i may have just jumped into a silent air-guitar
when i found B on this side when i went to get him up from his nap…

here’s why:

torticollis {tor·ti·col·lis} is basically “stiff neck.” when it shows up around birth,
it is usually because of the position in utero…. well, that makes sense!

since the day B was “dislodged” from my ribs,
he has been fighting turning his head to the right.
he would scream if we gently helped him turn it, and he had a little lump on his right side in his neck that the doc says was just an inflamed muscle. youch.
i know one day of sleeping wrong can mess up my week in the neck…
can’t imagine months of it…

so the pediatrician showed me some physical therapy to do and said it would “probably be ok….” never mind that he isn’t sleeping on that side so his head is steadily growing flatter on the one side {instead of rounder like it should be…}. believe you me, we have been in PT at the clifford house!

not sure if you can tell here, but his head is…not round.

at around 6-ish weeks i went to see my favorite chiropractor ever, and she told me she could help him too. who knew? she did… she knew.

side note: watching newborns get adjustments is so strange. its not invasive at all, and she is really good with him, but she has some pressure points she has to do that help motivate the stretching… he hates that. he looks like a little man getting a massage. good times.

i have spent many naps in the past few weeks, trying to hold him to his side so he will sleep that way. i have tried to prop up his back with something so gravity can help. he wasn’t having it.
when he does tummy time, he normally gives up and just lays his head down where its comfortable. like this in fact…

he does push up though, and turns his head to the right now, but not all the way. no amount of talking or singing or clapping will get him to turn either… which the doc says isn’t normal. babies usually turn to you if you talk at em… he is getting a little better at that too.

the chiropractor told me if he didn’t get this figured out in the next few months it would set him back quite a bit… being that he hadn’t pushed up much at all to strengthen his back.and if his head doesn’t round out on its own, worst-case-scenario is helmet therapy… lets hope it doesn’t come to that….

the last few days, i stand for about 10 minutes and gently hold his head while he cries to sleep, and i check on him every so often to rotate his head back…

this last time i waited for him to sleep, but he didn’t fight so much. he was asleep in 2 minutes.  when i went to find him, he was still there!
{on that side i mean. i didn’t expect him to ditch me or anything…} 

yay, boston!  let’s hope this means we are swinging into full motion soon!!