congenital muscular torticollis

Well...my baby is a month old. She's started smiling (mostly at Mr. Webb, but I get a few now and then). She loves cuddling with mommy (and daddy sometimes). She makes the funniest face when she takes her Vitamin D drops.

And she's going to physical therapy.

I didn't even know you could go to physical therapy when you are that tiny! But you can. And she does.

She has Congenital Muscular Torticollis, which basically means the muscles on one side of her neck aren't developing. She keeps her head to the same side all the time, because it is uncomfortable for her to put it on the other side.

This means that the right side of her face is getting squished out further than the left side. It means that if we don't fix the problem, it will get worse, and her head will become even more deformed. She'll have to wear a shaping helmet to fix the problem.

So I get to do neck stretches with her at home, three times a day. It is the saddest thing I've ever had to do - sit there and force my baby to stretch her neck while she screams and cries in protest.

But we've already seen major improvement! She'll turn her head the other way now. She keeps her head the right way when we put her in her crib for bed.

But it's been like learning to live with a baby all over again. I had a pretty good schedule down with her. I'd put her in her car seat, her swing, or her baby chair while I got a few things done around the house. No more of that!

The physical therapist gave us some new rules for baby. Car seat in the car only. No swing. No baby chair. She gets to be held, lay on the floor, or lay in her crib. When she's awake, she is either being held, or has tummy time. It's a good thing she doesn't mind tummy time too much. When she's being held, her head has to be turned the right way. If she's on the floor, her head has to be turned the right way.

And my baby is no dummy. She does everything she can to cheat her way into looking the other direction. She is making great improvements, though, and we'll go back to the physical therapist in a few days and see if he sees as much improvement as we have.

Until then - I just hope she knows I love her!