Baby is lopsided!

[Amandella]

Hi everyone
My baby daughter is 3.5 months old and seems to be fine - smiling, trying to sit up, growing well etc....except, that we have noticed that she often sits with her head tilted to the left side. She can turn it to the right when stimulated but her preference is for the left. We also put her in the baby swing and noticed that she is definitely slightly lopsided in that. I am worried that she has some sort of problem with her spine (scoliosis?) or something more serious. I will take her to the gp asap but I'm so worried I can hardly sleep at the moment. Has anyone else had experience of this?

My dd was pretty lopsided till she was about 6 months, when she seemed to straighten out. I'm sure the GP will reassure you - check the head etc. I think they often do have a preference - dd always lay looking to her right.

Thanks for your reply. Was your dd lopsided when sitting or was it just her head? I thought it was just our dd's head but when I look at her sitting, she does seem to slump slightly to the left side.... thanks again....

Hi Amandella, please don't worry about it too much, I think this is quite common. My ds was also lopsided, especially when lying on his back his head would always be tilted to the left. We also were quite worried about this for a while, especially as he developed a flat spot on his head as a result. We tried lots of things to make him turn his head into the other direction - stuffing socks under his head, mobiles, always approaching him from the right... not sure if it made any difference, but at around 5 months he started to straighten out. He now sleeps on his front most of the time and his head shape is getting back to normal.
If your dd is able to turn her head to the right it's probably nothing serious and will sort itself out eventually. However, lopsidedness may be a sign of torticollis (shortening of the neck muscle on one side of the neck), so it's a good idea to have her checked out by your gp. There's a good website about this here