Handling Treatment?

[Jane91]

My 4 mo is meeting with a PT and has at home stretches due to torticollis (sp?). She absolutely hates the stretches.

Has anyone read any info as to whether it is best for her emotionally for me to just power through the stretches despite her crying, or should I stop to soothe her after each one?

[KimPM]

My DS did PT for torticollis, and he hated it. However it did stretch his neck out, and it was necessary. The therapist did it as gently as possible, and also talked to him while doing it. I also did a lot of it at home. I know it's tough to see them be uncomfortable, but the neck has to be stretched out. As long as the PT is doing it gently, it should be okay. As long as your DD isn't just crying uncontrollably, I think it's okay to not console them after each stretch. If she's super upset but not uncontrollable, then maybe you could work from consoling after each stretch to consoling after two stretches, then three. The other thing we did was to have a moving baby toy that kept his attention during some of the stretches. Also doing it in front of a mirror was helpful so they can see themselves sometimes.

[~cassie]

It's so hard to see them get so upset like that, but that kind of therapy, to me, is something you just need to power through and then console when done.

ETA-how long are the sessions of stretching? My neice had tort and they would do I think 30 mins a day. She tolerated it, but if it is someting like that, then I would break it up into 10 mins sessions-or even 5 minute ones if it is really "torturing" her.

[APToddlerMama]

My son also hated the stretches, and depending how upset he was, I would sometimes soothe him in between. I don't know how well they "stretch" when they're fighting so hard. What we figured out was that it was easy to do them right after he fell asleep...some kids have that stage when they are just totally out for a few minutes right after they fall asleep. We'd lift up his arm to see if it was limp or if he squirmed, and then if it was limp we would very slowly move him into the stretch. It was actually crazy how much further he'd stretch when asleep and how long we could hold the stretch. Good luck!