Newborns
Your bundle of joy has just arrived, and they’re absolutely perfect. You’re probably thinking there’s no way that my little one needs physiotherapy already, and while you’re probably right, there are a couple of instances where physiotherapy can help young ones as little as your precious newborn.
Below are a few of the reasons you might consider visiting us with your newborn:
Congenital torticollis (tight neck)
Does your baby have a preferred side for looking and latching? Your baby has had their muscles in place since month 3 of your pregnancy! While they weren’t fully developed until week 38-40, they were doing some serious growing in the womb.
Congenital (meaning present at birth) torticollis (meaning “twisted neck”) is when the muscles on one side of the neck shorten or tighten, causing your little one to have restricted movement.
Physiotherapy can help you by providing stretches and techniques to support your little one and lengthen those muscles, allowing them to move freely.
Plagiocephaly and brachycephaly (flat head)
To help with giving birth, babies are born with soft skulls with parts that are not fused together. While this makes giving birth easier (not easy!), it means that pressure on the skull when they’re young can cause misshaping of the head, also known as flat head syndrome.
Since newborns spend a lot of time sleeping (some of them!), it’s common for them to spend large amounts of time on their backs, causing this pressure and associated asymmetrical skull shape. It can be exacerbated by tight neck muscles, as your newborns preferred side gets more pressure than its counterpart.
Whilst babies’ skulls do not fuse until around 18 months, their heads grow quickly in the first 6 months of life. For this reason, it’s important to see a physio as soon as you notice any asymmetry, so we can provide you with exercises and stretches you can do with your newborn to treat their flat head.
Congenital conditions
There is a whole nine months of development that happened prior to the birth of your little one. There are many conditions that could occur during this development that can be supported by an experienced paediatric physiotherapist.
Whether it’s an assessment of any potential anomalies or giving you some stretches and exercises you can do at home to support healthy development and growth, physiotherapy is an established and trusted medical profession that can support you and your young one from birth.