Re: Am I the only one dealing with tort/plagio with a second child??

[Guest guest]

Howdy Holly and Welcome!

My Jaden has plagio and mild tort. He had tort since he was born in

Nov. yet I didn't realize it till Feb thru my own research. His

pede refused to diagnose him w/ Plagio thanks to the tort and said

he did NOT have tort. I brought him back again, insisting he had

tort. Again he said he did not. It wasn't until April when he was

correctly diagnosed w/ plagio/mild tort thru a Craniofacial Surgeon

in MN, and got banded at 5 & 1/2 months. He started PT right away and

has been going every week. During his 7 weeks being in the band to

date he has learned to roll over both ways and sit up well on his

own. He is now sitting up at 90*, and I believe he is doing well.

However he is not as far along w/ his tort as they think he should

be so we got a series of x~rays to check for bone anomolies and

scoliosis. We won't know till next week what's up w/ all that. So

this gives you some idea how far he has come in a short amount of

time. I also did not give up on doing tummy time w/ him. I'd do it

till he started to crank, give him a break and repeat, he would be

able to tolerate it for longer periods of time as time went on till

he learned to roll over and then he didn't mind it so much.

In your daughter's case, I do believe once a week is what she should

be starting out at until they see improvement and her sessions can

go every other week, it's up to her PT. And as far as doing the

exercises, you CAN do them while she sleeps. I know how important

it is to interact w/ her and feed her and play w/ her while she has

just a few alert stages, so use them for your usual routine w/ her.

Try doing the exercises while she is actually asleep and more

relaxed, and you just might see more of an improvement because she

won't be awake to fight it or cry. The more you do the stretching

exercises with her, the more she'll be able to accept repo, increase

her range of movement, and avoid the helmet. The key is the

exercises, and if you have to do them while she is sleeping, then

that is totally fine. Her muscles might be more responsive and

relaxed while she is sleeping. Sorry if you won't be able to sleep

much while she sleeps tho, I know how it's important for you as well

to get your sleep in the beginning.

Hope this helps! Please keep us posted on how it goes.

~Amy, mommy to Jaden almost 7 mo's MN, plagio/mild tort, started

CranioCap 4/23/04

--- In Plagiocephaly , " tbustermom " <tbustermom@y...>

wrote:

> Greetings! I was a member of this board during the summer of

2002,

> when my son was diagnosed with plagio at his 4 month well baby

appt.

> and underwent helmet therapy through Cranial Tech. We were

fortunate

> that he didn't have true torticollis, more like a tight neck

muscle,

> and his range of motion and plagio issues responded well to helmet

> therapy and neck stretching exercises.

>

> Fast forward to today. We have a happy, healthy almost 7 week old

> daughter who has a pretty severe case of torticollis and plagio.

> Thank goodness I was aware of the problem pretty much from birth,

> because I managed to convince our ped. to refer us to PT at her

one

> month check up. Now of course I have a bunch of questions for you:

>

> *We'll be going to PT once every two weeks. I read on another

site

> that we should be going once a week. At what frequency did your

tort

> kids go to PT at my daughter's age (7 weeks old this weekend)?

How

> quickly did you see improvement in range of motion?

>

> *As a typical 7 week old, my daughter sleeps a lot and only has

maybe

> 3 lengthy alert periods over the course of the day. She really

hates

> the neck stretches, and I feel terrible forcing them on her during

> our too infrequent alert times together. What was your

experience?

> Should I just will myself to force the exercises on her, crying be

> damned? Or take it easier?

>

> *Anyone avoided helmet therapy with repositioning techniques and

PT

> alone? That would be my ultimate goal, but I'm very discouraged

> because my daughter avoids my herculean efforts to force her to

look

> to the left (her tort side)! I feel like I have just a short

window

> of time to correct the problems with repositioning and neck

stretches

> before moving on to helmet therapy. (My son got his helmet at 5

mos.

> and only had to wear it for 8 weeks, and I'd love to " get this

over

> with " that early with my daughter, too.)

>

> Looking forward to getting to know all of you--

>

> Holly

[Guest guest]

Holly,

We've had a few members who have had more then one plagio baby. We

have a repositioning moderator who is excellent, she'll be able to

help you out with any repo questions you may have. She successfully

repo'd her daughter and avoided having to band her child. I'll

forward your post to her. Keep us posted.

--- In Plagiocephaly , " tbustermom " <tbustermom@y...>

wrote:

> Greetings! I was a member of this board during the summer of 2002,

> when my son was diagnosed with plagio at his 4 month well baby

appt.

