head control

Hi,

Amber has brilliant head control, there is no holding her back. Ruby is worrying me though, she holds her head up but she seems to slant it to one side ,sort of as if it is stronger on the one side. Even during tummy time it slants when looking up. She is my IUGR baby and growth had all but stopped when i was 31 wks and i know her development is further behind than Amber's but i'm not sure that it is " normal" for it to slant to one side like this. Anyone else have a lo who did this before they gained real good head control?

tiA

 

Has she been evaluated for torticollis? That could be why her head slants to one side. It is a tightening of the neck muscles.

 

My niece started doing this, and my SIL started giving her neck massages which helped. Their Dr said it was most likely a neck cramp, and that if it didn't get better on it's own, then they would have to do something about it, so her muscles wouldn't get trained in that position.

 

Thanx ladies,

At her jabs 1 month ago a dr examined her and gave her a clean bill of health but i will be getting her looked at again, i'm really worried now.

 

I think we're living parallel lives! Yes, one of my girls did. She had (has) a bigger head than her sister, and so I think it took her longer to hold her head straight. We did take her to the chiropractor once and she had two vertabra that were out of whack, but since then, it has mainly been a muscle control issue. Until about a week and a half ago, she tilted it to one side or the other, but now she is strong enough to hold it straight all the time.

This happened about the same time that I noticed she was doing really well on tummy time and holding her head up for 10 minute stretches or so.

Wouldn't hurt to get it checked out for muscle cramps or such, but I think she'll be fine. Don't worry!

 

Due to reflux, I was told to put my girls on their right side for 1 hour after eating to digest the food. NICU nurses gave me this advice. This is what I was doing for the first 2 months and they often slept like that. Well, their heads started slanting to one side (both the heads themselves as well as neck muscles). My pedi said to vary their positions and hold them to the other side. This was 7 weeks ago and it is getting much better. They just have to strengthen the muscles in their necks on the "other side" according to the pedi (I hope he is correct!)

 

My ds did this and had torticollis and needed pt to get over it. Not to scare you, it's totally correctly but just sound bad. Def ask the ped if she has that or not.

 

I LOVE this forum! I learn so much. I had never heard of this condition but I looked it up and I think both my girls have it. Thanks for the info, I will have to take them to the pedi now.

 

Thanx ladies! I have looked into it now.. i'm no dr but i'm almost sure she has it. My Drs are useless, i can't beleive this wasn't picked up on a month ago,she was doing it then it just wasn't as worrying to me as she was still gaining her head control. Right now it is like she is much stronger on one side and more or less unable to move it the other way Good news is during tummytime today she rolled over (front to back) for the first time ever :banana:
It's bank holiday over here but i will be getting her in to see a dr Tuesday. Does anyone no if it can be corrected easily with pt at her age? just i have read that it is easy to correct in the early weeks of life and alot harder once they are older. I'm so upset that she is having to deal with this, she has already been through such a difficult start to her little life it saddens me to think she has yet another problem to battle poor baby

 

Looks like you may have already identified the problem, but I also have a daughter with torticollis. She was wedged in the birth canal for over 13 weeks and because of her position, she favored tilting her head to her left shoulder...whether she was laying on her back, sitting supported, lifting her head during tummy time, etc.

We didn't have to do any physical therapy. Our ped just showed us some exercises at home to do during each diaper change. And now you would never really know that she had a pretty bad head tilt when she was born!

 

Thanx Jessiejean!
Sorry your daughter had this condition but i'm really glad she has more or less recovered from it! I'm just really concerened that we have found it too late.. making it alot harder to treat easily.
Oh well, first things first she needs a diagnosis.

 

Quick update...

My Dr checked Ruby over today, she had her look both ways while sat up and on her tummy. "In her professional Ruby isn't suffering from torticollis because she has clearly demonstrated that she can look both ways, some children just have a preference and it may be that Ruby prefers to lean to the left" I'm really quite anoid and don't feel we were taken seriously! To be fair to the dr Ruby wasn't leaning as badly as she has been doing but you can clearly see she has a flat head and struggles to hold her head upto the left.

