Anyone's Baby Have Torticollis?

My son had the same thing. We also took him to physical therapy and did the exercises at home. We did the exercises with every diaper change. He is 2 1/2 and his neck is fine. They told me the same reason why it happened. He also favored one side. It was very hard if he fell asleep in the swing or car seat to keep his head straight. They say sometimes you can roll a towel up and put it to the side the head bends towards. I wouldn't worry about it too much. If you keep doing what you are doing it will all work out. I know it's hard when the baby is only 3 months old. You worry about so much. I was also a first time mom when that happened. I hope this helps.

I would look into pediatric chiropractors. I know a woman who her and her husband run one and she said they work with torticollis patients frequently.

My daughter had torticollis. We detected it early, within weeks of her birth, and took her to PT two days a week, and I did the exercises at home the entire time. You need to do those exercises, and it will resolve very quickly. I believe our problem was resolved within a month. Now, be careful, because due to torticollis my daughter developed a very bad flat spot on her head and she had to wear a helmet for over three months. You will enjoy her more once the PT is done but right now you're doing it for her.
Good luck

Hi Cathy. I have a daughter with medical issues, so I know how hard it can be to juggle everything. Just do what you can do. No one expects you to be Superwoman, and remember that it takes time to see a difference. My cousin's baby had torticollis. She had the SAME symptoms you are seeing. The "baby" is 2 now, and she has NO symptoms of it now. She didn't even to physical therapy. Hope this helps.

Take her to a Bowen Practitioner.

www.bowenwork.com

Hi there,

You are lucky you caught it early...My daughter's wasn't caught until she was 6 months...BUT, she is fine now (3 yrs) and every now and then when she's tired or sick, I see the tilt come back. The exercises are a pain in the butt, but be thankful it was diagnosed and you're taking care of it. The last thing you want is for it to last, so take the time now to nip it in the bud...We had a great doctor at St. Vincent's called Dr. Meg Krilov--you may want to see her--we loved her. Regards, V.

Yes, my baby was diagnosed with torticollis and positional plagiocephaly (flat head) at her 3-month wellness checkup. I felt overwhelmed at first too. Mostly my husband and I felt guilty that we didn't switch up her positions and caused these conditions. Torticollis and flat head are very common. Thankfully the great news is that they are also very fixable.

I took my baby to physical therapy once a week for 10 visits and we did exercises every day at home. I didn't think of it as "torticollis exercises." This is actually how you are supposed to "play" with your baby. Before this I always thought of play as some new gadget that would attract my baby's attention, so actually I was relieved to know exactly how to spend my time with her and what to do with her.

All the play will strengthen your baby's neck, chest and back muscles so she will be able to hold her head up, roll over, sit up, crawl and so on.

If your baby doesn't like being on her tummy use a rolled up towel to place under her, or a Boppi, or you can place her across your leg.

I'm a stay-at-home mom and this was our play routine(my baby's now 6-months-old and her torticollis and flat head are gone):

After (mostly) every bottle: put her in swing or read to her in my lap to digest for 15 minutes or so.

Then: stretch play on floor.

Then: get down on floor and play -- tummy time (use toys to attract her attention/distract her from her complaints.) Roll her (both ways) on to her tummy and then back.

Then: stretch play on floor.

After a diaper change, put her on her tummy for a minute or so.

Use Baby Bijorn for walks: This way baby uses her neck chest and back muscles to hold her head up.

Also hold her (Mast-of-the-ship hold)again to strengthen neck, chest and back muscles.

Nap and Bedtime: place her on side to sleep (my baby needed to strengthen her left side, so we placed her on her left. Now I turn her head to the left and next nap turn her head to the right.)

After each physical therapy visit we had new exercises to incorporate into our daily routine. And that is the key -- to create a daily routine. Then it will all become second nature to you and your little one.

I know every situation is different yet I hope this was helpful. It will all be okay. Shoot for 5-7 times, it is possible. (At first, your baby will be stretching and on his/her tummy for a minute or so, and then increase it from there.) Also try not to make yourself crazy if you don't always make it.

My best,
B.

