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Baby's head tilting to one side?

  • 08-07-2011 8:57am
    #1
    Mr Benevolent
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,456 ✭✭✭✭


    My 3 month old niece's head is generally tilted to one side when she's sat up and I'm wondering what could be the problem. She can look around and track objects fine and doesn't seem to be in pain when moving her head. It's more when she's staring at a colour that her head leans.

    Is this normal? If not, what is it and what can her parents do about it? From a small amount of investigation it seems to be torticollis but I'm not sure. Any advice is welcome.


Comments

  • #2
    Cat Melodeon
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,617 ✭✭✭Cat Melodeon


    Confab wrote: »
    My 3 month old niece's head is generally tilted to one side when she's sat up and I'm wondering what could be the problem. She can look around and track objects fine and doesn't seem to be in pain when moving her head. It's more when she's staring at a colour that her head leans.

    Is this normal? If not, what is it and what can her parents do about it? From a small amount of investigation it seems to be torticollis but I'm not sure. Any advice is welcome.
    The 'What to expect' books talk about this - it's quite common that babies favour one side to the other. I've never heard of torticollis, obviously if you think there is a problem they should speak to their doctor. At 3 months, the baby's neck muscles aren't yet strong enough to hold her head up evenly for long periods. The authors in the WTE book suggest that you just encourage the baby to look the other way by feeding from the side she doesn't favour, putting up high contrast black and white pictures on the wall beside her crib to get her to look in the unfavoured direction, read and talk to her from the side she tilts away from. It should sort itself out as she gets stronger.


  • #3
    Daisy M
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,559 ✭✭✭Daisy M


    Confab wrote: »
    My 3 month old niece's head is generally tilted to one side when she's sat up and I'm wondering what could be the problem. She can look around and track objects fine and doesn't seem to be in pain when moving her head. It's more when she's staring at a colour that her head leans.

    Is this normal? If not, what is it and what can her parents do about it? From a small amount of investigation it seems to be torticollis but I'm not sure. Any advice is welcome.
    Speak to your gp as the baby may need to be referred for physio. My first born had torticollis it is easily sorted with a bit of physio whic helps to get the neck muscles going. However torticollis can cause the babys head to be misshapen as they are lying on one side all the time. This did happen with my son one side of head was fairly flat and continued to be so for some time he is now a teenager and luckily it has more or less rounded out.
    Also just to add placing the baby on alternate sides when she goes for a nap also helps.


  • #4
    foxy06
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,138 ✭✭✭foxy06


    My baby had this and was reffered to physio by the phn. I was very worried about it at the time but it looks worse than it is. One tip I got was to turn the baby so they have to turn to look at you and also lots of tummy time to strengthen the muscles.


  • #5
    twinkleT
    Registered Users Posts: 27 ✭twinkleT


    Hi, my little fella had this at 4/5months, he was a big baby and the PHN organised for a physio to come look at him. we had to put him on his tummy and make him look to the left (the tilt was down and to the right). physio also said to feed him from other side of high chair and also had a look at the way he was sleeping at night. She called to the house about 3 times and by 6 months it was fine. Suggest contacting your local PHN or doctor who will put you in touch with physio. The earlier the better for these things.


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