@emilyjackt My son had torticolis also favoring the left, we called him Mr. left for months. The big thing to watch out for is a flat head. In the crib we always laid him down so he would have to look right if he wanted to look down. Tummy time and stretching will be super important for addressing it. Many people work with a PT, I was able to address it at home with stretches my pediatrician gave me but PT is wonderful as well. You can find some torticolis stretches being demonstrated by pediatric PTs on YouTube.
Baby Solely Turning Head to Left
- Thread starter emilyjackt
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kingdomkings
New member
@emilyjackt Way to go noticing this early! Our baby didn't have torticollis, but he did have a head side preference, and we didn't catch it until he had a pretty noticeable flat spot on one side of his head. Treatment is just PT, and it's super easy, and often very effective. Babies grow and change so quickly that it doesn't take long to start seeing improvement!
We did PT to encourage him to look in both directions, even though it wasn't a muscular issue, and I really enjoyed learning more about how to encourage movement and motor development.
Edit: One easy way to get baby to stretch that side of the neck is to place him on his side, then let his body turn back onto his back while holding his head gently in place so baby ends up on his back with head turned in the direction that he needs to practice turning in (don't force it, of course - just light pressure). This was more effective for us than trying to turn his head while keeping his body still.
We did PT to encourage him to look in both directions, even though it wasn't a muscular issue, and I really enjoyed learning more about how to encourage movement and motor development.
Edit: One easy way to get baby to stretch that side of the neck is to place him on his side, then let his body turn back onto his back while holding his head gently in place so baby ends up on his back with head turned in the direction that he needs to practice turning in (don't force it, of course - just light pressure). This was more effective for us than trying to turn his head while keeping his body still.
kingdomkings
New member
@emilyjackt Our eldest had torticollis. Our pediatrician recommended some exercises (the stretching to the side people have mentioned) and putting him down to sleep in alternating directions. We did the exercises for a few weeks and everything was fine. We didn’t end up seeing a PT at all since we could do the stretching at home. It was scary at the time but a non-issue long term.
username1324
New member
@emilyjackt Please look up baby begin on instagram! No referral needed and they WILL help. You need to start addressing any flatness and tightness ASAP.
My daughter started therapy at 8 weeks and we avoided a helmet
My daughter started therapy at 8 weeks and we avoided a helmet
taylorsexton
New member
@emilyjackt We had something similar. He was never officially diagnosed with torticollis, but we got into a state run early intervention program. We had a PT come out and evaluate him, and during the evaluation itself she already gave us some tips that helped out and he was basically better by our first appointment that was ~4w later.
- Baby wearing helps "jostle" the baby to help stiff muscles loosen.
- Tummy time is good, but side time is also good. Lying on the side helps stretch out the neck muscles.
- It's OK to help baby stretch. So you can gently help baby turn his/her head into the direction and hold it for a moment or two.
emilyjackt
New member
@taylorsexton Ooohhh I like these recommendations! Admittedly we’re not much for wearing because we typically either carry him or have him lay in an enhanced environment, but we can give it a go! I’ve also never thought to try “side time”, but we’ll try that too!
I definitely appreciate the advice!
I definitely appreciate the advice!
russelae01
New member
@emilyjackt My son had some torticollis too. I don’t think it was congenital (might have been related to his severe reflux), but it took a couple months to work out. My pediatrician recommended doing a few different things to encourage him to turn his head the other way.
But do ask your pediatrician. Depending on the severity, they may refer you to a PT who can show you other exercises for your baby.
- Alternate which direction you put your baby in his crib/bassinet. If you typically put him down with his head facing north, then switch it so that his head is facing south. He will automatically turn his head towards whatever side you’re on.
- Same goes for the changing table. If you typically change him with his head facing one direction, swap him to the other side to encourage him to turn his head to the right.
- If you do contact naps, same principle. Alternate which side he’s napping in your lap. If you bottle feed, same thing. Switch sides.
But do ask your pediatrician. Depending on the severity, they may refer you to a PT who can show you other exercises for your baby.
emilyjackt
New member
@russelae01 Thank you for sharing the recommendations your pediatrician provided. I hadn’t thought to rotate direction of sleep and diaper changes, so we will certainly give it a try. It’s a very simple change, so it shouldn’t hurt anything to try it!
With contact naps, he actually does turn his head to the right willingly and almost seems to prefer it to turning to the left. I think that’s what might be the most confusing part. It’s still good to hear that as a recommendation from a professional to know we’re on the right track with that.
With contact naps, he actually does turn his head to the right willingly and almost seems to prefer it to turning to the left. I think that’s what might be the most confusing part. It’s still good to hear that as a recommendation from a professional to know we’re on the right track with that.
russelae01
New member
@emilyjackt No problem!
Yeah, I liked this method that my pediatrician recommended because it didn’t involve physically forcing my baby to turn his head. It allowed him to do it on his own, which seemed much gentler IMO.
Yeah, I liked this method that my pediatrician recommended because it didn’t involve physically forcing my baby to turn his head. It allowed him to do it on his own, which seemed much gentler IMO.
emilyjackt
New member
@russelae01 Absolutely! Physically manipulating their head to stretch their neck gives me a bad feeling. I’m also the type to think a baby’s head is just going to pop off at random because they’re so fragile /s, so that’s something I probably wouldn’t do!
