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One of my twin daughters born at 33 weeks isd thought to have torticollis or twisted neck. The muscles in her neck and back are very strong and she archs her back. She is only 4 months actual and can roll from her back to her belly on the side that is tight. She will see the doctor in about 3 weeks. Anyone else have this or heard of it?
Surgery Occupational therapy Torticollis Physical therapy Plagiocephaly
Torticollis is very common - especially with twins, b/c they can get sort of "stuck" in the womb in one way, creating this tightness. My daughters had obvious tightness when they were born (30 weekers). The OT at the NICU picked up on this when they were only a week old, and made sure to position them in their crib so that their necks weren't always turning their heads to the same size. We were also given a handful of excercises for stretching this side, and by 3 months, the tightness was gone. Flatness of the head is often a result of this, if left untreated. My advice to you is to obtain all of the stretches and excercises from a therapist, and do them religiously. We would do them at each diaper change. Also, make sure you don't always change your baby on the same side, maybe alternate every other changing. Lastly, try to be concious of turning her head while in the crib often, to the other side. This may take a ton of work, but it is very beneficial in the end. If left untreated, some parents must resort to helmets, to help with the flatness and assymetry of the head and face that results. That's why I say to keep on the stretches and avoiding her turning her head to the one side. Good luck.
My son had torticollis diagnosed by OT at 2.5 months adjusted. It delayed his grabbing skills on the left side making him look more like a 1 month old on motor skills.
* stretches given to us by OT
* switcing up sides during feeds (I'm right handed and I always held son on left side so that I could control bottle from right...that's what probably caused it!)
* switching up sides when putting baby to bed
* switching up sides during diaper changes
Those changes helped our son. We saw improvement within a couple weeks.
And our son did the rolling at 2 month adjusted too, but it obviously wasn't the "good" kind of rolling, which comes from the hips, usually a couple months later.
Hi,
I agree with what the ladies above wrote. My daughter also had torticollis and the above methods helped her to overcome the issue (lots of stretching). Good luck!
KateK had some really good advice, my daughter had that too. She was just discharged from therapy yesterday! But our PT gave us some great stretches. We also placed toys on her jungle mat to the side where she was having trouble looking/turning towards. We were also told to put a mirror (one of those crib mirrors) on the side of the crib that she was having trouble looking at. Katek pointed out most of them. Pretty common I heard. My daughter was discharged, but we have to follow up with our ped to make sure she doesn't need one of those helmets because her head is a little flat/uneven. Good luck!
all of mine had it and one still does. lots of stretches will do the trick. other things we did to help was put mirros in their cribs to the side you want them to look. hang rings and lovies on that side of the car seat, make them have to look to the preferred side to see toawrds the open of their room (away from wall).
very common! hth
also not corrected soon enough can lead to plagiocephaly, also something mine all dealt with. the tightening on the neck and continuous looking to one side causes the head to flatten requireing a helmet or DOC band. which btw,3 of mine just got out of their bands today!!!
Did some one say Torticollis? That's totally us!
We had occupational therapy, and physical therapy to fix my sons. But it also lead to the dreaded Positional Plagacephally! And we have been in a DOC Band from cranial technologies for 7 months normal time is 3-4 months!
It's not something to brush off, and is fixable with stretching and strengthening. You may have to fight for treatment but without it there are alot of set back. My son didn't try to crawl until he was 10 m actual and after a occupational therapist started stretching his neck.
my son, one of a twin, is 7 1/2 months actual, 4 1/2 months adjusted, and was recently fitted for a collar (soft foam material in a cloth covering) that is helping him position his head away from the side he favors and more midline. we also have been doing exercises from our PT, pushing his opposite shoulder down and the back of his head up to alleviate the muscle tightening he has on that side. hope it all helps.
when did everyone start seeing results of the stretching?
We were fortunate and saw results within a couple of weeks. A bit longer to get things on track developmentally b/c Henry had to learn to use his left arm in ways he hadn't been. But improvement could be seen quickly.
I really think that switching the side on which I fed Henry helped just about as much as the stretches.
We did the stretches at every diaper change. It was just an easy way to remember to do them often.
One of my twin boys had torticollis diagnosed at our IDAC appointment at around 4 months. He is now almost 8 months actual and doing well. The exercises and stretches help out a lot. He also has a slight plagiocephaly. He is rolling over and will actually crawl soon-ahead of his brother. He is trying so hard! What I notice is when he is tired, his head tends to lean the side. It takes time and effort, but it does get better. Keep at it.
~C
I everyone - I just found this group, and am pretty excited! I am 30 and HAVE unresolved Tort. 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" - Deanna@mytortsupport.com
mytortsupport_com,
Way to go turning your challenges into a campaign to help others!
It's been awhile since we've had to worry about it, but I seem to recall that our son's OT said that they'd seen an increase in torticollis since the back to sleep campaign. Obviously, back to sleep is really important for lowering the risks of SIDS. But that means that when baby is awake, the parent has to be super proactive about giving baby as much opportunity off the back of the head and working both sides of the body as one can.
I usually do a lot of research on various preemie topics. I spent less time on torticollis than some other areas b/c we were fortunate that things turned around quickly once we started doing the stretches (very diligent about doing them several times a day) and switching up sides for feeding, changing, and sleeping. But I'd assume that there must be some research on rates of torticollis across time. If the OT is right that the back to sleep campaign is associated with increases in torticollis, then it would be really important for literature to be out there explaining that one has to make as much use of non-sleeping time as possible.
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