Torticollis/twisted neck

[teatimefor2]

Anyone's baby have Torticollis? At DS2, O, four month appt, he was diagnosed with it. We are starting physical therapy in April which is the first appt I could get.

Per pedi, it's a mild case but causing his flat head as he sleeps with his head in exactly the same position.

He also has zero desire to roll over. He's trying to sit up and has great ab strength, per his pedi.

Anyone else's child have this? Did it impact their ability to roll? We do a ton of tummy time, but he's not interested. He'd rather sit or stand.

Any insight would be appreciated.

[Deleted]

CloudBee but I hope she's on a plane right now!

[Deleted]

DS2 has/had very mild tortecollis. We did ok with just therapy at home. We alternated which direction he laid down at night, did some stretching exercises they showed us, and would carry him face down across our arm (like a superman pose) so he would be forced to look up and around. He had a mild flat spot, but now by 12 months it's all but gone.

[carolinagirl831]

Yes Dd had torticollis. It was diagnosed at 6 weeks pretty early, she underwent PT and they gave us exercises at home. Her problem was she couldn't turn her head left. It was corrected pretty easily.
She didn't roll over until almost 7 months, but I don't think it had anything to do with that. She was sitting at 5.5 months and just didn't care to roll over

[ilikedonuts]

My oldest did. She rolled on time but mainly just rolled the one way that was easiest.

Eta: she was in PT from 4.5 to 9 months.

[CloudBee]

Yes, DS had it, but his was pretty severe. It can be difficult to notice and diagnose in the first few months. Mainly because it's difficult to check range of motion for newborns. We were in PT starting at 8 weeks, and needed 2 cranial bands / helmets.

PT was great. We had a wonderful therapist. And when the babies are that tiny, they don't fight it. The entire process is gentle, too. The only frustration was that DS had so many appointments once we started treating his tort and plague/brachy (head). We were in PT 2x per week for a while, and had head appointments 2x per week for a while.

Our therapist would take pictures of me doing stretches on DS, then print them out while we were there, and write notes on them. SO helpful.

FWIW, DS rolled tummy to back at 3 weeks. Sometimes early rolling can be a sign of tort because they are bending too much in one direction.

[af1212]

My second DD had torticollis. She was diagnosed by the pedi at about 4 weeks. Rather than doing PT on my own I went through my county's early intervention services. They sent a PT to the home 1x/week for an hour and she also gave me things to work on throughout the week. It was great - and free! Definitely look into early intervention!

[meltoine]

DS1 had a mild case. It was diagnosed at his first pedi appointment, and they said it was because he was engaged in my pelvis at a weird angle for a really long time. He engaged around 30 weeks and was born at 38+6, so he was stuck in there for nine weeks at a quirky angle. Anyway, they had us prop him on his side while he slept with a rolled up blanket behind his back. If we were bottle feeding they would have had us use primarily one side (I forget which it was even) to stretch that side of his neck muscles, but since I BF they said not to worry about it.

It was mild and resolved after a few weeks.

[momof2boys]

My son had it, he was diagnosed very early. He was in physical therapy and we did exercises at home every day. We were careful about keeping him off his head by holding him, bumbo seat, tummy time, exersaucer etc to try and prevent his head from flattening further. From what I remember he rolled over right on time but to the side his head tilted.

[sparty04]

Yes and yes. DS1 was in PT for almost 9 months because he had a stubborn case. He was also a late crawler and walker. We did a helmet from 6-11 months because of flat head. The tort is still mildly noticeable at almost 3 years, but only to me because I know what I'm looking for

[dana2006]

DS was diagnosed at 4 months. He also had a very noticeable flat spot since he favored one side. He's 8 months now and we are currently still in PT; he's also wearing a helmet. Both have helped him a lot. He rolled and started crawling without too much delay, but when he crawls the torticollis side is less engaged. We will continue PT. From what I understand, each time the baby hits a developmental milestone their torticollis could get worse. He's been having weekly appointment since 4 months and it's not too bad in terms of time commitment.

[mae141]

DD was diagnosed at 4 months. We did PT through EI, and she had a helmet from 5-7 months. We had stretches and core strengthening exercises we had to do every day and that helped. I can still notice a slight tilt sometimes at 15 months, but other than that she's fine. I think she's been a little later than most kids with rolling, crawling, and walking, but not so late that I worried much.

[trafficgirl]

Both of my boys had torticollis, diagnosed around the 4 month mark. One was incredibly mild and nearly fixed itself and the other wasn't severe but not mild either.

Neither baby liked tummy time and were slightly late rolling. Really the biggest thing was they both favored one side while sleeping, so they developed flat spots. We did see a cranial specialist but decided not to get helmets for either kid. After PT and paying more attention to where and how they were laying down, their heads are totally fine now.

We did weekly PT from 4 months until 11 months - for the less mild kid. The other kid with the very mild case only needed a couple weeks of PT. After 11 months we had a couple check-up appointments as they started walking to make sure everything was working correctly. Our last appointment was when they were 14 months.

[mrs07]

Mar 16, 2015 6:55:21 GMT -5 teatimefor2 said:

Anyone's baby have Torticollis? At DS2, O, four month appt, he was diagnosed with it. We are starting physical therapy in April which is the first appt I could get.

Per pedi, it's a mild case but causing his flat head as he sleeps with his head in exactly the same position.

He also has zero desire to roll over. He's trying to sit up and has great ab strength, per his pedi.

Anyone else's child have this? Did it impact their ability to roll? We do a ton of tummy time, but he's not interested. He'd rather sit or stand.

Any insight would be appreciated.

We had this, almost exactly the same as you, diagnosed at 4mo appt, first PT a month later. We did PT till about 15mos, didn't have to get the helmet. Do what you can to get baby to turn the other way now. For ex mine liked to look out away from me while held on my shoulder, so I moved him to my right shoulder as much as possible so he turned the other way. When sleeping/loose muscled, I flipped head to non-favored side.

I noticed the head turning preference with ds2 and did the same to promote better range of motion - nothing diagnosed with him. Getting them sitting up helps. Snap your fingers, move a toy across the line of vision to get baby to turn that direction. Keep baby out of devices as much as possible, try sitting in your lap facing forward. Leaning against your uneven ribs is not so bad as leaning back like in a swing.

If you do get stuck with a helmet, chalk it up to the back to sleep campaign which reduces SIDS - that is, you are doing everything 'right,' this is just the price we pay nowadays for keeping our babies safer! FWP

I'm sure your baby's head won't be flat forever

[teatimefor2]

Thanks for all your comments.

I think, hope, we are doing things right. O is rarely in a car seat longer than an hour per week as we don't drive a lot, I do my best to wear him, use the bumbo, hold him upright, to ensure he's on his head as little as possible.

He can turn his head in both directions, but one side is 'tighter' is what I've been told.

Pedi didn't think it was serious enough to warrant a helmet so far.

My mom made the comment today that she thought his head was a bit more curvy - hopefully!

Thank you for all your comments. I feel bad about this, but I keep telling myself it's okay. It is fixable.

Sigh....