Today at the pediatrician, McKinley was diagnosed with Torticollis and Plagiocephaly. Torticollis is when the muscles in one side of the neck are too tight and cause the head to lean to that side. So because McKinley only keeps her head turned to one side, she has developed a pretty severe flat spot (plagiocephaly) on one side of her head despite my best efforts to constantly reposition her head. This is what she looks like all of the time.
So, we now have to go to physical therapy once a week, continue to stretch her neck everytime I change her diaper (I have been doing this for several weeks already), give her 3-4 hours of tummy time everyday (this should be fun since she is usually done after about 5 minutes) and invest in a Bumbo seat to keep pressure off of her head. If that doesn't start helping then in a month we go back to the doctor and start discussing a cranial orthotic helmet to reshape her head. I feel so guilty because I have always been very anal about my kids heads and preventing plagiocephaly. But when a baby is unable to turn their head to the other side then I guess there isn't much I could have done. Let's just hope that all of this physical therapy and stretching will help and she won't have to wear a helmet during the hot summer. That would be miserable.
3 comments:
I have a purple bumbo, that I could ship you if its cheaper than buying 1.
We actually just bought one from craigslist for $15. But thanks for the offer. That was so nice of you :-)
We had the same problem with Kimble (she was also 4 months). Luckily, we were able to avoid having to get her a helmet by doing the exercises. We also positioned her on the opposite side when she was sleeping. GOOD LUCK!
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