Babies Head Leaning to One Side

I agree. It very well could be torticollis. I had it when I was a baby, but it was a pretty extreme case. My head was mis-shapen and my neck muslces were pretty tight and my head leaned to one side. I also have a friend who's bab girl has it as well. There are specific "excersises" that you can do to help stretch the muslces. I would definately check with her pediatrician to nip it in the bud! Also, laying her so she HAS to look the other way will be helpful too! Good luck to you!

M.,
My third baby (now almost 8 months) did the same thing - I noticed right before his 2 month visit, like you. The doctor just told me to lay him down with the head the other direction and it would fix itself. But it didn't. I brought it up again at his 4 month visit because I started noticing that his head shape was "leaning"! to one side and he certainly favored his head is the "cocked" position. Again, he told me not worry about it. We moved, so I changed doctors and at his six month visit I insisted that the new doctor do more than tell me he would grow out of it. THe condition is called torticollis and the new doctor said he was most likely born with it (the physical therapist agreed). We started physical therapy when he was six months old once a week doing strengthing exercises and stretches. He will be 8 months on the 13th of Dec and still cannot sit up and just now learned to roll to his "weak" side. Your instinct is right. I wish I would have pushed more because he is over 2 months behind in his physcial development. Because of the toricollis they do not have a good center of balance (their head is crooked) and it effects rolling, sitting and standing. He will be fine, I just wish I would have pushed more at 2 or 4 months so he wouldn't have been so behind now. There is anything "wrong" with her, her tendons may be tight on one side and stretched out too far on the other side - I was told most likely because of his positioning in the womb the tendons developed in this position and need to be corrected to equal distribution on each side to correct the problem. Physcial therapy has made a "HUGE" difference, I have been very pleased with the results.

One suggestion that hasn't really been mentioned much is problems with eyesight. My brother in law still does this some as a grown man. His muscles in his eyes were not developed and he had to have surgeries to correct it. But, he did tilt his head to try to focus. I would suggest if nothing else works, to have his eyes checked by an opthamologist...not just an optomitrist. Good luck.

i watched on discovery health about that and the baby was trying to focus. something to do with eyesight and cocking the head helped him to focus. I am NOT saying this is so with your daughter but it is worth asking the doctor.

My daughter did that when she was younger, and I was told to start laying her all different ways, like not just on one side or the other. Lay her on her one side one time, and the other side a different time. Rotate her from her stomach to her back, take turns with all the positions. If she is positioned just one way, thats the way her muscles are going to form more stronger at and keep her head that way. You always want to change positions. Another thing I was told to do was to alternate arms when I would feed her. Every little thing you do can make a big difference later. Good luck

Hi M.,

I have 4 kids and three of them were born with low muscle tone. So when my 4th started preferring her head to be facing one way, my other kids therapists noticed it right away. They told me to encourage her to look the other way and make sure her neck gets stretched the opposite direction. She ended up being just fine and my first normal tone child! I wouldn't worry about it to much yet but just keep an eye on it. Some other signs of low muscle tone are a mouth that hangs open a little with the tongue hanging at the opening (we used to call it lazy tongue, lol) Also most babies will bear weight in there legs when there feet touch up against a surface but my low tone babies would never put weight on there legs. Also there limbs feel noodle like. If I lift the arm of my "normal" child there is some slight resistance but my low tone babies were like wet noodles. Anyone looking at my low tone child wouldn't know they had anything wrong but there are some subtle differences early on :) Let me know if I can be of any more help.

When my son was born, I noticed the same thing. I asked the doctor about it...and my son ended up having to see a therapist as well. Something about favoring a position, then leads to weaker muscles on the other side. I was just told to lay my son with his head at one end of the bed one day/night and then lay him at the other end the following day/night. Just rotating until you don't notice it. I also did excersises w/him. While laying him on the floor, (Tummy Time) put toys in the opposite direction that he/she generally leans his/her head. I also had to 'roll' his head somewhat...which he wasn't a fan of. But my therapist assured me that it doesn't hurt...it just isn't comfortable to them.
If you're worried about it, just mention it to your doctor. I'm sure he'll have suggestions if it's anything to be concerned about.
My son is 2.5 now and I don't notice anything weird about the way he lays.
Good luck!

Could be torticolis. My son had it. He would do that same thing. And before I realized it his head was a little misshapen. It has cleared up on it's own pretty much. Try and keep her from just that position. Hold her to where she is leaning on the other side and talk to your pediatrician to see what else you can do. Hope this helps.

I've not delt with this before...but I'm wondering... the pediatrition can only check so much as far as the vision is concerned...things like tracking...I would consider taking the child to the eye doctor where they can actually look inside the baby's eyes and tell if she's having trouble seeing. Maybe one eye is stronger than the other and she's tipping her head to see things right...or maybe she needs a chiropractor like you were already advised...or maybe she likes the funny face that you make at her when you see her doing that.

I would take her to the Chiropractor!!!! This same thing happened to my daughter....When she was 2 weeks old I took her to the Chiropractor 3 times and has been fine ever since!!! Studies have actually shown that in childbirth Vaginal-90lbs of pressure is on the babies head and neck to get them out. C-Section was like 190lbs!!!!! Could imagine what this would do to your neck????? Even just now???? They are so fragile then!!!! Hope this helps!!! :)

I would really like to encourage you to have her checked out either by her pediatrician or a chiropractor for this http://www.torticollis.org/. Torticollis in infants almost always presents with just the head to the side.

WHen my baby was only a couple of months old he was doing that. No matter wich way we would lay him his head would always roll to the left. His Dr. told me to make him lay the other way by putting rolled up blankets or something to keep his head turned to the right. she said that if he did'nt get used to it that way too, that his neck muscles in that one side would be weak. He is now 8 months old and all is fine.

I hope this helps you.

H. J