Hi! My name is Chelsea and my daughter has congenital torticollis.
I feel like I'm admitting to a secret or something. And it's not a secret at all! I just wanted to post about torticollis because I had NEVER heard of it before Stella was born. It's actually very common. If you're interested in learning more, here's some information on webmd, just click here!
We aren't sure what caused Stella's torticollis. It could have been how she was positioned in utero OR it could have been related to trauma during birth. We did have one little issue during birth. Stella's left arm started to come out beside her face. My doctor had to push her arm back inside. I remember my doctor saying her left arm was "compound." I remember her telling the nurse to "Check Stella's left arm!" Everything with her arm was fine but I think whatever happened might have injured her neck instead; therefore, causing torticollis?!?!
When Stella was around eight weeks old we made an appointment with her ped because we were having tons of issues with breastfeeding, well, just feeding in general. After lots of discussion, her ped said it sounded like acid reflux. Stella started Zantac and WOW, it did wonders! If we ever missed a dose, the crying would start back within minutes. Stella just recently stopped taking Zantac. Her ped said sometimes babies outgrow acid reflux around four to six months. He said we could try lowering her dose and then just stopping it all together. We did both and she's been just fine. She's officially off Zantac now.
So at the end of that appointment, her ped told us that she had torticollis and we needed to stretch her neck several times a day (like each time we changed her diaper). We were both like, okay, what is TORT-A-COLLIS? As soon as we got home I did some googling and completely freaked out. I couldn't believe her ped hadn't noticed it sooner. By the way, we've switched peds since then! But it made sense, Stella did prefer to turn her head to one side.
Here are a couple pictures of Stella when she was a newborn:
We never really noticed that she preferred that side until her ped brought it to our attention. But now when we look back at pictures, we really notice it. We started the daily stretching which you can check out, just click here!
I really started worrying about Stella's torticollis when it didn't seem to be improving with the stretches. Josh and I didn't feel comfortable doing the stretches. Our ped didn't make a big deal about it and we just didn't know what was going on or what we should be doing. I did some more googling and read that physical therapy is very important in correcting torticollis. Research shows that an infant's torticollis can be completely resolved by twelve months of age if physical therapy is implemented. I called a physical therapist in our area. After her brief initial consultation, she said Stella's torticollis was extremely mild. She said it would be resolved within a couple months. She only recommended home stretching and no weekly or bi weekly phyiscal therapy. She showed us how to do the stretches a little better so we felt more comfortable.
Two months later we still noticed Stella's torticollis. I found a new physical therapist in our area that specializes in torticollis. She is AMAZING! She did an awesome initial evaluation that was super detailed. It was neat to see how well Stella scored on her developmental milestones. She's right on track and even above on some. We are thankful that she is developing well even though she has torticollis. So the new plan includes at home stretching with bi weekly physical therapy appointments. During these appointments Stella's neck is stretched really well, and no, she does not like it.
I think Stella's torticollis has improved drastically. We are going to continue bi weekly physical therapy appointments for a few more months. Her ped recommended it as well. We do not want her torticollis to regress.
Any advice, suggestions or stories?
11 comments:
Thanks so much for this great info.! Our son has torticollis also (he's almost 4 months old) and I too had never heard of it before. You've given me some information that will hopefully help with correcting it. I appreciate your sharing:)
I have never heard of that before. Did the stretches help with her reflux any? My son has reflux and I was reading about someone taking their child to a chiropractor and it getting better.
My daughter had torticollis, too. I had never heard of it before either. She also hated the stretches, but they really worked!
Sam and Anna both have tort too. (Boy, the similarities keep coming- reflux, etc) (If you look at my FB pictures, you'll notice their head tilts a lot!) It is more common in multiple pregnancies because of the cramped space in the ute. Ours is mild too, we go to PT and do the stretches at home too. We went to the chiropractor in hopes that it would help with the tort and reflux, and although it didn't help much with reflux, it did wonders on their worst head tilting days. We used to go 3-2 times a week, now we just go to the chiropractor if we notice they wake up with their tilt back in the morning (sometimes they end up on the bottom or side of their cribs and I think that it scrunches them up and messes with their alignment.) We also make sure to position toys and their swings/bouncers on the side they don't prefer more frequently to encourage them to turn that way.
My nephew (7 months old) had severe tort and needed a helmet and surgery. I follow a lot of twin blogs where one of the twins needed a helmet for tort too- it's funny how once you hear about something, you notice it and see that it is more common than you thought! :) I'm glad Stella seems to be improving!
Torticollis is mainly caused by trauma during birth. My Abigail had it and I noticed when she was just a few weeks old that she was holding her head weird (this was my second baby; if she had been my first I probably wouldn't have noticed).
She went to Physical Therapy and we did stretches. We only had to go to two PT appointments before we "graduated" and by 4-5 months old she had Torticollis no more. It just means the muscles on one side of her neck are taut so tight she can't or won't turn her head the other way.
Gentle stimulation of her neck will correct it. Stretch/PT time was a fun, playful time. There were a lot of exercises Abby couldn't do, though, because she was SO young and had no neck strength. So make sure you do appropriate ones for Stella's age and in just a few weeks you'll notice huge improvements.
I have read about tort on a few blogs, all with girls! It appears to be pretty common. Its great youre so on top of working her muscles. Sounds like you found the right doc!
Kara also has torticollis. I was the one who noticed it, and the family doctor we saw at that time didn't believe me. A pediatrician made the diagnpsis immediately.
We has a PT come to our home twice to assess and show us exercises, but by then we had already done lots of stretching exercises on our own and her case wa pretty mild. She still has a side preference, but I sometimes wonder if that's because of the hand she prefers to suck on.
Our regular family doctor had twins shortly before K was born, and her daughter has bad torticollis and has ended up needed a helmet to round out her skull.
my little brother is a twin and he also had it! (only him, not his twin) he did therapy and stretches for a couple of months (i think around 6 months old too) and now he's 4 and fine.
actually now that i posted that i think he was older than that, maybe more like a year old when he did therapy.
My son couldn't turn his head to the left when he was newborn. I had already been seeing a chiropractor for my back in pregnancy. Our chiropractor came to see me at home and fixed my son at 6 days old. It was amazing. He immediately started eating and sleeping better. He gets checked every week or so when I go. Most of the time he is fine but he has gotten his neck stuck several times. Find a chiropractor that knows what they are doing with babies. It's not like adjusting an adult. It's just a little pressure in the right spot in the neck. Sometimes the baby symptoms are very subtle. Chiropractric infant care also reduce the risk of SIDS and ear infections. I'm an RN, I believe in a great chiropractor because I've seen how beneficial it can be. Just be picky about who you go to :)
Clarification: when I said he gets his neck stuck several times. I meant that my son usually does not need an adjustment but there have been several times when his neck has the problem and it's immediately fixed after seeing the chiropractor. Also, it has never been as severe as the first time. Now he is 3 months and it happens even less. He is so happy to be able to see his world from both sides. I honestly think it's trauma from birth and then the newborn neck is weak. As their head control improves this "condition" improves. Good luck
Post a Comment