Why is my baby's neck crooked?

It is every parent's wish that their children can grow up healthily. Any details of their children's physical condition during their growth process will not be ignored by the parents. The baby's neck is a gradual process of formation. Some wrong practices can cause the child's neck to be crooked. In order to avoid deformities due to delays, we must have a full understanding of these factors. So, what’s wrong with the baby’s crooked neck?

The baby's crooked neck may be due to habitual head posture

According to research surveys, Oriental women are on average petite with relatively small pelvic cavities, but the average weight of our newborn babies is not inferior to that in Europe and the United States.

Therefore, it is conceivable that in the late pregnancy, the rapidly growing fetus in the mother's belly gradually lacks sufficient space to stretch, and its big head tends to lean to one side, forming a habitual posture, which is often accompanied by facial asymmetry due to long-term uneven pressure.

The baby's crooked neck may be caused by a lump on one side of the neck

This is a more familiar cause of torticollis. Its cause is unknown. It is speculated that the sternocleidomastoid muscle on one side of the neck may be compressed and injured before delivery, resulting in a hematoma, which then healed on its own to form a hard lump, tightening the muscle and restricting the free rotation of the head. Some scholars also speculate that the injury to the sternocleidomastoid muscle occurred during the delivery process.

Regardless of the cause, babies with neck lumps sometimes have facial asymmetry, crooked chin, scoliosis, shoulder deformity, and are more likely to have too little amniotic fluid.

The baby's crooked neck may be due to difficult labor

During delivery, the fetal sternocleidomastoid muscle may be injured and bleed due to birth regurgitation, squeezing or traction by forceps, or the hematoma may become organized and contracted, which may cause the baby's neck to be crooked. If dystocia is handled in time, torticollis can be prevented.

The baby's crooked neck may be due to genetic factors

About 17% of children have a family history of the disease. Torticollis in infants is usually discovered 2-3 weeks after birth. The head tilts to the affected side and the lower body turns to the opposite side, or a lump the size of an adult's thumb is found on the sternocleidomastoid muscle. It is hard like bone and the lump gradually increases in size, resulting in torticollis.

The baby's crooked neck may be a congenital bone abnormality

In particular, there may be cervical deformity or diseases in which the shoulder blade is positioned too high, such as Klippel-Feil deformity, which is a very rare congenital malformation syndrome. I suggest you take him to the hospital to have peace of mind.

The baby's crooked neck may be due to cervical lymphadenitis

It is usually easier to see in older children and less common in babies. However, if this happens, swollen and painful lymph nodes can be felt on one or both sides of the neck. It may be single or multiple, clustered together. Injury or inflammation and suppuration can often be found in nearby parts or organs, such as boils on the head and face, purulent tooth decay, etc.

The baby's crooked neck may be due to unbalanced vision in both eyes

Poor vision or amblyopia in one eye, severe strabismus, cataracts in one eye, etc. can all cause babies to look at things with their heads not straight. If this happens, parents should observe carefully to detect it early so that the child can receive correction as soon as possible.

The baby's crooked neck may be due to neck injury

A sprain or injury to the neck, such as a stiff neck or improper shaking, which causes damage to the neck muscles, or a fear of turning the neck due to pain, can cause the head to tilt to one side.

The baby's crooked neck may be due to the side effects of the medicine

Certain drugs, especially antiemetics, can cause extrapyramidal syndrome, which makes it impossible for the neck muscles and even the eye muscles to move flexibly, resulting in an acute change of the head tilting to one side. The syndrome usually disappears on its own after the drug effect wears off or the antidote is administered.

The baby's crooked neck may be due to incorrect acquired posture

In addition to the above reasons, the baby's crooked neck may also be caused by some incorrect posture after birth. For example, when a certain part of a child's head is relatively flat, he will tilt it because it is more comfortable lying that way; or parents always let the child lie in the same position, which over time will cause the child to like to keep the head in the same position, causing positional torticollis, which will cause the neck to twist repeatedly in one direction, causing the muscles on one side of the neck to gradually shorten.