Zach and Zoe Twins...
Twins don't run in my family, so when the sonogram technician announced that she saw two babies, my husband and I were completely shocked! By the time they were born at 36 weeks, I was as big as a house, and more than ready to have them join our family. I imagine they were even more uncomfortable, cramped in my womb for months. When they came out, my son Zach's ear was bent down, and he had clearly been pressed up against something (his sister's leg? my pelvic bone?) for quite some time.

I later found out that it is common for Twin "A", who is cramped in the bottom of the womb, to emerge with torticollis, a tightening of the neck muscles that leads to a preference to turn the head in one direction. I didn't notice anything unusual about my (beautiful, perfect!) babies until they were about 6 weeks old. By that time, Zach had begun to develop a flattening on the back right side of his head from sleeping with his head turned always to the right. His sister, Zoe, had begun to develop a long and narrow head shape because she always slept with her head to one side or the other, but never directly on the back of her head.

A good friend of mine mentioned Zach's asymmetry. Her son had worn a Starband, and she encouraged me to look into repositioning to prevent their head shapes from worsening. I asked my pediatrician about their head shapes and Zach's preference for turning to the right. The pediatrician reassured me that they were fine, and instructed me to give them more tummy time. I had not forced the tummy time issue because they cried and hated it, but I knew I had to start getting serious about it. At about this time, I joined the Plagiocephaly Yahoo group. Parents there shared before and after pictures, pictures of babies in their bands, and stories and advice about their babies' plagio and banding. I received a lot of information from that group about cranial bands as well as repositioning.

Since Zach and Zoe were only 2 months old, we began with a rigorous program of repositioning. For two months, my kids were almost never on their backs except when they were sleeping. With two babies to care for, this time was challenging, to say the least. At the end of the two months, Zoe's head shape had improved and no longer worried me. But Zach's had not really improved at all.

When Zach was four months old, we decided to get a consult with Cranial Technologies, who was (at that time) the closest provider of cranial bands. At our initial visit, the orthotists there measured Zach's head with calipers and told us that he had roughly 12mm asymmetric plagiocephaly with some brachycephaly as well. They recommended banding. While I was exploring my options with my insurance company, I found out from a friend that a Star Cranial Center of Excellence had just opened just 20 minutes from my home! That other banding center was well over an hour… each way.

I was amazed by my first consultation with Laura. First of all, she measured Zach's head with the Star Scanner, a device that took just seconds and gave a complete 3D picture of his head, as well as a set of numbers that quantified the asymmetry and brachycephalic flattening. Compared to the caliper method at Cranial Technologies, this was much more complete. I felt extremely confident that I had all of the information I needed to make a decision about banding. Zach didn't mind the Star Scanner at all, and I thought he looked surprisingly cute in the little stocking cap he wore to flatten his hair down for the scan.

Laura was very kind and I could tell that she cared about me and about my son. She answered all of my questions, talked with me about medical insurance and other payment options, and helped me to feel more relaxed about getting a band. Her experience and expertise were apparent, and I left that day with complete confidence in her, and in her partner Jessica.

Deciding to move forward and get a Starband for Zach was actually an easy decision. His abnormal head shape was pretty obvious and there is enough premature baldness on my side that I wanted him to have the option to shave his head when the time came! I wanted bike helmets and sunglasses to fit him properly. I wanted him to regain the head shape he might have had if his acrobatic sister had not taken up all of the space in my womb.

We got the band when Zach was 5 months old, and we were finally able to relax. The repositioning we had done was much more effort than getting the band. After months of sneaking into the nursery in the middle of the night to roll Zach off his flat spot, cleaning the band felt like a piece of cake. Zach adjusted well to the helmet too. He had some trouble sleeping for a few nights, but he acclimated within a week or so. We dressed him in cooler clothing because the band made him sweat a bit. But other than that, it was smooth sailing.

We saw Jessica for most of our adjustments because her schedule fit with ours, and we came to really love her. She sang songs to Zach during his scans to keep him still, and I came to think of her as a friend. She did such a good job with the adjustments that we had very little trouble with redness or rubbing. The hardest part, honestly, was explaining to people why he was wearing it. I tried to think of it as educating the public, so that if one day someone they loved began to show signs of plagiocephaly, they would know that it could be treated.

The time passed quickly. We had some fun decorating Zach's band with stickers. He had three different sticker designs, and then we were done! Zach's final asymmetry was around 4mm, quite an improvement from his original shape and well within the normal range. The remaining asymmetry is imperceptible to me, and we are thrilled with the shape of his head now. I have absolutely no regrets about making the decision to get a band. Every time I look at his beautiful round head, I know that we did our best for him.. I would recommend banding to any parent whose child has plagiocephaly, and I would recommend Laura and Jessica at the Star Cranial Center of Excellence without reservation!