Baby only turns head to one side

[Anonymous]

We realized tonight that our 8 week old is only turning his head to one side. It's the same side we sit on with him on the floor and the direction we enter the room when he's in his crib so we didn't realize it until tonight (when my husband sat on the other side to play with him). I realize now that we should have been alternating his direction in the crib and we'll start doing that, but have we done something really bad? Will this eventually correct itself if we keep putting him the other way? We gently tried to turn his head to the other side and he can turn it, it just doesn't naturally go that way. We have our 2 month appt next week and we'll ask the pediatrician about it, but I thought I'd see if anyone else had been through this.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

We had this same issue and it did fully correct by about 4-5 months, if I remember correctly. Just keep working on drawing his interest to the other side and ask your ped for recommendations to help exercise the neck a bit. We rotated our DD in her crib so she looked out the other way, would play peek-a-boo over each other's shoulder to get her to look at us from a different angle, moved her toys on her gym mat, etc.

[Anonymous]

Our DD had this problem, too, though I think it took us longer to notice it. Our pediatrician assured us that it is not uncommon -- and it is correctable. Our pediatrician sent us, and DD, to a physical therapist, where they worked with DD and showed us some stretches and so forth to do with her. Honestly we probably could have gotten DD going in the right direction after just one therapy session and learning what to do. The problem went away in a few weeks. DD is 2 now and there are no lasting signs of it. So, in short and in general: Common problem. Easy solution. Don't stress too much over it.

[Anonymous]

Your baby probably has Torticollis. My DS also had this when he was born, and the pediatrician told us it was due to the way he was positioned in the womb. Basically his head was scrunched to one side, so the muscles on that side got tight. We went to a physical therapist who showed us some neck stretching exercises to do each day. We also rotated which side he layed on in the crib, and the way that we carried and fed him. Be sure to get it looked at soon, otherwise he may develop a flat spot on one side of his head.

[Anonymous]

Our baby had it too. We just did exercises at home that our ped taught us. Simple as shaking rattles, toys, etc on the non used side and only feeding the baby to the non used side as well so he would turn his head in that direction for the entire feeding. It went away rather quickly.

[Anonymous]

This is torticollis. Your baby may need physical therapy. Ours had the same thing. It can cause delays with meeting some of the physical milestones, like crawling and walking.

[Anonymous]

Yup, sounds like torticollis. Both of my kids had it. Pretty easily correctable with some physical therapy. For my son the therapist gave us some exercises to do with him to strenghten and stretch the muscle on the other side and it cleared up very quickly. With my daughter (12 weeks) they doctor said to keep an eye on it and try giving her reasons to look the other way (like you said). If it's still bad at her 4 month appointment we'll go to physical therapy. For what its worth, my son had no delays in physical milestones (crawled at 6 months, walked at 10 months) so I think that's only a concern if it's really bad and left untreated.

[Anonymous]

Woa!!! Your baby is 8 weeks old and does not need physical therapy yet. Slow down. Start alternating crib sides nightly. If you are bottle feeding, make sure to alternate sides (don't just feed her/him right handed so baby always looks one way). When playing, work to bring the babies attention to the weaker side.

Most important!! More time on tummy!!!!!

[Anonymous]

My DD started PT at 3 weeks, PP. She had congenital tort. I caution against. DIY PT only because in rare cases this isn't tort but a fusion of the cervical spine. So more tummy time and follow up with the ped.

[Anonymous]

My baby did the same thing. May be torticollis, but it doesn't necessarily mean "physical therapy". At our two-month appointment, the doctor had us turn her hand with our palms a few times a day, and let her push back against our hands to make sure muscles were developing. He also had us position her head while she napped, if we were in the room with her. My daughter is 4 months, still has a preference for her left, but it's much better now. It should also improve with more tummy time and whatnot.

[Anonymous]

My son had the same symptoms. At 4 months we started physical therapy and by 7 months he was fine. He did get somewhat of a flat head as a result of the tilt - the Cranial Tech people called it "severe" - but it rounded it out all by itself by 11 months.

There are a number of really excellent pediatric physical therapists that know exactly how to deal with this. With our son, they basically showed us some stretches to do at home, and during our weekly sessions she played with him in ways that kind of forced him to work it out.

[Anonymous]

14:50 again here - I'd just make sure to point it out to your ped and make sure they are really listening to you. My mother works in a daycare infant room. She adores all her babies, and there was this one little girl she was so worried about because by 13 months, she still hadn't even started crawling or sitting up on her own. She couldn't even roll over unassisted. She seemed totally normal, other than the physical delays. I didn't think much of her comments until one day I went to drop something off with my mom while she was working (this is after I had my own son with torticollis) and I saw this baby. She had the worst case of torticollis I'd ever seen! Her cheek and ear were pressed to her shoulder. I mentioned it to my mother, and my mother mentioned it to the baby's mother, and the mom said she had brought it up to her ped several times and the ped just shrugged it off. She decided to get a second opinion and ended up putting her baby in physical therapy. She was crawling within 4 weeks of starting the PT, and walking 6 weeks after that.

[Anonymous]

My little guy had mild torticollis. The doctor gave us exercises to do 5 times a day (she recommended maybe at diaper changes) but the most effective strategy was to turn him around in his crib. He always wanted to look out toward the room and the only way for him to do that once turned was turn his head the other way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My little guy had mild torticollis. The doctor gave us exercises to do 5 times a day (she recommended maybe at diaper changes) but the most effective strategy was to turn him around in his crib. He always wanted to look out toward the room and the only way for him to do that once turned was turn his head the other way.

Yes, be very careful to have baby checked for this. A friend's baby had this and it went undiagnosed for a long time, leading to problems the child still has.

[Anonymous]

Torticollis. My daughter had it. It basically means neck pinning. If it is Torticollis you'll probably have to do PT for about a year (normally until they walk). It's very treatable IF you take action now while your baby is little. They normally do PT up until they walk to make sure that everything is working properly and the muscles have lengthened properly. Many of the oher posters seemed to have handled this at home I'm assuming this is due to varying degrees of Tort.