Back in March at Taran's 2-month well child check up, his pediatrician asked if he usually tilted his head like he was doing at the time. I said yes and thought it was just a personal preference. She examined him again, stretching and rotating his head around. She diagnosed Taran with Congenital Torticollis, a condition where there is a shortening or excessive contraction of a muscle in the neck which causes the head to typical tilt, bending toward the affected muscle. The most common causes are inutero position, a traumatic delivery situation, or lack of space inutero. Since we know Taran didn't have a tramatic labor or delivery, he just must have been squished while I was pregnant. Sorry buddy! There were some moments of mom-guilt but the doctor reassured me it was not something I could have prevented.
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| See the tilt? Still a cutie though! |
At 2 1/2 months, Taran began physical therapy. Luckily he only has a mild/moderate case of torticollis and it is expected to improve with stretches and exercises over time. He visits his pediatric physical therapist every 2 weeks and is already making great improvements! He is holding his head much more straightly and tolerates the exercises and stretches we have to do multiple times a day. His physical therapist is great! She's patient, sweet, and adores working with Taran.
We're so thankful that Taran's pediatrician caught his torticollis so early and we were able to start helping our little guy right away. We're also thankful this is not a serious health condition and he will be just fine. We're lucky, lucky, lucky.
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| 1st physical therapy appointment |
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| A few weeks later-looking better already! |
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