turning head to one side?

Mrs.BLG

DS always turns his head to the right. When he is in his bouncer, his rocker, and when he is sleeping. I am so afraid that his head will be flat on that side (which is kind of is, but not that bad).

Sometimes he is in his newborn to toddler rocker when we are feeding him and he does it then and it makes it hard to feed him (sometimes he doesn't want to be held when eating...don't know why).

The back of his head is round b/c he rarely is on it b/c his head it usually turned. I don't understand how it could be comfortable to sleep on your back with your head turned like that! I said to DH tonight that I wonder if this is normal? He has great head control, so that is not the reason for it.

Anyone notice this with their LO?

chapelhillgirl

Yes!  DD has done this since birth and there is a flat spot that I think is getting worse.  The pedi said she'd check it again at the 4 month checkup, but I'm going to call on Monday to get in sooner.  I'd rather get her in a helmet now if that's what it takes than to wait for it to get worse.

 

And for DD I've noticed that when she's upright she can turn her head to both sides, but if I try to get her to turn to her non-dominant side when she's lying down, she acts like it's hurting her.  My mom (a pediatric nurse) said it could be a shortened neck muscle that needs to have some PT to stretch out.

Mrs.BLG

Well it makes me feel better that is is not just my child. He will turn his head both ways though. Tonight DH was in the hall talking to me when DS and I were in his room. DS turned his head to the left looking for DH.

We see the pedi for the 4 mth check-up on Tuesday and I wasn't sure if I should ask her about it or not. But, since he can turn his head the other way, I am sure there is nothing wrong...I guess it's just his preference.

Amie Schulz

Yep. My dd turns her head to the left. We went into her 6 week appt and Dr. said she's getting a flat head, at this point fixable. He told us to put a blanket on her side to where she will tilt to the right. Also we can only hold her now on our right arm, not the left until he sees her next. Geesh.

barkers4jmm

My DD does this - it is torticollis.  If the baby is always looking to the right, the neck muscle on the right side is too tight.  There are a couple exercises to help stretch the muscle.  We also try to attract her attention so that she'll look to the left.  You do want to try to correct it.

Mrs.BLG

barkers4jmm:

My DD does this - it is torticollis.  If the baby is always looking to the right, the neck muscle on the right side is too tight.  There are a couple exercises to help stretch the muscle.  We also try to attract her attention so that she'll look to the left.  You do want to try to correct it.

Ok, thanks. I will bring it up at his appt. then!

LucyPevensie

My baby favors turning his head to the right too and like op's never lays on his back with his head straight - it is always totally turned (so back of his head is perfectly round too - not flat at all!) but I can already see the beginning of a flat spot from turning to the right all the time as well.  We are working on it - turning it to the left when he's sleeping - and laying him on the changing table to he turns it to the left.  I'll be talking to his doctor about it next week at his 2 month appointment too. 

Mrs.Rose

Our pedi said to watch out for this!  DS prefers to turn to the right also, so I wait for him to be asleep and then turn his head.