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Hannah's Info Sheet

  • Print one out!
    This is a great guide to preventing, recognizing, and treating Plagiocephaly. It is a simple one page overview of the most important things about plagio that EVERYONE should know! Please pass it along to your friends, family, pediatrician, etc. Our local Early Intervention office was very happy to have these! You are more than welcome to use this as a guide to making your own--it's very helpful to keep in the diaper bag for the many people who ask about the helmet.

Hannah in the Media

  • Hannah in Cranial Tech's 2004 DOCband Calendar
    Check out my Miss July 2004! You can see the entire new 2005 calendar on Cranial Technologies' website!
  • AZ Fox News Story
    MPG file from a news story aired on an Arizona's Fox 10 News channel about Cranial Technologies' role in the separation of the Egyptian twins who were once joined at the head. Hannah's picture makes a brief appearance towards the end of this video!
  • Newspaper Article
    This front page article on Hannah's Story ran in our local newspaper.

Plagiocephaly Prevention

  • ~Limit use of swings, bouncy seats, car seats, etc. Try a carrier that allows you to "wear" baby instead.
  • ~Use a memory foam sleep positioner to alternate which way baby's head is turned while still backsleeping.
  • ~Rotate placement of toys in the crib, carseat, stroller, and during floor play time.
  • ~When bottle feeding, be sure to alternate which side you hold your baby on during feedings
  • ~Provide lots of supervised tummy time from birth.
  • ~Alternate the end you place your baby's head at in the crib and on the changing table

Torticollis

  • Many babies who develop plagio have neck tightness, or Torticollis, which makes repositioning very difficult. These babies may need physical therapy or neck stretching exercises.

Favorite Plagiocephaly Links

  • Plagiocephaly.org
    A great website with info on everything plagio related--from prevention to treatment and everything in between.
  • Cranial Technologies
    Makers of Hannah's DOCbands. Their website has a fabulous Tummy Time Brochure and tons of research and information, including a parents area with discussion board.
  • CAPPSkids
    Cranioysynostosis And Positional Plagiocephaly Support
  • Yahoo! Groups : Plagiocephaly
    An online community of about 3,500 members! This is a parent run site designed to help parents identify and avoid plagio, as well as support in repositioning, banding, and fighting isurance for coverage! This is the best place to get any plagio related question answered!

About Treatment

  • Early diagnosis is the key to treating plagiocephaly. For mild to moderate cases, a trial of aggressive repositioning is recommended first. If after a few weeks the desired results are not accomplished, helmet therapy is often recommended. The best correction is achieved in babies younger than 6 months when the skull is still very soft and growing rapidly, and most helmet providers only treat until age 18 months. Helmets are custom made to a rounded version of your baby’s head and are generally worn 23 hours a day for 3-4 months. It does not hurt the child or pose any risk to proper brain growth and development.

Hannah's Plagio Pals

Plagiocephaly Merchandise

  • Precious Bambino
    Plagiocephaly Gifts, T-Shirts, Mugs & Plagio Wear! Sayings like "Banded Beauty, Helmet Laws Stink, Under Construction," and Graduation T-Shirts!

Plagio & Cranio Webring

« February-March 2003- Regression Fears & Visiting CT Corporate | Main | Looking Back »

April-July 2004- DOCband #3 & An "Older" Baby

Hannahband At almost 16 months old, and with a very intense personality, I knew that banding Hannah again would be the ultimate test for how tolerable these bands really are. Hannah was able to whip that band off with one hand in a jiffy if she felt like it. However, she only did a couple times in all 16 weeks of being banded! There were so many times in her younger banded days that I'd wonder if the band bothered her if she was fussy or if it was uncomfortable and she just couldn't tell us. I learned instead that they are truly like second skin. The only times Hannah ever took her band off was a couple times at night when she woke up really sweaty and a couple times in her carseat when she was really sweaty. Other than that she actually LIKED it and would try and put it back on if she found it drying during her hour off!

At her age, I realized that banding her was a bit of a gamble as far as how much correction we'd see, but I really thought she'd want me to get her as much correction as possible. I didn't want to regret not going for that third band someday, and I'm so glad that we continued with her treatment. She wore the band for the maximum allowed 16 weeks, and in that time saw some great results, as you can see here in the DOCband #3 photos.

Hannah became an official DOCgrad on July 30th after being banded on and off for over a year.  Her treatment time minus all the gaps was about 40 weeks.