How did you treat torticollis?

[GuavaGirl]

My baby is two months and we found out he has torticollis. Please tell me how you treated it, and how long it took.

I keep feeling bad that I didn't catch it sooner and feeling like I've harmed him permanently. I just want to know that everything will be okay.

[SarahDC]

You need a chiropractor who treats kiddos - check icpa.com for a doc near you. Chiropractic is very effective with infant torticollis.

[yentroc]

Originally Posted by SarahDC

You need a chiropractor who treats kiddos - check icpa.com for a doc near you. Chiropractic is very effective with infant torticollis.

I'm a chiropractor who had a baby with congenital muscular torticollis that was pretty severe. Chiropractic and a lot of stretching... and 5 years later, no one would ever know she had torticollis. It's a long road and a lot of work but it's not too late! I've seen many patients who waited much longer than you.

[GuavaGirl]

Hmm, my ped. referred me to a physical therapist.

[Momo123]

My ped referred me to a physical therapist as well but they mostly do streching exercises (which they teach you to do at home). However, my DS hated the stretching and cried every time, probably because it was uncomfortable! So I took him to a pediatric chiropractor as well as a cranio-sacral therapist and they definitely helped release his muscles and restore full range of motion in a less stressful way. But it does take a long time, we started treatment at around 3 months (did both treatments weekly) and it took a couple months to notice a significant difference.

[transylvania_mom]

no advice on torticollis, but be careful to change his sleep position so he doesn't get a flat head. We had some problems with dd because of that and I learned it's often associated with torticollis.

[penstamon]

Don't be too hard on yourself! 2 months is plenty early to catch torticollis and treat it. We didn't see Ds's tort until 4 months and our pedi didn't believe us because it was so mild and transient. So we didn't start to treat it until he was 6 months, which is on the later side but now at 9 months you couldn't tell that he had it unless you really paid attention.

We did cranial sacral therapy twice a week for 3 months with some water therapy, stretching and positioning at home, and chiropractic 1-2 x a week for 6 weeks.

[mytortsupport]

More info about Torticollis

I agree with the post above - at two months you have plenty of time. You are lucky to have diagnosed it so early, actually.

I am sure you have spent hours googling everything torticollis, so I thought I would invite you to check out www.mytortsupport.com

I started the site a few months back in effort to source as much tort info in one place and allow parents to read other stories and connect with each other -
I am 30 and have unresolved Torticollis - still tilt, have moderate asymmetry of my facial features, and just want to to help parents do everything they can to resolve their children, before school starts.... anyhow - stop by if you have time - there are a lot of moms who have been where you are now - and tort is definitely something you can fix when found so early.

Take care!

[rlandnl]

My son had severe torticollis. He still has some asymmtery, and an ear that sticks way out since it was curled over in utero. But the torticollis was resolved with PT 2X a week for a couple months and A LOT of stretching. We started PT at 6 weeks. He hated it too! He cried and screamed and it hurt. Out of curiosity how much is chiro care for an infant?

[boobs4milk]

millie's wasn't treated until ~ 4 mos. i made sure to do the gentle massage and stretching every time i changed her diaper, after baths, while we were nursing, etc. i also got her into early intervention through the state dept of health. they come to our home for free and help me work with her. three mos later, the only sign of the tort is some mild asymmetry. good luck!!!

[Peony]

2 months is early to catch it, the signs often do not appear until then anyway so it can be 4 or 6 months before it is caught. I didn't notice DD2's until 6 months, we did CST and chiro with excellent results.