Insurance doesn't cover the treatment and we agonized over the decision, but in the end we decided to go ahead with it. After taking a 3D image of Brand't head, the folks at Cranial Technologies made a custom DOC band for Brandt, which he has to wear 23 hours a day for approximately three months. This is what a DOC band looks like:
The idea is that when Brandt's head grows it will fill in the shape of the inside of the band, rounding out his head. They carve out some of the foam each visit to make room for new growth. We take the band off every night to clean it and give Brandt a bath, then it goes right back on again.
When they first put it on his head Brandt seemed confused, and he fussed a little. They have you wait for 10 minutes in the office after they place the band so they can check the fit. That ten minutes was rough. Brandt kept swatting at it and whimpering. After the clinician made a few adjustments and replaced the band, he seemed to forget about it and, although it took a few days for his skin to adjust to the constant contact (sweat!), he's been fine since.
This is what it looks like now.
Brandt has now had his DOC band for four weeks and we've already seen improvement. It doesn't seem to slow him down any.
3 comments:
Hi! I am now following your blog to track progress on Baby Brandt, I started a facebook group- Prevent Flat Head Babies ( Plagiophaley), I know this is an ever increasing situation and wanted to create a forum for parents. Please check it out. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=109947012370558
Thank you,
Tiffany
Anna, I love the way you painted it! It's so adorable! I also hope that it does the trick and makes it worth it. I'll be curious to hear if he misses it when it's gone, after having it on for so many hours each day.
Hi...he looks adorable...what a good mom to make it fun...you did an awesome job with the painting...
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