> and underwent helmet therapy through Cranial Tech. We were

fortunate

> that he didn't have true torticollis, more like a tight neck

muscle,

> and his range of motion and plagio issues responded well to helmet

> therapy and neck stretching exercises.

>

> Fast forward to today. We have a happy, healthy almost 7 week old

> daughter who has a pretty severe case of torticollis and plagio.

> Thank goodness I was aware of the problem pretty much from birth,

> because I managed to convince our ped. to refer us to PT at her one

> month check up. Now of course I have a bunch of questions for you:

>

> *We'll be going to PT once every two weeks. I read on another site

> that we should be going once a week. At what frequency did your

tort

> kids go to PT at my daughter's age (7 weeks old this weekend)? How

> quickly did you see improvement in range of motion?

>

> *As a typical 7 week old, my daughter sleeps a lot and only has

maybe

> 3 lengthy alert periods over the course of the day. She really

hates

> the neck stretches, and I feel terrible forcing them on her during

> our too infrequent alert times together. What was your

experience?

> Should I just will myself to force the exercises on her, crying be

> damned? Or take it easier?

>

> *Anyone avoided helmet therapy with repositioning techniques and PT

> alone? That would be my ultimate goal, but I'm very discouraged

> because my daughter avoids my herculean efforts to force her to

look

> to the left (her tort side)! I feel like I have just a short

window

> of time to correct the problems with repositioning and neck

stretches

> before moving on to helmet therapy. (My son got his helmet at 5

mos.

> and only had to wear it for 8 weeks, and I'd love to " get this over

> with " that early with my daughter, too.)

>

> Looking forward to getting to know all of you--

>

> Holly

[Guest guest]

Hi Holly,

No, you aren't the first parent to go through this the 2nd time. I'm

awful sorry that you are though. Was your daughter born with plagio

this time?

If you are able to have PT twice a week I would go for it if you can

work it into your schedule. My son only had it every other week and

I felt that that was too little time. I think you have a lot of time

for repositioning her. Her little head is growing so fast at this

point. Look in our repo folder in the files section for some ideas.

My new daugher is 4 months and while she was sleeping a lot early on

I would have her take some naps on my chest where I would turn her

head every 30 minutes to get some good stretches in.

Natasha

--- In Plagiocephaly , " tbustermom " <tbustermom@y...>

wrote:

> Greetings! I was a member of this board during the summer of 2002,

> when my son was diagnosed with plagio at his 4 month well baby

appt.

> and underwent helmet therapy through Cranial Tech. We were

fortunate

> that he didn't have true torticollis, more like a tight neck

muscle,

> and his range of motion and plagio issues responded well to helmet

> therapy and neck stretching exercises.

>

> Fast forward to today. We have a happy, healthy almost 7 week old

> daughter who has a pretty severe case of torticollis and plagio.

> Thank goodness I was aware of the problem pretty much from birth,

> because I managed to convince our ped. to refer us to PT at her one

> month check up. Now of course I have a bunch of questions for you:

>

> *We'll be going to PT once every two weeks. I read on another site

> that we should be going once a week. At what frequency did your

tort

> kids go to PT at my daughter's age (7 weeks old this weekend)? How

> quickly did you see improvement in range of motion?

>

> *As a typical 7 week old, my daughter sleeps a lot and only has

maybe

> 3 lengthy alert periods over the course of the day. She really

hates

> the neck stretches, and I feel terrible forcing them on her during

> our too infrequent alert times together. What was your

experience?

> Should I just will myself to force the exercises on her, crying be

> damned? Or take it easier?

>

> *Anyone avoided helmet therapy with repositioning techniques and PT

> alone? That would be my ultimate goal, but I'm very discouraged

> because my daughter avoids my herculean efforts to force her to

look

> to the left (her tort side)! I feel like I have just a short

window

> of time to correct the problems with repositioning and neck

stretches

> before moving on to helmet therapy. (My son got his helmet at 5

mos.

> and only had to wear it for 8 weeks, and I'd love to " get this over

> with " that early with my daughter, too.)

>

> Looking forward to getting to know all of you--

>

> Holly

[Guest guest]

If you are able to have PT twice a week I would go for it if you can

work it into your schedule. My son only had it every other week and

I felt that that was too little time.

Oops! I read your post wrong. Yes, I think you should be going at

least once a week.

Natasha

> > Greetings! I was a member of this board during the summer of

2002,

> > when my son was diagnosed with plagio at his 4 month well baby

> appt.

