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COLUMBIA (WACH) - How big a role does the shape of your baby's head play in their future?

Some parents think it plays a major role and they’re taking action to make sure their kids' heads are shaped perfectly. With the help of Cranial Technologies they mold their babies into the kids they think they should be. The company is in the business of reshaping children’s heads.

Sasha Chapman turned to the company for help. When her 1-year old son Mason was about six months, Chapman noticed he was suffering from plagiocephaly, or a misshapen head.

“It was making his features look very small and concentrated in the lower part of his face,” said Chapman.

With the help of what's called a Doc Band, Mason's head is being molded into what's determined to be its perfect shape. His mom says she noticed a change after the first month. Mason wears his Doc Band 23 hours a day, 7 days a week. The entire reshaping process can take between eight and 12 weeks.

Each lightweight Doc Band, including Mason's, is made specifically for the child wearing it. The company uses a digital surface imaging machine to determine a baby's ideal head shape. It takes 15 photos, all at once, from every angle of a child's head. Once a baby is fitted with the Doc Band, clinicians check their progress about every two weeks until treatment is complete.

“The bands work all on a child's natural growth and so a younger child is going to give us a better correction typically at a faster rate because they're growing much more faster,” said Lisa Hendricks, a Cranial Technologies clinician.  Hendricks and her colleagues do about a hundred new consultations each month with parents who are concerned about the shapes of their babies' heads. She says “these families are coming to us, some very frustrated, they’re coming here very scared because they don't know what's going on with their infant. So for us, we're reshaping the children's head shapes, but also giving them a second chance of not having any type of problems down the road."

According to Cranial Technologies people with untreated severe cases of plagiocephaly can end up with an asymmetrical face which makes it difficult for their glasses to sit straight. They might even find that sports helmets don't fit their heads, and they can end up having a cross bite or an over bite.

Statistics show one in 15 babies has some form of a misshaped head. The three most common types are plagiocephaly, brachycephaly and scaphocephaly. Cranial Technologies only treats the most severe cases.

Some of the most common causes of plagiocephaly are back sleeping, sleeping on one side, and even car seats because kids are usually sit in them for long periods of time with their heads pressed up against a rigid surface.

Sasha Chapman is very happy the company decided to help Mason. “As a parent you kind of want to give your child every possible head start that you can. It's probably the best decision we've made; they're awesome.”

To track a baby's progress, clinicians use what's called a head on stick. It's a mold of the baby's head on stick. They compare the difference in shape during each consultation. The cost for the entire procedure is $3,800.

What do you think about parents reshaping their baby's heads? Should they do it or leave the natural shape alone? Leave a comment below.