Cathy;

My son who is now a thriving 28 month old was diagnosed with torticolis at 1 month old. I was devastated with this. We started private PT 3 times a week until EI kicked in and then did EI 2x a week and private PT 3 times a week (we pd out of pocket), just to get it resolved. It took almost a year. I right away went out and bought the neck holders for the car seat , bouncy and the crib. The problem with PT and the little things you do tummy time, the head holders in her sitting things will do, it is overwhelming at first and you feel so terrible, but its not something we caused or could have prevented. He actually because of the PT reached all his milestones early and had no regression or delays (knocking wood. It does get harder as they get older as they are being streched they become more resistant, but know it is worth it. We were discharged from EI with glowing colors, when we had our 2 yr old check up, our Dr. said you would never know he was a torticolis baby.
The one word of advice I will give is be comfortable with the PT you choose, wether private or through EI, we switched EI therapist 2x (my son is a big boy) and I felt she could not handle him. When choosing a private PT we went with 1 who was not on our insurance , because the insurance one without even evaluating him was saying he needed a helmet and began to tell me how much that would cost. We ended up in the end paying for it all out of pocket (after 17 months a total of almost 15,000) but money well spent.... be comfortable for you child and know you will do whatever possible for them..
If you feel overwhelmed and need to vent please do so, I knwo the feeling, but in the end anything we go through is for our lil ones.
Have a great day.

L.

Just wanted to send you good wishes. Is going to be tough for a while but, like the previous posters say: it will resolve soon and won't leave any lasting damage if you do the exercises faithfully. So just arm yourself with LOTS of patience and help that poor baby. Just think of how uncomfortable it is when YOU suffer of torticollis!
Good luck!

I used to work for a physical therapist who treated this all the time. It is very important you do the exercises with her as much as possible-I know how hard it is to fit everything in so as many times a day as you can! It will get better and she will be fine with the help you are giving her. This too shall pass! Take care and good luck.

my cousins baby had it.. she had friends come over .. and when they were over.. or in laws.. they would help with the stuff that had to be done for the baby... my cousin's baby is now 3 and fine.. but you have to do all the excersises while they are young and developing.... so keep up the good work...

My son was diagnosed with Torticollis at his 2 month check up. I felt awful that for 2 months I didn't notice that his head was almost always turned to one side (it was clear in all of his baby pictures). He was very large baby and my first and the pediatrician and orthopedist said that it was very common from being cramped in there.

I took him to physical therapy for 7 months and did my best to do the home exercises. They were difficult but I found that if I incorporated it into play time the stretching was a lot easier. He always hated being on his back for diaper changing, dressing etc. - but was much more cooperative when we were on the floor, with various toys and I was talking to him.

I also found that the football hold stretch was the easiest to do as he did not mind it as much as the stretches on his back. I always did them in front of a mirror so he could see me making faces and talking to him and could see himself. I also rocked him a little while we would do it and a lot of times, he really enjoyed this.

Its best to do as much of the streching and PT when they are very little as when they get older and stronger and can move around themselves they start resisting even more. Also - don't get discouraged if they seem to be improving and then the tilt seems to come back. The physical therapist informed me that often, when they learn new skills and start using different muscles, they often revert back to the tilt. Just keep doing the best you can and know that it should not have long lasting effects.

I think that the physical therapy actually helped his physical development overall as he started rolling pretty early, sitting up pretty early and was walking at 9 months. By his 12 month check up with the orthopedist, she could not see any signs of the torticollis.

my son - now 3 - had it...TOTALLY fine now...he went through early intervention...i know manhattan has it....ask your pediatrician...you can get services free of charge - they will charge your insurance to try to recoup some money but no copays for u....it helped my son immensly and i didn't have to do much with him...hope that helps!

A very close friend of mine has a 7 month old who had it from birth as well. With physical therapy and doing the exercises at home he is completely fine now. He doesn't even go to physical therapy any longer because he has improved tremendously. He has full range of motion with his head and you would never even know he had the problem to begin with. As far as tummy time I really don't know to many babies who do like it so it is not just because of the torticollis. Most babies cry on their tummies so even if you can get a few minutes at a time a few times a day that will be enough. Try not to stress over it to the point of not enjoying your baby. This is nothing life threatening and it will improve over time. I know as a mom we worry but try to just look at this as a temporary situation. Can you get someone else to help with the exercises like your husband or a family member to take the stress off of you. I am sure not sleeping and your hormones not being where they should be is adding to your stress level. Having a newborn is not easy and adding these issues will only make it more difficult. Good luck I am sure you will see improvement shortly.

Hi Cathy K,

I am a mother of soon to be three children and Pediatric Chiropractor. I can say since we see may children in our practice your babies problem is not an uncommon event. Physical therapy is great if the problem was ONLY with the muscle. In the case of torticollis, I have always found it to be nerve interference or stress. Your baby has nerves that go its muscles throughout the body and yes birth is a very traumatic and stressful event for the child. Sometimes these nerves can be pinched an when the transmissions of the nerves are stressed then you have malfunctioning muscles, body parts, organs such as digestion. The nervous system is the master system which communicates with your entire body. Most of the time we do not know we have a problem until its too late, when symptoms come about.
Any questions contact me ###-###-####, check out the ICPA4kids.com and get that baby to a trained pediatric chiropractor.
Dr. V. LaRocco
The Greater Wellbeing

Have her evaluated by the state with early intervention. You may be able to get someone to come to your house to do the PT which may relieve some of the overwhelming feelings you are experiencing.

