Baby always looks to the right

[heatherr30]

My 4 month old baby always looks to the right when he's in the carrier. (I use a Didymos wrap with one of the front ties)

I've tried turning his head to the left but he always turns back after 30 sec or so.

 I am left-handed, could the way I am tying the wrap have something to do with it?

I know this may seem trivial but my son has been sent to physio for this issue and I would like to get to the bottom of it. The therapist has managed to help me with the way I pick him up and carry him (all left handed ways of course which train him to look to the right) but has offered no advice about the sling--actually does not seem to approve of such a strange practice.  I would love to hear of any suggestions?

[dharmabummer]

My friend had this issue with her newborn. The baby always looked to one side (can't remember if it was the right side or left). Turned out the baby needed glasses. They discovered this around 4 months. The baby is 6 months now and doing great.

[guen]

My fourth baby would only ever turn her head to the right and when I tried turning it (gently) to the left, she'd turn it back to her right again.  She also moved her upper body/shoulders/head somewhat stiffly and had a terrible time nursing while lying down, making nights pretty nightmarish for us (that and other issues made sleep completely impossible).  She was finally diagnosed with KISS syndrome (I don't remember what that is supposed to stand for or if it's even an english name--we live in Germany) and three treatments at the chiropractor fixed the problem.  She will be 2 next month and hasn't had any problems with her head/neck area since.

[Quirky]

Heather, first of all, I'm not a doctor or physical therapist, so I can't give you any type of medical advice!

I can say though that, based on my experience as a parent and based on my many years of babywearing, I highly doubt that you've caused this issue either by the way you pick up or hold your son in your arms or by babywearing. It doesn't really make sense -- I'm right-handed, and have always worn my babies on the left in certain carriers like slings -- but they've never had an issue with only looking to the left. It seems to me that there must be some underlying physical cause entirely unrelated either to your handedness or to your babywearing, because otherwise we'd see a lot more babies of left-handed moms looking only to the right and vice-versa!

So please don't feel guilty (or let the therapist make you feel guilty) because it's just so unlikely that there's a causal relationship between babywearing and the way your son turns his head. Definitely it's good to get tips from the therapist in terms of ways you can gently help correct the issue, but I don't think you need to worry about whether continuing to babywear will be harmful. You can certainly practice tying the wrap in different ways to help encourage him to learn to turn his head the other way -- that's the beauty of a wrap, there are infinite tying possibilities!

But I think it would be really worthwhile trying to get to the bottom of this with your health care professional. It could be torticollis, or it could be something else as the posters above mentioned -- but my guess is that there is something physical going on, whether a muscle tension issue, or a vision issue, or whatever it might be.....I definitely would talk to your pediatrician and seek a second or third opinion if you're not getting answers!

Please keep us posted, and please keep wearing your baby!

[guen]

I have to second Quirky's remarks about babywearing.  I've worn all my babies--two ring slings, wraps, Ergo, etc.  Only the last had any problems and the problems were apparent from birth.  Once she was she was treated by the chiro, the problem was gone and I've continued to wear her ever since.  Babies the world over are worn by their mothers but this is not a particularly prevalent condition!  ;-)  I wouldn't give the babywearing a second thought.

[chel]

My dd had torticollis and a side preference was one of the first signs, as well as a head tilt.

I'm also left handed. My dd tilted right and turned left.
I carried her in a ring slng where she always turned right which was helpful Though in the carseat and when carried by hand, it reinforced the tilt/turn.

So while The carrier probably isn't the cause, you might want to try to do everything possible to carry her to the opposite side.

For us, pt was a waste of time. After the first appt to know the basics of the issue, you just need to encourage the weak side.

[TiffanyToo]

http://icpa4kids.org/Chiropractic-Research/kinematic-imbalances-due-to-suboccipital-strain-in-newborns-and-young-children.html 

Might be a useful resource.

[APToddlerMama]

So is your baby's preferring to always turn the head one way, or is it more with the eyes?  If it is a matter of turning the head/neck one direction, or tilting the head one direction, I would talk to your pediatrician about torticollis.  If it is the eyes always looking one direction, I really don't know.  My son had torticollis and he was in physical therapy for a few months to work on stretching the muscles in his neck so that he had more full range of motion.  It really wasn't a big deal.  It was just a matter of the muscles being tight on one side.  He would tilt his head slightly to one side (so right ear higher than the left) and it was also obvious in always choosing to turn his head one way.  It isn't uncommon but if that is what is going on, you would want to get into PT right away because it can cause issues with gross motor skills as your baby grows if you don't loosen things up now.  good luck. 

[APToddlerMama]

Originally Posted by chel 

My dd had torticollis and a side preference was one of the first signs, as well as a head tilt.

I'm also left handed. My dd tilted right and turned left.
I carried her in a ring slng where she always turned right which was helpful Though in the carseat and when carried by hand, it reinforced the tilt/turn.

So while The carrier probably isn't the cause, you might want to try to do everything possible to carry her to the opposite side.

For us, pt was a waste of time. After the first appt to know the basics of the issue, you just need to encourage the weak side.

Just wanted to add that for us, PT was definitely not a waste of time at all, and I had worked in Early Intervention so was very familiar with techniques used for treating torticollis.  I agree that you definitely don't need a lot of PT for torticollis at all, and we were also pretty good to go after the first session.  But, it was nice to check in every month or so to check progress and see if there was anything else we could be/should be doing.  Also nice to know when we could stop with the exercises. 

[heatherr30]

Thanks everyone for your comments!  I guess the dr and pt hadn't described the condition very well to me.  It does sound like torticollis (after googling the symptoms) and first thing tomorrow morning I am going to check for a lump in the muscle. 

Now those pt exercises make a lot more sense.

I am also going to ask the dr about chiropracty--she is trained in natural medicine and I wonder if she might be supportive of alternative methods (just not able to recommend them because not paid for by the health system here).  Maybe she can recommend someone good with babies.

[QueenOfTheMeadow]

Just a reminder of the forum guidlines:

The expert forums are intended to be in a direct question and answer format between the member posting the question and the expert. These forums are not for community participation so the only exchange of posting in thread will be between the member and the expert.

Feel free to PM the OP if you wish to offer other advice or to invite the OP to the appropriate forum. Thanks for your cooperation.

[guen]

Oh, I am sorry!  I saw the link to the thread but never realized it was in the "ask the expert" section, or I'd never have put my oar in.  I'll be more careful in future to check where the thread is posted!

[QueenOfTheMeadow]

Originally Posted by guen 

Oh, I am sorry!  I saw the link to the thread but never realized it was in the "ask the expert" section, or I'd never have put my oar in.  I'll be more careful in future to check where the thread is posted!

No worries!