@emilyjackt My son had torticollis as well, it was during early COVID where healthcare was in chaos so it took a while to get our first PT appointment. Our PT ended up coming to our home and she was fabulous and educated us on the benefits of addressing it as early as possible, risks of not fully addressing it, etc. Because of the delay, our PT included loosening his neck, progressed to working on his core muscles, and eventually helping with walking. We avoided the helmet/flat spot because of her intervention, said our pediatrician.
emilyjackt
New member
@jewlsie What a scary time to have a l/o with extra medical needs. Our firstborn was born in May ‘20 and experienced a lot of respiratory issues in the first year, so I can certainly relate to the challenges in getting care during that time!
Hopefully we can get somewhere after our visit with the pediatrician. We gets lots of tummy time, but I’d like to avoid the baby helmet if possible!
Thanks for sharing your experience!!
Hopefully we can get somewhere after our visit with the pediatrician. We gets lots of tummy time, but I’d like to avoid the baby helmet if possible!
Thanks for sharing your experience!!
@emilyjackt Baby is 6 months next week and started PT for torticollis at 2 months. We’ve seen significant improvement in the past 2 months, but the progress from 2 - 4 months was very slow. Baby is meeting all milestones, but it has come with significant effort via stretches and PT exercises. Baby’s case of torticollis is a goofy one, the stiffness is one direction when she is on her tummy and the other direction when she is on the back, really strange. We had a lot of trouble with tummy time and getting her to lift her head and remain on her forearms but it all clicked around 4 months and she started rolling back to belly around the same time. She rolls belly to back very randomly, that one still isn’t consistent. She can sit totally independently for extended periods of time (10+ minutes easily) and plays with toys while sitting. She is trying to pull up onto her knees now while in tummy time. We are still going to PT monthly. It started as weekly for a month, then biweekly for the next month, then has been monthly since then. I know that our PT is now focused on making sure baby is doing things equally on both sides and using her arms to support herself so she can crawl.
And as far as causes go, our PT said that baby’s torticollis was likely the result of baby’s positioning in utero, which makes sense to me because anytime I felt hiccups, they were always in the exact same spot (near my left hip) and kicks were always in my right ribs. She was very cramped in there and seemed very “stuck” in the position that she was in.
And as far as causes go, our PT said that baby’s torticollis was likely the result of baby’s positioning in utero, which makes sense to me because anytime I felt hiccups, they were always in the exact same spot (near my left hip) and kicks were always in my right ribs. She was very cramped in there and seemed very “stuck” in the position that she was in.
@entropy82 This sounds similar to my experience with my daughter! All the way down to how she was stuck in utero! The first few months were really slow progress for us, too, sometimes even getting worse it felt like. It’s so hard to trust the process sometimes. I don’t know if you feel the same way, but I felt such a sigh of relief for a bit once she was able to sit because it was like FINALLY something that is more or less bilateral and I don’t have to worry about side preference as much for a second! There’s still reaching while sitting and transitioning over both sides, but still, it almost felt like a slight break. Honestly, I felt like everything in general got better after the sitting milestone!
@martypdji That is great to hear! Shes been sitting for a few weeks now and seems to be using bit hands to play with toys (but she still has a preferred arm/hand). She did learn to sit without the prop sit, which has kinda sorta come after 
she will catch herself with her arms when she falls forward but she doesn’t just sit with her arms propping her up, which is exactly what our PT predicted would happen lol
she will catch herself with her arms when she falls forward but she doesn’t just sit with her arms propping her up, which is exactly what our PT predicted would happen lolorthodoxservant10
New member
@emilyjackt Our baby likewise had strong preference to look to the left (and our attempts to make the right side more stimulating had similar results as you). Pediatrician called it mild case of torticollis. He had us do 3 sets of "PT" things at home, and just monitored head shape at regular visits. Since the flattening of the head was minor and improving, we never needed to see a specialist or get a helmet. The neck preference slowly but steadily improved and we don't think about it at all anymore.
The 3 "PT" things were turning baby's head to the weak side X times per day (very doable, just need to remember to do it a bunch of times per day ), big focus on tummy time (you should be doing this anyway so no big deal), and this thing where we were supposed to prop baby up while sleeping such that gravity would pull their head the not-preferred direction.... We never really figured out how to do this effectively and didn't bother worrying about it for most of the duration. Baby still improved steadily nevertheless.
I feel pretty optimistic for you guys.
The 3 "PT" things were turning baby's head to the weak side X times per day (very doable, just need to remember to do it a bunch of times per day ), big focus on tummy time (you should be doing this anyway so no big deal), and this thing where we were supposed to prop baby up while sleeping such that gravity would pull their head the not-preferred direction.... We never really figured out how to do this effectively and didn't bother worrying about it for most of the duration. Baby still improved steadily nevertheless.
I feel pretty optimistic for you guys.
orthodoxjay1
New member
@emilyjackt Hi, one of ours had torticollis, which I understood to involve something like tight neck muscles. A physical therapist gave us some exercises to do with him. It was not difficult. One exercise I remember involved putting him on his back, shoulder blades against the ground, and very gently turning his head. Another exercise involved moving a toy across his visual field (e.g., from right to left) so that he would voluntarily turn his head to track it. I reckon you could look up these exercises and do some of them right away. Definitely worth seeing a PT though to make sure you're doing the right thing.