> > and underwent helmet therapy through Cranial Tech. We were

> fortunate

> > that he didn't have true torticollis, more like a tight neck

> muscle,

> > and his range of motion and plagio issues responded well to

helmet

> > therapy and neck stretching exercises.

> >

> > Fast forward to today. We have a happy, healthy almost 7 week

old

> > daughter who has a pretty severe case of torticollis and plagio.

> > Thank goodness I was aware of the problem pretty much from birth,

> > because I managed to convince our ped. to refer us to PT at her

one

> > month check up. Now of course I have a bunch of questions for

you:

> >

> > *We'll be going to PT once every two weeks. I read on another

site

> > that we should be going once a week. At what frequency did your

> tort

> > kids go to PT at my daughter's age (7 weeks old this weekend)?

How

> > quickly did you see improvement in range of motion?

> >

> > *As a typical 7 week old, my daughter sleeps a lot and only has

> maybe

> > 3 lengthy alert periods over the course of the day. She really

> hates

> > the neck stretches, and I feel terrible forcing them on her

during

> > our too infrequent alert times together. What was your

> experience?

> > Should I just will myself to force the exercises on her, crying

be

> > damned? Or take it easier?

> >

> > *Anyone avoided helmet therapy with repositioning techniques and

PT

> > alone? That would be my ultimate goal, but I'm very discouraged

> > because my daughter avoids my herculean efforts to force her to

> look

> > to the left (her tort side)! I feel like I have just a short

> window

> > of time to correct the problems with repositioning and neck

> stretches

> > before moving on to helmet therapy. (My son got his helmet at 5

> mos.

> > and only had to wear it for 8 weeks, and I'd love to " get this

over

> > with " that early with my daughter, too.)

> >

> > Looking forward to getting to know all of you--

> >

> > Holly

[Guest guest]

Hi Holly,

My son was dx'd early with tort and a little later with his plagio.

We went to pt weekly when he was 12 weeks old, but he hated it and

screamed the whole entire time. His therapistpushed us back to every

other week with the premise that as he got older and more accepting

of pt we would increase the therapy time.

I work full time so I know what you mean about stretching and

exercising during that " quality " time is very difficult. I did

almost all of my son's passive stretching when he was asleep. I

found that once I pust him down for a sleep period, he would pretty

much stay asleep through the stretches. As for the exercise, do

everything/anything you can to help that range of motion, and I can't

stress tummy time enough. My son still has horrible upper body

strength due to my not wanting him to fuss when on his tummy.

Good luck and keep us posted on your daughter's progress.

- mom to Aidan

STARgrad 02/04

GR MI

--- In Plagiocephaly , " tbustermom " <tbustermom@y...>

wrote:

> Greetings! I was a member of this board during the summer of 2002,

> when my son was diagnosed with plagio at his 4 month well baby

appt.

> and underwent helmet therapy through Cranial Tech. We were

fortunate

> that he didn't have true torticollis, more like a tight neck

muscle,

> and his range of motion and plagio issues responded well to helmet

> therapy and neck stretching exercises.

>

> Fast forward to today. We have a happy, healthy almost 7 week old

> daughter who has a pretty severe case of torticollis and plagio.

> Thank goodness I was aware of the problem pretty much from birth,

> because I managed to convince our ped. to refer us to PT at her one

> month check up. Now of course I have a bunch of questions for you:

>

> *We'll be going to PT once every two weeks. I read on another site

> that we should be going once a week. At what frequency did your

tort

> kids go to PT at my daughter's age (7 weeks old this weekend)? How

> quickly did you see improvement in range of motion?

>

> *As a typical 7 week old, my daughter sleeps a lot and only has

maybe

> 3 lengthy alert periods over the course of the day. She really

hates

> the neck stretches, and I feel terrible forcing them on her during

> our too infrequent alert times together. What was your

experience?

> Should I just will myself to force the exercises on her, crying be

> damned? Or take it easier?

>

> *Anyone avoided helmet therapy with repositioning techniques and PT

> alone? That would be my ultimate goal, but I'm very discouraged

> because my daughter avoids my herculean efforts to force her to

look

> to the left (her tort side)! I feel like I have just a short

window

> of time to correct the problems with repositioning and neck

stretches

> before moving on to helmet therapy. (My son got his helmet at 5

mos.

> and only had to wear it for 8 weeks, and I'd love to " get this over

> with " that early with my daughter, too.)

>

> Looking forward to getting to know all of you--

>

> Holly