7 week old head turning preference

[eliayd]

Hi all
I noticed my newborn who's 7 weeks old tends to turn their head to left when awake.
He can bring to midline and does when happy and alert
He also can turn to the right side too.
He prefers to sleep on left side too. I turn his head the other side and turned his cot around too and this helps and he has slept all night with it the right side too a few times. But when awake he does favour the left.

He is developing well, smiling, cooing, lifting and head turning side to side on tummy time and moving arms and legs equally

But as he prefers to turn his head to the left he also brings his left hand to mouth and sucks it. Iv not seen him do that on right side. So wondered about this too. Slightly concerned. The hand to mouth thing is new too. Only seen him do this last few days.

He moves both arms same and opens and closes them the same. Sleep to have strong grip on both too.

Also a healthy 10lb at birth and uneventful too. Had a Elected c section.

Can anyone reassure me? Thanks x

I think many newborns have a side preference when sleeping etc. Mine also preferred left. If you don't notice any head flattering on that side it is OK but try still to turn his head to the right from time to time to avoid that his head becomes flat on this side. If it becomes too extreme than maybe see with your HV what to do (helmet? Osteopath? Torcicollis?). Anyway I really think it is nothing to worry about given that it is very common. I also used to worry about it. Mine stopped preferring sleeping left when he was about 3 months old and had a very slight flattened head that now with 21 months is completely gone.

@ItalianMUM89
Thanks for your message. Did you also notice your LO putting same side hand in mouth only first?

Bump

Yes. If I remember correctly my hv told me that since he looks more at one side the hand co-ordination of this side can be slightly faster than the other (or something similar). But as long as he is using the other hand as well it is nothing to worry.

By the way. As a baby he would almost always start to do stuff (like patting toys etc) first with left and than some weeks later with right. Now I would say his predominant hand became the right one.

@ItalianMUM89
Hi. Thanks for your response. Reassuring to hear.
I also remember something similar with my elder daughter with batting toys with one hand first and I was worried and she eventually used both. Shes 3 now and doing great.

Hiya. Both of my daughters saw a baby chiropractor early on for other reasons and she noticed this with my youngest. There was some stiffening in her neck and we saw the chiropractor for 4 or 5 sessions to resolve it - she did advise that we could leave it and see but we had private cover through work, baby seemed to enjoy the massage :) and we wanted to prevent head flattening. I don’t think it’s something our HV would have picked up on. Might be worth one session if you have a local baby chiropractor? I think ours charged about £38 a session.

Mine did this too, she is now 12 weeks and turns her head both ways in her cot. I did have cranial osteopathy on her for colic and mentioned it but the lady didn't seem phased and it wasn't tight or anything either!