Quoting Christine Lichte <[log in to unmask]>:

> Hi. During a session by Susan Ludington she mentioned that newborns favor
> the right.  The notes say: "maternal voice--attention getting when on right
> side, should be used as setting event to start feeding sequence" and "For
> first feed have infant turn to right to be on breast, and no head turn to
> left x3 months is best (lateralization and asymmetric tonic neck reflex)"
>
that sounds very odd to me- if she has sources I would like to know
"fencer's" or asym. tonic neck reflex can be elicited from BOTH sides- I find
that most parents are right handed so its more comfortable to put the baby down
on a changing table on the parents right side, so the infant will naturally
turn to its right toward the parent. I try to get parents to alternate sides
b/c toticollis (wry neck) and positional plagiocephally (flat heads) is a
common problem- wry neck is more common in boys and it is often co-existing
with congenital hip dysplasia- often first child- one theory is it was a tight
fit in the womb- the sternocleidomastoid muscle (the neck musc. that sticks out
in thin stressed out people) can shorten and be tight on that side and can
actually cause facial distortion if not corrected- the first line of treatment
is to gently stretch infants neck and make him look to the other side! I find
that breastfed babies who co sleep have nice round heads and supple necks- b/c
they are constantly switching from one side to the other- bottle fed babies are
always being held and put down in the same position- since the "back to sleep"
campaign- flat heads is so common and disfiguring too! now they have whole
centers "cranial-facial" that make these helmets for the kids to wear to
reround their heads!

my friend had a really hard time breastfeeding her first son, I noticed that he
had a wry neck, and you can really see it in pictures, I pointed it out twice
and told her lightly that she should excercise/ stretch his neck- but I think
she, and her pediatrician don't see it.  I would think that it could make
positioning a challange and that the infant would wind up prefering one side
b/c of comfort

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