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| Lean to the left. |
You may not have noticed it, but Annelise is a little slumpy. As in, she prefers to tilt her head towards her left shoulder. All. The. Time. My theory is that she spent quite a bit of time jammed into this position before she was born.
The official diagnosis (thanks wikipedia, my trusted medical diagnostic source, ha!): Congenital muscular torticollis. Torticollis basically means twisted neck, and it happens when the muscles on one side are weaker and not as stretched out as the other side, causing the slump.
Poor girl. Yeah, she seems real broken up about it.
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| My favorite neck position. |
But it is a legitimate problem that needs help. Fortunately, we go to church with a fabulous pediatric physical therapist. The other day before the service started, she spent some time holding Annie, diagnosing the issue, and showing me some stretching exercises to do. So now, multiple times a day, I'm supposed to stretch Annie's neck and massage those stubborn, tight muscles. Some days she complains and does everything she can to pull her shoulder up towards her ear and get back into her favorite position. Other times she doesn't seem to mind so much. I have the most luck right after she eats and is all blissed out. The worst times are in the car seat or when she's sleeping - her head just naturally slumps to the left. Even when I change her position, she's right back at it within 30 seconds. Stubborn girl!
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| Fighting my hand to try and lean left again. |
So it's going to be a work in progress. Fortunately, her prognosis is good. We've caught it early, she's still so pliable and bendy. As long as we stick with it (so hard when she complains!) we'll have the kinks worked out in no time.
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| Streeeeeetch! |
We had to do this for Hailey! She had torticollis and would even only roll to one side as she got older. We started taking her to a chiropractor at 10 weeks old that specializes in pediatrics. It's very gentle and so helpful. We went maybe once or twice a month for a few months and then 3 months later just to make sure she was good. It also helps prevent ear infections as it helps stretch and drain the eustation tubes. It took some time, but totally worked itself out. So don't stress. It'll be totally fine :-) We roll both ways now lol
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