapen head), don't wait for them to 'grow out of it'. The older the child; the longer they have to wear the band. And after a certain point, there is nothing that can be done.
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