As I have mentioned before, the boys needed to get Doc Bands to help reshape their heads. Both boys have what’s called Plagiocephaly and Brachycephaly. This effects a large portion of twins due to limited space in the womb and a lot end up needing the bands . I knew Hayden would need one the first second I saw him, he was positioned very low in utero and didn’t move positions at all throughout the entire pregnancy. Ian on the other hand wasn’t nearly as bad but still needed one.
The boys got their Doc Bands a week ago and are quickly adjusting to life with a band attached to their head. They are supposed to wear the bands 23 hours a day with only 1 hour off for bath and to clean the band. So far we haven’t had a full 23 hours in the band. At first you are supposed to check them every 3-4 hours and if there is any redness leave the band off until it goes away. Well we’ve had some issues of getting really red and some skin breaking. But we have had each issue addressed by cranial tech, who we are using.
The boys weren’t too sure about the bands at first, but were great and didn’t pull on them or try to take them off or anything.
Ian in his Doc Band
They are sleeping in the bands and honestly, we expected them not to sleep well the first night or two. I don’t think it even phased them! They slept fine with the bands on.
The boys sure don’t let the bands keep them from playing. They love to play in their jumperoo and walker and won’t let that band stop them.
Ian
Hayden
The bands are just a white plastic and very medical like. So to make them a little more friendly and pleasant looking, we added a sticker to the back of each band and their names on the front so we can know which band belongs to each boy. The sticker says “Monkey See” on one and the other says “Monkey Do”…
back of the bands
There is a company in our area that does car wraps called 360 Wraps and they have started doing wraps on Doc Bands and other medical prosthetics for kids. They started out doing a few and it got so big they decided to start doing a once a month party where families can come and get their bands wrapped for free. We missed the April part because we got the band the same day as the party, so we are going to go to the May party and get their bands wrapped. I’ll post pictures once we get them done.
Like I mentioned earlier, there have been some issues with skin readness, rubbing and even skin breaking from the bands. Usually its not that bad and typically clears up in a short period of time. Well, I got Hayden up this morning and took his band off and this is what I saw…
This is what happens when you have a stomach sleeper and his face is pressed against the band all night. It has cleared up throughout the day and looks much better but we are leaving it off until it completely fades away.
We went for our weekly adjustment and there has already been some improvement in both of their head shapes. Both of their heads have grown a good amount so we had to have the bands adjusted so the growth will be redirected in the right ways. We will go back weekly for the duration of treatment and hope to continue to see improvements like we did today.
Hi Laurie
Thank you for posting all of this information, it has been very helpful.
My son is getting his helmet at Cranial in Paramus NJ this friday. I have been super depressed about it and really do not want him to get it. We saw 3 reputable neuro surgeons in Long Island n NYC and they all said that he does NOT need the helmet. But, his head is flat n he is now 8.5months old and is not getting better so my husband insists that we get it for him. How long have the boys had their helmet and how old were they when they got it? How long will they have to wear it? happy to hear that it has not affected their play time or sleep time(I am praying for the same). If I wanted to get his helmet painted, how do I go about that? Also, if they need to wear it 23 hours a day, how are you able to get it painted?
They got the bands when they were 5.5 months old and will have to wear them for 7-10 weeks. I’ve heard from other people that they paint them over several days. They’ll paint a part of it one day for the hour its off and then some more the next day and so on. Good luck!