Band Pals is a family ran organization, where we specialize in customizing doc bands/helmets. Our hand painted designs will be sure to turn those awkward stares into delightful glances. Our Story:
At our son's 4 month check up his Pediatrician suggested that we take him to a Specialist for a consultation, due to the flatting on the left side of his head. No one wants to hear that they have to take their child to Specialist, but we did as we were told and scheduled the appointment. At our appointment we were told that our son has severe Torticollis and Plagiocephaly. At the time those were two of the scariest words we have ever heard. After that moment, most of the appointment was a blur. We left the appointment in tears, scared and bombarded with pamphlets, booklets and you name it . After a lot of reading and research we came to find that those two big scary words weren't as scary as we thought. We learned that "Torticollis, or wryneck, literally means "twisted neck" in Latin. You may have woken up with torticollis after an uncomfortable night of sleep. In newborns, torticollis can happen due to positioning in the womb or after a difficult childbirth. This is called infant torticollis or congenital muscular torticollis." and "a lasting flat spot, either on one side or the back of the head, it could be flat head syndrome, also called positional plagiocephaly. Flat head syndrome usually happens when a baby sleeps in the same position most of the time or because of problems with the neck muscles." After about a month of dealing with different doctors running here and there dealing with our insurance, our son finally received his doc band. Once we saw the doc band actually on our son a flood of emotions hit us again. The doc band looked so medical, so fragile and honestly a little off putting. We got a lot of awkward stares, questions, whispering and pointing, so figured we had to do something. Luckily for our family my husband is artistically talented, we decided to design our son's band. Our family outings went form awkward stares, whispering and pointing to smiles and waves. We were constantly being asked "where did you get that done ?" So we decided to to create "Band Pals". We want to this to be more then just a service for hand designed doc bands/ helmets. We want this to be an out reach for support, a place were you can find a family, your family can relate to, and share your experiences with. We know first hand how hard this journey can be. Source:
http://kidshealth.org/parent/growth/sleep/positional_plagiocephaly.html
http://kidshealth.org/parent/medical/bones/torticollis.html
