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August 2011 Moms
Gilliebear
member
Torticollis Baby?
Gilliebear
member
The more I read the more I think my LO has this. When she was born we had a specialist look at her and tell us that she basically was too crammed in uetero but within a couple of months she should be fine. Im not noticing any changes and if anything it is now affecting the shape of her head because she prefers the one side. She can lift her head like a champ but its always looking to the right.
I called today to make an appointment because early intervention is always the best. Anyone else dealing with this or have dealt with this in other LO's? I am making myself sick over it all and could barely get any sleep last night.
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Re: Torticollis Baby?
This sounds a lot like what we went through with DD. Her pedi just showed us some exercises we could do with her at her 6 week or 2 1/2 month check-up (can't remember which it was) and said if it wasn't getting better by the next appointment we could look into PT if we wanted. The exercises helped and once she started rolling she slept on her belly so it resolved itself.
The exercises basically involved manually rotating the baby's head in the direction they never seem to want to look, very gently of course and do a few repititions of that a few times a day. Also lots of tummy time and lots of playtime with toys in the opposite direction of where they always want to look. You just need to work on stretching and building those muscles really.
Gillie - I don't have any experience on this, but I know there is another girl on this board who is taking her DD to physical therapy and the chiropractor for this. I think it might be etoyama, but I also know that I can't remember a damn thing these days!!
Good luck!
My LO has this and his pedi gave us stretches to do and said we could go to a PT if we wanted but he was still young and we had time to fix it. His head is flattening on one side since he sleeps to his favored side almost all night, so it was really worrying me. I got into a PT a little after he was 2 months old and she gave us different, more aggressive stretches to do. I would recommend getting evaluated by a PT if I were you. It's not just a rotation, but also a tilt that the neck favors. So the stretch needs to address both. Also, as you stretch out that muscle it can weaken the neck in general so other neck strengthening exercises are important. I try to do as much tummy time as possible.
We are also in the process of getting a referral to get his head measured due to the flattening, which has caused some asymmetry with his head/ears. I hope we can get in soon. I also lose sleep over this too. I worry that we are going to have to put him in a helmet (which I know isn't the end of the world). But, I spend all of my waking hours trying to re-position his head and it is constantly on my mind.
We take our son to physical therapy and then also do stretches at home and lots of tummy time. He was only turning his head to the right and now can do so to the left as well, although he still favors the right side while sleeping.
Our pedi sent us to physical therapy after his two month appointment. We opted out of early intervention because in our area that can take 6-8 weeks to get the evaluation done (and they evaluate everything, not just the torticollis) and we wanted treatment to start immediately, not two months from now when things would have been much worse.
Kelly, Mom to Christopher Shannon 9.27.06, Catherine Quinn 2.24.09, Trey Barton lost on 12.28.09, Therese Barton lost on 6.10.10, Joseph Sullivan 7.23.11, and our latest, Victoria Maren 11.15.12
Secondary infertility success with IVF, then two losses, one at 14 weeks and one at 10 weeks, then success with IUI and then just pure, crazy luck. Expecting our fifth in May as the result of a FET.
This Cluttered Life
Noticing signs of plagiocephaly (?flat head syndrome?) in your baby can make any parent anxious, but there many simple ways to prevent/correct the problem in the early stages. You should feel good that you addressed the concerns so quickly! Since you are noticing the symptoms, I would suggest the following ways to get your baby moving her head to the side she is not currently favoring. Try feeding her so that she must turn her head in the direction of the non-favored side. When approaching her, come from the side that requires her to turn her head to the side she isn?t favoring in order to see you. Place interesting and stimulating toys to the unfavored side, and put her on her tummy as much as possible. Finally, when your baby is calm and relaxed, try gently massaging the neck muscles to get her to stretch both sides equally. Education and awareness is key, and it sounds like you are taking really taking charge of the situation!