Torticollis / wryneck?

[Anonymous]

DD (almost 3 wks old) just diagnosed with this. Going to PT next week. We're scared. Anyone else familiar with this?

[Anonymous]

Our ped diagnost our baby with it. Took us a month to get an appointment with the specialist and we worried the whole time. The specialist said the baby didn't have it. He just was weak and needed more tummy time. A friend's one year old does have it though. The specialist and PT was great for him and he is a year old now and duing just fine, completely healthy, active, walking. I wouldn't worry too much.

[Anonymous]

My son was diagnosed at 1 month, and his ped recommended that we contact a physical therapist. We've been going to physical therapy 1x a week for several months now, and my son is doing great! His tort is basically cured. In the beginning we also did neck exercises at home at every diaper change. If you stick with the exercises and get dc evaluated by a PT you should be fine! Be aware that torticollis is often linked to plagiocephaly (basically a flattening of the head) so you should speak with your ped/PT about this as well. They can give you tips on repositioning, etc.

[Anonymous]

I just wanted to echo PPs. Our pedi diagnosed my son with this condition, but when we brought him to PT at Children's Hospital, they said he didn't have it. He did have a strong preference for one side though. So they sent us home with some simple exercises that corrected the issue.

I know it's hard to hear that something might be wrong with your baby, but torticollis seems to be one of the less serious and more common conditions. Good luck with physical therapy - even before you go, you might want to try to coax your baby into looking the other way by standing on that side, talking and gesturing to him from that side, holding toys up, etc. It can't hurt. Good luck to you!

[Anonymous]

My son was born with that but not officially diagnosed 'til the 2-month appointment, and we were told at first it would self-correct. Good for you and your ped for catching it early! We never saw a specialist in physical therapy, but when I pressed for help at our 2-mo we were shown two neck stretches which we did/still do several times a day. Though he fussed whenever we tried to do them (at every diaper change), he got full range of motion pretty quick, though at 7mos we still do the exercises whenever we remember!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: DD (almost 3 wks old) just diagnosed with this. Going to PT next week. We're scared. Anyone else familiar with this?

I have actually been concerned DS has this condition as he demonstrates significant preference to one side. Did you suspect it or the pediatrician pick it up? Any other symptoms? Did you notice a mass in her neck?

[Anonymous]

I'm not the OP, but I noticed a large mass in DS neck at 4 weeks old. He was diagnosed with a form of torticollis- he didn't tilt his head so much but really favored turning his head to the side that didn't have the mass. It wasn't something I really noticed until I knew to look for a problem. We went to PT at Children's 1X per week and did stretches 3x a day at home. He hated them, but we stuck with it and he was fine by about 6 months. We kept going to therapy until about 8 months, and now you can't tell he ever favored one side over the other.

[Anonymous]

Hi OP
My first baby was badly breeched and had the condition from birth (although we only realized when the Ped pointed out that she was favoring one side and one eye was more open than the other.

First off (fatuous as it may sound) don't worry. It almost always corrects itself. We had endless appts at Childrens and also went to see the physical therapists there. The good news is that, in the U.S. (we're not from there) they diagnose it much more readily than they do in most other places. This should give you reassurance: it's often diagnosed when it's not that bad and it's great that you know about it so early. Children's recommended a whole range of activities. The one thing you really must do is ensure that your baby has good tummy time and is positioned to look to the side that is weak. Music toys, putting the car-seat on the right side of the car (to look out of the window) and wearing the baby in a Bjorn (or eqivilent) are good. The Bjorn is helpful because the baby has to hold its head up and generally wants to look around.

Lots of babies hate tummy time but they do get used to it and I can't stress how important it will be for your baby.

My eldest baby is now 3 and there is no sign of the condition. My younger two both had milder forms and it has also gone away. honestly - don't fret - chances are that your baby would get over it if you didn't do anything. The fact that you're onto it is money in the bank

[Anonymous]

Please don't worry, OP. You've caught it in plenty of time before it becomes the kind of problem that you need to be concerned about.

My son was diagnosed with it at around 6 weeks. Our pediatrician was so calm about it, but I couldn't help worrying because, well, that's what mothers do.

We went to a PT a few times, and I did some of the exercises at home. It corrected easily. Within 6 weeks, you'd never know that he had had the condition. Of course, the PTs wanted to keep me scared and therefore coming back regularly. But I could see that DS was just fine and stopped going.

He's four years old now and we've never seen anything since then to remind us that he had it. Though occasionally, we still make our old joke about how we'd have to stick a violin under that chin and just hope that he took a liking to it.

I'm still curious about what other thinks causes it though. We had a very big baby, and I spent 3 hours in the pushing phase of labor. I always thought that this was probably what did it. He just wasn't positioned correctly and was being pushed and pushed until his little neck got sore.

[Anonymous]

OP here- to answer a couple of questions- I asked the pediatrician about it- noticed she strongly favored one side and that there was a tonal difference in her neck muscles. A sort of "mass" on the weaker (not preferred) side. The pediatrician said it could be caused by her position inside me or delivery injury. I think it could have been both- I pushed for 4 hours and her right (weak side) shoulder apparently got stuck... I have the first PT appt Friday.

[Anonymous]

My nephew had it. My brother did the neck exercises-and you'd never know he had favored one side.

[Anonymous]

I was a pp who was shown neck exercises by the pediatrician. To follow-up to the person who wondered why babies get it, I'm sure it's related to positioning either during the pregancy or labor. My baby was breech up until 32 weeks then turned. I went into labor at 40wks, but spent 4 hours actively pushing and the poor kid presented "ear first" and the OB couldn't budge him, so I ended up with a c-section. Not sure whether it was the months in breech position or the hours of bumping against my pelvis in labor that did it, but was not surprised he had a crick in his neck!