Baby`s head is tilted

[reei]

my bb has a tendency to sleep on her left side for the first three months. now , at 8 months, she will sleep on the right.. i think it should be okay.

[sherwes]

Hi, my baby had exactly the same problem at the same age (except he didn't have a flat head!). The doctor I saw in Australia at the time said that it wasn't a problem as many babies have a prefered side. She even gave me a brochure called "Does Your baby always look to the right?" (she also has one entitled "Does your baby always look to the left"!).

However, she advised that I should encourage my baby to look to the left or he could develop torticollis as he got older. Some ways to encourage your baby to look to the left are to stand on his left side when speaking or playing with him, putting interesting toys on his left side, laying him in the cot so that if he looks to the right he jsut sees a white wall but if he looks left he see all of the interesting things in the room etc. I was also advised to place a rolled up cloth nanny to the right of his head to prevent him turning it too far to the right when he slept (obviously you need to be aware of SIDS guidelines if you do this).

After a couple of weeks my baby started to look to the left. Happy to provide more info.

[mumto2]

I would speak to your paed about possibly seeing a chiropractor (obviously checking to make sure their main practice are babies and/or children). If for nothing else to just to a double check...it could be absolutely nothing but a preference but it does sound like you are a little worried so a couple of appointments might ease your worry.

[radicalmum]

check up on the term: torticollis or wryneck, see if that's your case but do also check with your pediatrician.

my girl has it too. I discovered it when she's 2 weeks old and now she's 10mths and still doing physio... =(
On top of the tilting when we first discovered this habit, we also found a lump one the affected side of her neck.

Hope this helps.

[Shenzhennifer]

Wow, glad to see that my baby is not alone.
He can look to each side and does. but he definitely prefers the one side.
A GP looked at him today and felt his neck. He said that the tilted side`s muscles seemed tighter. Tomorrow I`m going to see a Pediatrician at Adventist in Tsuen Wan. Let`s see what happens. Hopefully not as much physio as radicalmum`s baby - wow!

[Shenzhennifer]

Just to follow up, I went to see the Paed today. He didn`t find any bump and said that most likely, my son`s neck muscles were developing asymmetrically, apparently common and should even out within a few weeks or so, when I will see him again. In the meantime, I think I`ll do some more exercises with him to strengthen the other side.
Thanks for all your advice!

[LeahH]

Hi, a friend who is a physio noticed a slight tilt in my babies head (until then I hadn't noticed she had a preference for one side, but once it was mentioned it was quite obvious).

We had insurance and our Ped signed off sessions with a cranial osteopath/physio for mild 'torticulis' so they were fully covered. Whilst there, the physio said - do you want me to work on her flat head (hadn't noticed that either!) so all in all, it was great - both may have worked themselves out, but it was nice having someone sort it directly.

[Suv]

Shenzhennifer, my son also preferred one side. Paed told me 1. to change the direction he sleeps in his cot, so that he has things to look on the side he is not using. 2. We should encourage him to look on the less used side while sitting/ talking/ changing nappy on a particular side or 3. playing him by showing toys on that side etc. 4. We also massaged his neck muscles (the paed showed us) during his tummy time. This is all so that he uses his neck muscles that are tight, within 2 weeks his turning had reduced dramatically- and now at 6 mo. you would not know that he had any issue.