Herbst Appliance and Expander

[kseerla]

Hello, My daughter who is 8 needs braces due to crowding and thumbsucking issues. We went for a consult and the ortho suggested expanders and herbst appliance. We were supposed to have the expander put in first for a few weeks and then followed by the herbst appliance. However, when we went in today, she just put the herbst appliance and said she will look at installing the expander 6 months later. I am very confused. The more I read about expanders, it says that it needs to be put in before or at the same time as the herbst appliance so that the upper jaw can expand at the same time the lower jaw is growing with the help of herbst. I am worried that 6 months of only the herbst appliance without the upper jaw expander may not give us the ideal results. Please help!!!