Tilting to one side in stroller: cause for concern???

[jenny]

I just saw this on Frogmama's enewsletter b/c she blogged about it.
http://www.mothering.com/articles/growing_child/child_health/car-seats.html

She quotes a woman who says:

"According to Dr. Jeanne Ohm, executive coordinator of the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (www.icpa4kids.com), many infants in strollers or car seats constantly tilt their heads to one side or the other. “That’s a good indication that their upper cervical spine is out of alignment,” says Ohm. Short periods spent in a car seat are fine, but “keeping them in that position where it’s easiest for their head just to fall off to the side—that leads to further spinal stress later on in life.”

My DD tends to tilt to one side when she's in the mac quest. She loves to hang one leg off the side of the stroller and tilt one way. Should I be concerned that there's something wrong with her spine??

[gobadgers]

Is she always leaning to the same side? If so, you may want to ask your doctor about tortocolis (sp?). It seems like its easily fixed when caught early - someone more knowledgable can be more specific, but I think it's basically that the muscles on one side of the neck are stronger than the other so there's a constant tilt to one side. We went to a PT when DD was 2 months old, and they showed us stretches and 'exercises' to balance them out.

[brittone2]

Yeah, based on your description it is tough to say, but torticollis (essentially a tight neck muscle, usually the sternocleidomastoid muscle) is one situation that will cause a child to keep their head rotated to one side much more often than the other.

There have been some recent threads here in the Lounge about torticollis.

[jenny]

well she kinda leans to one side? is that the same thing? it's like she's slouching and she rests her body to one side, KWIM?

I've tried to straighten her up when in the stroller but she prefers the slouch and hanging one leg off the side of the stroller.

Do you think it's torticollis? What do I tell my pediatrician ... that she slouches in the stroller??

[randomkid]

well she kinda leans to one side? is that the same thing? it's like she's slouching and she rests her body to one side, KWIM?

I've tried to straighten her up when in the stroller but she prefers the slouch and hanging one leg off the side of the stroller.

Do you think it's torticollis? What do I tell my pediatrician ... that she slouches in the stroller??

This sounds more like her position of comfort in the stroller. Torticollis involves bending or rotation of the neck to one side regardless of where the child is sitting or laying.

I wouldn't be too concerned unless she is in that position for extended periods of time. I could see a slouched position causing a potential problem with spinal development if the child is in that position frequently for long periods of time.

That article seemed to be more geared toward the reasons for not using an infant car seat as a carrier. Personally, I don't understand why anyone would want to lug one of those things around. I did it ONCE when DD was a baby and I thought to myself "What was I thinking carrying this thing?" I went to lunch with a girl from my Childbirth Education class and her baby stayed in the infant carrier the entire lunch (about an hour). I had DD's stroller, but she was in my lap almost the entire lunch. I can't imagine not handling my baby and just leaving her in a seat like that.

[gobadgers]

[QUOTE=jenny;2378066]well she kinda leans to one side? is that the same thing? it's like she's slouching and she rests her body to one side, KWIM?
QUOTE]

It's hard to say - this is kind of what my DD did, although it was really just her upper body that was always leaning to one side, and her neck/head was always tilted that one direction. She didn't get her legs involved too (although that's a cute picture, of a little leg kicked out the side - sounds relaxing!).

I would talk about it with your ped. He/she can probably take a quick look at tell if its a neck muscle issue, or if its something else, or if it's nothing, KWIM? My impression is that tortocollis is easy to address and solve, as long as its caught early on.

HTH!