DD Keeps turning her head to the right

[Indadhanu]

Hi eevee,

Our daughter was diagnosed with torticollis and plagiocephaly at about 4 months old. The physio gave us that diagnosis and a whole bunch of special exercises that we had to do at least once an hour while she was awake. It was mostly just exercises to get her to turn to the other side, at first we did have to gently push her head. VERY gently! And as time went on the muscle strengthened and allowed her to turn her head further. Also the physio recommended a Bumbo seat to use and to limit time on her head. So either tummy time, or sitting in the Bumbo, or in her sling, or laying on the floor but only while we were doing the neck stretching exercises or me playing on her left side to make her turn her head.

It was really quite intensive but the plagiocephaly was quite involved and her ears weren't parallel anymore, the right one was more forward and her forehead stuck out on the right and went backwards on the left, and her jaw/chewing/speech development were at risk, so we had to get on top of it. The physio said the earlier you can get onto it the better because the plates fuse at 12 months and theres not much you can do after that.

If there is no improvement by I think 7-8 months, there was the possibility that she'd need the helmet. So we did this every waking hour, and she usually hated it. I guess it was uncomfortable.

We also did 'exercises' in the non-waking hours. Not sure if this is something you could consider, something I found that helped a lot was co-sleeping. Jazz had a shortened right muscle and a lengthened left muscle due to doctors pulling her with the vacuum during her birth when she was stuck and it pulled her muscle and her head/neck out of alignment, she only turned her head to the right, so I slept on her left and breastfed her through the night. She had to turn to the right to feed, and I think this really helped (since she pretty much fed all night ). I'd try and try and try to get her to turn her head the opposite way while she was sleeping but because it was torticollis resulting in plagiocephaly, and not just plagiocephaly, it was pretty much useless because she'd immediately snap back to the right. So I needed to do something that I knew would keep her head to the left.

She does still have a lumpy bumpy head, but her jaw is not effected, and her ears are pretty much in line now when you look down on her head. She also has no limits with turning her head anymore. She doesn't seem to have any other alignment issues at this stage.

Hope this helps