Cathy,
My son who is now a thriving 6 year old had torticollis as an infant. He was 3 months old and we had him in PT and Drs offices. It is very scary but just remember you are doing this for your little girl and she will get better. My son actually had to have a helmer because the plates in his head wouldnt fuze together properly but it was the cutest helmet and he learned to do so much stuff so fast, including walking because he had no fear. Now of course I had tons of fear but as long as you dont show it to them, they dont seem to care. My son hated tummy time too but I went out and bought him a mat that I put on the floor with all of these toys attached to it and mirrors, he loved it. As long as he had something to do while on his tummy he was fine. He also grew to love PT and even the Drs office. It was heartwrenching for me then but to see him today, you would never know. Good luck and I wish you and your daughter well.

Hi,

My baby had the same thing...head was always to the left, and there was a lump on his neck too. I did the stretches sometimes, but not with any regularity (I, too, felt stressed out by having to do them), and he did not receive physical therapy. The torticollis disappeared on its own, and the lump went away. So, basically, for my son the problem resolved without any intervention...I just tried to remember to keep his head tilted to the other side when I could.

R.

My sister's son had it....and now he is two and looks great! I remember my sister was worried too since he was her third and she couldn't really do the exercises with him. She did take him to physical therapy a few times but other than that it worked it's way out. I just wanted to let you know that she didn't do the exercises and he still looks perfectly normal.

I was never given a medical term for it but my oldest had a lump on one side of his neck and favored turning his head to one side as well. As time consuming as the exercises may be, unfortunately it has to be done so your little one doesn't have any lasting effects hopefully. She may not like tummy time but again, it's something she HAS to do to strengthen her neck muscles. Just wait, the things she fights you on are going to get bigger as she does so it's good practice for standing your ground because you know it's best for her.

Another thing you can do about her neck is alternate the side of the crib you lay her on or anywhere you set her down for that matter. Our doctor was saying if we always laid our son one way and the most interesting thing to him was to one side, then he was going to keep looking that way and add to this problem. By turning him so his head is where is feet are the next night for instance, it made him turn his head to look in the direction he liked.

I don't remember it taking a long time to go away but that's been almost 9 years. Just stay strong and keep doing it and look at the exercises as play time with her. :) Good luck.

Dear Cathy, I have not heard of this before so I have no experience. I know it is not easy but please take the time to do the neck stretches and the tummy time. With lots of love and prayer your baby should be OK. Has anything else been suggested as the baby gets older? Best wishes, Grandma Mary

My son had it and we did the exercises every day. I also teach mommy baby yoga in Brooklyn and he came with me all the time. I think both helped him tremendously. In my class, we do lots of things incorporating tummy time and the moms are fascinated that their babies who normally hate tummy time are actually enjoying it. Email me directly at ____@____.com and we can talk more about it. If you're not too far from me, maybe you can bring your baby to my class and meet some other moms and not feel so overwhelmed. Chiropractic can help too. We also did that with my son.

M. Kennedy
Shanti Baby Yoga
ShantiBaby.com

My daughter (who is now almost 4) had it when she was born. I def had the SAME worries that you are having. First, just be glad that you caught it very early on. My daughter did physical therapy, and was luckliy "cured" of her torticollis after 8 weeks. I say "cured" because I later (at the age of 3) found out that it might have been a miss diagonosis b/c she has 4th nerve palsy in her eye that causes her head to tilt. I know how hard it is to be a first time mom with such a little baby, that is a stress in it self. And then to have to worry about doing the at home stretching. It is scary and I remember that is all I could see when I looked at her, her head tilt. Your little baby is going to be fine. You are doing all the right things. Keep up with the physical therapy and I wish you all the best. From another mom who can feel your pain.

I everyone - I just found this group, and am pretty excited! I am 30 and HAVE unresolved Torticollis. Had surgery at 13 years, and still have several complications and questions I can't seem to find answers to... So much so that I have been working on a website called www.mytortsupport.com I'd love the groups input on adding more content, participating in the discussion groups, and any comments or suggestions you have -- thanks, and you need to know that the work you are doing to resolve your babies, is THE most important thing you can do...to help them grow up "normal" - D.

My Tort Support
Source: www.mytortsupport.com
My Tort Support is a resource and support network for parents and caregivers of infants and children with congenital muscular torticollis, ocular tort, and other forms of torticollis, CMT