Baby only turns head to one side

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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!!!!!

8 weeks is not too early for PT. With torticollis, the earlier PT is started the better. We started when my DS was 2 months. Our PT said the earlier she sees the baby, the easier it is to treat and the less likely it is that crawling and walking will be affected.

OP, your baby will be fine. You've caught this early and this is common and treatable.

[Anonymous]

Yup, torticollis. DS had it, too, and it went undiagnosed until about 3 months. Good for you for noticing so early! You can definitely do PT now. Also, do as much tummy time as possible. We didn't do this (DS hated it, and we didn't persist enough), and he ended up with the helmet to correct a flat head on one side. Not the end of the world, but if you get started early, you can probably avoid this.

[Anonymous]

Hey thx for this post, thank you everyone for taking the time to share your experiences with your kids... Im a new father, m y baby is now 1month old & after reading this, now I know why he wont turn his little head to the left, it was beggining to cause a little worry in us, but now thx to all of U, I know how to deal with this problem & Im glad we found out soon enough what it is to get it fixed asap... Once again thank you all

[Anonymous]

When our baby was a few weeks old, we noticed that he really would only turn his head to one side. The pediatrician examined him and told us to work on getting him to turn his head to the other side--just things like putting toys to the side he wasn't turning to. That worked. The pediatrician told us that if that didn't work, he would refer us to physical therapy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

+1 with my DS. After PT and exercises, torticollis is gone. He's 11 weeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My sonjin VB/ had the same symptoms. At 4 months we started physical therapy and by 7 months he was fine. He did get somewha_ko kook ijhi kpjijihi t 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 exc TTY/ellent 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.

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[Anonymous]

My baby has the same thing and it is NOT torticollis. Torticollis is when the baby has trouble turning his head in one direction and it is tight and/or painful to do so, so he prefers looking to the other side. My baby simply had been positioned in the womb for so long that this is the way he was comfortable looking towards when he got out. It is not permanent and definitely fixable. If yours is not torticollis, see a PT to learn which exercises you can do to help him.

[Anonymous]

Start repositioning and tummy time, and it may correct itself. If not, there is PT you can do.

[Anonymous]

Torticollis. My first had it, we started physical therapy at 4 months. He had a bit of plagiocephaly to go along with it, but it corrected almost 100% on its own by 1 year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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!!!!!

8 weeks is not too early for PT. With torticollis, the earlier PT is started the better. We started when my DS was 2 months. Our PT said the earlier she sees the baby, the easier it is to treat and the less likely it is that crawling and walking will be affected.

OP, your baby will be fine. You've caught this early and this is common and treatable.

Totally agree. Not too young at all. Actually the earlier the better. My DD had a significant case of Toricollis and had to have physical therapy up through her first birthday (when she started walking). We started her PT at about 6-8 weeks and and she was very easily treated. Fortunately if done early enough it is 100% fixable. My physical therapist said she had a friend who waited a couple years to try and treat her child and by that time it was too late. The DS had permanent neck pinning.

[Anonymous]

See a chiropractor. If you had been stuck in a small cramped space, like a womb, you may need your spine adjusted too