About My Baby

Hi! Talk to your pediatrician about torticollis. My son had the same thing, and it was diagnosed a little late. The earlier the better. It means that the muscle on one side of the neck is shorter than the other, so the baby kind of cocks their head to one side all the time, and probably has a hard time looking over one shoulder ( and maybe even a hard time nursing on one side). We also noticed an uneven bump on the back of his head due to his always tilting his head, and the way it sat on his swing pillow. I had not ever heard of torticollis until he was diagnosed, but once I started talking about it I found out many of my friends babies had the same issue. Physical therapy is needed to correct it. You go to the therapist, and they give you exercises to do at home, then you also keep going back so the therapist can exercise the baby, and monitor your progress. It is important, if your baby does have torticollis, to get it treated soon. If left untreated, it can lead to scoliosis. Also, I found it very helpful to use a head cushion in his carseat. I bought it at Babies R Us. It almost looks like two bananas...one on each side of his head. My therapist loved it,and recommended it to all her clients. She said he healed quickly, and thought the pillow helped aid in that. Your baby might not have torticollis, but if you see her head always to one side, I bet that is what she has. Don't worry...it is not a horrible thing, and easily treated if you keep up on the exercises.
A. :)

Please check with the International Chiropractic Pediatric Assn, and get her checked out asap.
best, K

She has Torticollis. Get her to Physical Therapy or Occupational therapy immediately. This will cause her future delays if not corrected. Get her on her tummy time as much as you can and try to stretch the short side with your hands until you get into see someone. DO NOT ignore it even if your Dr. says it's nothing.......

There are different stretches you can do to help her with that. Try sitting her up, as much as possible and gently push down on her shoulders. Then you will be able to see if its her muscle tension or just by choice. After giving her a bath or any other time when you know she's relaxed try sitting her up again and slightly push her right shoulder down and w your right hand gently push her left ear towards her shoulder and then do the opposite. You really need to speak to her Dr. as well. She may have slight tension in her neck. They gave me a booklet on what exercises and stretches to try but it ended up just being she liked looking in the direction.Pay attention to how you hold her as well. Do you mainly hold her in one direction with her head on your left arm cradling her? If so change it up and try showing her a toy making her try to turn her head in the opposite
direction she favors.