Dear Lactnet,
    In regard to Dr. Newman's baby with congenital torticollis, I second
Barbara's suggestion for cranio-sacral therapy as an option.  My firstborn
had pronounced torticollis and although she latched well, was difficult
to"align" in modified cradle.
    We made the rounds all over the Eastern seaboard for treatment.  Her
father is a chiropractor and was very wary of the orthopedist's suggestion of
"clipping" the sternocleidomastoid muscle if she didn't correct and showed
facial assymmetry.
    A happenstance meeting at a LLL meeting got me in touch with a local
Rolfer who had birthed twins-one vaginally and one c-section- and had treated
the vaginally delivered twin with stretching and massage.  She agreed to do
the "stretching" exercises for a fee 3 times a week.  As KJ became better at
nursing I was able to drop her body at a diagonal on one side and stretch the
fan-shaped muscle as we nursed.  The rolfer hooked me up with the Upledger
Institute in West Palm, Flordia and we flew there for cranio-sacral
treatment.  The practionioner did "pterygoid" pressure via her palate.
    By 11 months she was in complete mid-line.  She still sleeps with one eye
partially open on the "tight" side 13 years later.  The hair on her brow
grows in the direction of the torticollis.  She was really smushed at birth
and required an ENT to open her collapsed nasal passage.
    We fashioned her a little padded neck-brace once she could sit up, since
she was so pulled to one side it threw off her balance.  I also moved her
mobile and fed her from the angle that would strengthen the muscle.
    I think accumulative hours at breast a day stretching the tight SCM
muscle was most advantageous (after latch well established) as well as the
cranio-sacral therapy.

Jan Ellen Brown RDH IBCLC
Charlotte, NC USA

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