Friday, June 11, 2010

Physical Therapy

Little M's first PT appointment was Wednesday. I have to say it was nothing like I expected. They started off with a  full evaluation of her physical and developmental development by playing with her and having her preform certain tasks. It was very interesting and she was having fun! Then they calculate it and tell you were she is on the charts. For example she is 24 3/4 weeks old but her motor skills are at 26 weeks, her verbal skills at 28 weeks and so on.

The PT really said they like to start seeing Torticollis babies much sooner than 5 months (ideal is 2-3 months), but that since her case was mild its not going to affect her much. She showed us 2 different neck stretches that we have to do 3-5 times each at each diaper change. One of the main reasons they like to start these earlier is because at 5 months, when you are trying to hold a neck stretch for 3-5 seconds- they resist! They are mobile fully aware little creatures now! You try holding a 5 month old down for 3-5 seconds in a compromising position while simultaneously taking a blow to the face, its challenging! So I try to squeak Sophie, or make a loud distracting noise to keep take her attention off what I am doing. (You can see some of the stretches we have to do here ). A lot of babies that have Torticollis, also have Plagiocephaly, or flat head syndrome. Those are the babies you see with the helmets on. Little M does not, so we don't have to worry about that.

So besides the stretches, tummy time is KEY! It is so so so important. It really helps stretch and strengthen those neck muscles, and actually helps them learn to sit on their own better. As they really start pushing up on those arms, they are flexing their glutes, which helps them become stronger independent sitters. Which little M is displaying here...


I was also informed that the fancy-new-best you can buy- Exercauser I just bought is the devil.


Its like placing your baby in the devils arms to a physical therapist. PT's are strongly against the use of any exercausers, jumperoo's, and walkers for any baby. It delays their development, reinforces bad physical behavior, and they should only be in them for FIVE MINUTES total a day, so whats the point of even having them? 120 dollars the down the drain....

The one positive is that this exercauser breaks down into a walk around activity table, so I guess we'll just save it and use it for that, because go figure I just threw the box away last week. Sigh.
So we will be doing the home stretches and following up with her in 6 weeks to check M's progress!

4 comments:

Hay Hay said...

Wow...we have that exact same exersaucer! Lincoln LOVES it...that stinks what the PT said :(

stacey said...

Hey! I have no time to pee these days, let alone be on the Bump, so I didn't see your page:) Which excerise doesn't she like? Sophia doesn't like the neck tilt one. The rotation one is fine. You can also do the neck tilt while you are holding her. Did they recommend the special hold?

Unknown said...

I have a Torti baby too. She been in PT and OT since about 3 months old. She's almost six months now. Yes, PTs and OTs hate "baby containers" - but my Pedi actually reccommends them. I even got V's PT to admit the other day that 10-15 minutes a day WILL NOT hurt the baby.

I say? Use it. If you as a mom feel it's okay, then do it. I did it, and hundreds of others use them and their babies are fine. As long as you're not leaving the little one in there for hours a day. They're not as evil as therapists make them out to be.

Alice
http://lifewithvivianlem.blogspot.com

Lisa said...

Stacey,

Yeah, I am hardly ever on there either so I had no idea if you had responded or not :) She really doesnt like either of the holds, but really seems to hate the rotation (so the opposite as Sophia). She did recc. the neck tilt hold, which we do and she doesnt mind that at all.

Alice,

I hear ya on the exercauser, tons of people use them. And even when I did use it (I havent put her in it since the PT appt. lol) it was only for 30 min. MAX a day, and not even all at one time, but she could tell that we owned one by the way she was trying to stand. So it kinda freaked me out!

I just have to say how amazed I am to see how many people have tort babies! I had never even heard of it before and its really quite common! Its nice to know we're not alone.