DOC Band

This post is very late, but I've been busy! :)

At Lawson's 2 month appointment, his pediatrician noticed that his head was "out of round." Basically, he had a flat spot. She referred us to Cranial Technologies (the people who make the DOC band).

At the appointment at Cranial Technologies, they took photos of his head in all different positions and went over why his head was shaped funny.

Basically, Lawson was head down in-utero from about 20 weeks on. He was resting his head on my pelvic bone. The brain will grow in the path of least resistance, so all that time in my belly, his brain was growing out everywhere but where he was resting his head. Once out, his brain was just accustomed to growing that way, so it kept growing in every spot except the "flat spot." This caused some misshaping of his head. The purpose of the band is to place resistance everywhere except the flat spot so that his head will grow out in the spot where it hasn't been growing. See the pictures below for a better explanation. :)


Here is his head at birth. You can see how it kind of grows up instead of out in the back like it should.


Here's the spot of concern, and the main reason we chose to go with the band. The first picture was taken at 2.5 months, the second at 3.5 months. You can see that the flat spot in the back right had gotten worse over that month. The band puts resistance on the back left and leaves the back right open to grow.




These pictures show how his head continued to grow up (taller) instead of out in the back. You can see how his head is taller in the second picture. Also, isn't his face too freaking cute??? :)


These pictures show how his head grew up instead of out. The back shouldn't look that flat. The bottom right picture shows what Cranial Tech hopes his head looks like after 4-8 weeks of wear.


The band hasn't seemed to bother him at all. He gets to take it off for one hour per night for bath and cleaning, and he doesn't get fussy with it on or anything. It's already been two weeks down and we are seeing great results!


Here he is jumping with his band on.

And sleeping with it on. Sweet face. :)

And his confused burrito look with the band on. :) LOVE HIM!

Here is a picture after just one week of wear! We are so so so pleased with the results so far. I see major improvements even after one week. Cranial Technologies is out of network for our insurance, so this has been a very expensive journey. We had the option of going with Star Cranial instead (in network), but after researching and talking with our pediatrician, we just thought the risk of no results was too great. The Star Band is more helmet like (covers the whole head), and is very heavy. This DOC band is really light hypoallergenic foam and doesn't even phase Lawson at all. Also, the pictures of results speak for themselves. Some parents who use Star Band even end up at Cranial Tech with a DOC band afterward because the Star band didn't work! We didn't want to take that chance! Although it has been very expensive, we are happy with our choice and after seeing the results after just one week, we know we made the right decision. :)


He has been in it two weeks now, and his results at his appointment today were even better! His therapist said she was very pleased with his results so far, so hopefully he won't have to be in it too much longer! :) I love my sweet little helmet boy.