baby won't look left!

[DressMe]

Just that really - My 8 week old baby won't look left!

She has a clear aversion to it. She gets upset if I try to (gently) turn it.She always lies with her head turned to the right. She has good head control up when upright, only looks right, or occasionally straight ahead. She struggles to follow a finger or face because of it.

Is it normal to have such a strong preference to one side?

[poshfrock]

Could be Duane's syndrome. It's more common in girls than boys. My son has it. We noticed at a couple of months but he wasn't diagnosed until about 18 months. Do some research online to get an idea of the symptoms and be prepared for your GP not to have heard of it - ours hadn't.

[MatchsticksForMyEyes]

She could have torticolis (sp?). My friend's son had it, he had physio for it. They think he had settled into an odd position in the womb. You might have to push for a paeds referral.

[shoesontheglasslamp]

Try an appointment with a chiropractor. My DS came out with his fist by his cheek, so everything got very out of alignment.
A few adjustments - tiny and pain free from all of the evidence I saw - made a lot of difference to his flexibility, feeding etc etc.

Ask around for one that specialises in young children.

[sipper]

Could be torticolis , pretty common and generally v easily sorted. Sort as soon as poss so as not to compromise feeding or general comfort. Chiropractor should be able to sort. One of my dd's had same and chiropractic was fabulous. Cranial chiropractors are especially wonderful

[DressMe]

Thank you all. Will look into the suggestions. It seems it might not be that 'normal' then. DD was born by planned cs but ended up being yanked quite hard as she got stuck. I wonder if that has anything to do with it. Will get google-ing and head off to gp.

[ElphabaTheGreen]

Just for a bit of reassurance, my DS had a strong right-facing preference and developed a very wonky head as a result. I would try turning his head to the left when he was awake and he wouldn't have it - he wasn't in pain with it so I was confident it wasn't torticollis. I just gently turned his head to the left whenever he was asleep and (only when we were out with the pram and could keep a continuous eye on him) would wedge a blanket or jumper behind his head to keep him facing left while he slept. Didn't go to GP, chiropractor or anything, although I did mention in to my HV in case it persisted and she was happy with what I was doing. It sorted itself out in the end, I think when he was around 3.5-4 months, and he shocked me no end by doing his first roll to his left!

[Nuttyprofessor]

My DGD did that, she is infact blind in one eye due to a missing optic nerve.

Her eye looks perfectly normal and reacts to light normally but does not send the message to the brain.

Hope its not that but it hasnt caused her much of a problem.

[Seriouslysleepdeprived]

My DS had a similar thing. It was effecting his feeding which is how I noticed it.

We took him to a cranial osteopath & they sorted it in three sessions. It was a result of my v long, back to back labour & apparently quite common

[lollystix]

Ds4 had this. Dr thought I was bikers but at 8 weeks he was getting flat head on one side. Bought pillow online ( lilli kuddis?) which wasn't too much (and arrive next day ) and used that plus 2-3 trips up cranial osteo who I knew. Sorted itself by 4 months but I was on to it and I turned his head every time he was sleeping to the other side.

[lollystix]

Bonkers - not bikers - bloody iPhone

[gourd]

We were worried about ours at around that age too. She may have been 10 weeks, something like that. We worried about torticolis too, and posted on here and booked appointment with GP but by the time the appointment came around a few days later, our LO was looking both ways and was completely normal/ Our GP said people usually have a side preference (right-handed or left-handed) and so that's probably all there was to it. I'd suggest booking an appointment if you are worried, but just keep encouraging your child to look both ways by using toys, music, noises, a mirror etc.

[Chislemum]

same here, exactly the same (torticolis).... HV dismissed it and GP said "nothign was wrong". Did research and then went to see an osteopath who confirmed my "research". Also bought the lilla kudis pillow, which little one likes (only use it during the day though when I monitor him) and now he turns his head both ways happily (he is now 5 months old)

[ILikeToHoHoHo]

Ds1 had this. He also couldn't bf very well on one side.

We took him to a cranial osteopath and after one session he moved his head fully to both sides and his latch improved.

[LIG1979]

My dd had this after a ventouse delivery. Would sleep in a weird position and not look over to one side.

We used a lovenest pillow to keep her straight at night. Saw a osteopath which helped and told the health visitor who referred her for physio but by the time the appointment came round she was better.

However, whilst waiting for the nhs physio, a paediatric physio friend gave me some exercises to encourage her to go to the other side along with changing her basket/ changing table position to encourage her to look to the other side.

By around 3.5 months she was fine and still is.

[SuperDuperTrooper]

My DS was the same but was also quite a restless and difficult baby so we took him to a cranial osteopath. She did some work on his neck, amongst other things, to try and loosen it up and it really helped. Other than a slight flatness to the side of his head he always laid on you would never know he'd had a problem.

[MadameSin]

Dressme my ds1 was exactly the same. His eyes would look left, but he wouldn't turn the head. He was probably around 4 months when it righted itself. I didn't go to the GP about it cos I thought it would sorts itself out. Maybe mention at the baby clinic .. I think it's quite common.

[sparklekitty]

Our dd had similar issue for first few weeks. She was a ventouse delivery with shoulder dystocia, cranial osteopath sorted her out, took 4 sessions though as her trunk had twisted a lot too