LO always holds head on a tilt. Anyone else? Issue?

KateLouise

LO always hold her head tilted to the right. She can straighten her neck, by herself, or if I straighten it for her. But it seems most comfortable for her to hold it at a tilt.

I'm just wondering if this is fairly normal and will self-correct as she builds strength and control, or if she needs help strengthening/stretching her muscles so that the muscles on one side of her neck doesn't become weak and shortened in a long term way.

I've got a well-child check in about 4 weeks, so I'll bring it up there, but am curious to hear everyone elses thoughts.

Thanks 

6sour6grapes6

does she have any flat spots?

fanofanne

hi there...my dd, who is 3 months old, tilts her head to the right as well.  she sees a physical therapist for her flat head which is related to the tilt.  her pt showed us some stretching exercises to minimize the tilting and she basically scared me by telling me about kids in elementary school who have tilted heads b/c they weren't corrected at an earlier age.  the easiest one that i do is before or after a diaper change when she's laying flat on her back i'll hold her right shoulder in place and stretch her neck so that her left ear is touching her left shoulder, again, all the while holding her right shoulder down so it doesn't move...does that make sense?  i do that a few times at each diaper change.  i find doing it slowly makes it less uncomfortable for her. 

KateLouise

There are no flat spots, but she does have preferred sleeping positions which could possibly be making it worse.

 I did understand your exercise description, but I'd rather wait to have a professional show me to ensure I'm doing it right. your answer also made me think not to leave it, so i'll bring it up on monday when i take her in for her vaccines.

Aprilmomx2

Does she prefer to turn to the opposite side as the tilt?  could be minor torticollis.  I would def. ask your doc and in the meantime try to do things on the other side for her that you normally do so she is tilting / turning to the opposite of her preferred side.  This was happening to my son and we are now in PT for torticollis to correct it.  We caught it early with him and are only going every other week, but still something to watch out for.  Lots of tummy time will also help to build those neck muscles as well!  Good luck!

aglenn

It does sound like a mild torticollis.  DS had this and we corrected it with simple stretches at home and just doing things on the opposite side to get DS to turn his head that way, as pp suggests.  We saw a physical therapist once for an eval and for her to teach me the stretches, and then once for follow up.  He improved a ton and we didn't have to go back to PT any more.  Definitely ask your pedi if she should have an evaluation.