Our other issues were for both girls, since they had tonsilitus and a viral infection they wont eat there amounts and Amber inparticular has one run at the bottle and then screams bluemurder if you try and get it back in her mouth. The dr said "come back when she is losing weight then i'll be interested" I asked if it could be down to there reflux.."no the fact that she is taking some tells her it's not that, if she was taking a full bottle and had these issues then it could of been" I honestly dnt think this dr knows what she is tallking about. We are changing drs after the girls jabs on friday because of this and other issues in the past, until then i will just have to give lots of tummytime to Ruby and feed as much as they can tolerate.

 

That is frustrating but even without a diagnosis, hopefully those of us who have been through the pt can tell you what works.....def as much tummy time as you can get her to do, all waking hours!!!!! There are also exercises you can do for balance and head turning I can describe in more detail if you want
Hope they feel better sooN!

 

QUOTE(paulacraft1 @ May 26 2009, 08:10 PM) [snapback]1328575[/snapback]
That is frustrating but even without a diagnosis, hopefully those of us who have been through the pt can tell you what works.....def as much tummy time as you can get her to do, all waking hours!!!!! There are also exercises you can do for balance and head turning I can describe in more detail if you want
Hope they feel better sooN!


Thanx Paula, very frustrating! I am just so sure she has this condition.
I am all about tummytime, Ruby isn't but i am lol She doesn't love it but i try and make it fun and distract her with songs and toys. Yes please i would be very grateful to learn what exercises we are safe to do.
Do you think she is safe in a bumbo? It's just i read to keep away from jumpers and walkers.. Her head control is good just not as good on her left .

 

What head exercises do you recommend for this condition? I think my girls both have it and I wonder if I can wait until their 4 months check-up (2 weeks away) to have the pedi look at them. I mentioned my concern at their 2 months check-up and he just said to hold them sideways to strengthen the weaker side.

 

There are several. At that age, most important it is to hold them so that they lay their heads on your shoulder making them look opposite of whichever direction their head hangs. Think of the reason the head lags is due to weak muscles on that side so they must strengthen them. Another one is holding them facing out so their back is on your chest and you put your arm on their shoulder so your arm touches their ear.....apply gentle pressure pushing their neck up to the weak side strengthing again that muscle that is weak.....
hope this helps!

as they get older, it will affect all developmental milestones.....sitting up alone, crawling, and walking....for sitting up, put them in those bumbo chairs as often as possible even though their head tilts it forces them to right their head.....and for crawling, show them how to crawl up steps, it is the same motions as crawling and will get their body trained to those motions......

 

Yes she is safe in a bumbo, it is recommended from my DS's therapist....he hated tummy time too, just make it as pleasant as you can, he always loved music and puppets so we would combine that
Yes the jumpers affect their muscle tone in a bad way, my DS had high muscle tone, he would tighten his muscles and it made the torticollis and milestones worse.......and the walkers same thing....not to mention the danger of them by steps....

 

QUOTE(paulacraft1 @ May 26 2009, 10:17 PM) [snapback]1328749[/snapback]
Yes she is safe in a bumbo, it is recommended from my DS's therapist....he hated tummy time too, just make it as pleasant as you can, he always loved music and puppets so we would combine that
Yes the jumpers affect their muscle tone in a bad way, my DS had high muscle tone, he would tighten his muscles and it made the torticollis and milestones worse.......and the walkers same thing....not to mention the danger of them by steps....

:thanks: so much for giving me these tips, can't wait to get going with them! Hope Ruby is ready for me lol
She will be doing these :babyflips: in no time!

Again thanx for your help xxx

 

You are more than welcome.
I'm at [email protected] if you ever need anything else!: )

 

One DS has real trouble turning his head. I need to talk to the pedi about it. I wanted to ask, though, the Bumbo is only for babies once they can hold their heads up, right?

 

QUOTE(paulacraft1 @ May 26 2009, 11:29 PM) [snapback]1328832[/snapback]
You are more than welcome.
I'm at [email protected] if you ever need anything else!: )


Your sooo gonna regret that lady!

 

QUOTE(Rebekah J @ May 27 2009, 05:17 AM) [snapback]1329313[/snapback]
One DS has real trouble turning his head. I need to talk to the pedi about it. I wanted to ask, though, the Bumbo is only for babies once they can hold their heads up, right?


Sorry to hear your little boy is struggling with this also, it's hard to see them struggle isn't it. Yes i am on the understanding that bumbo's are only to be used with babies who have head control. Ruby does have head control it is just harder for her to turn her head round to the left but she can hold it up.