My babies are now tall enough to reach what is sitting on the edge of the table. We spent all day out yesterday, so they didn't get much sleep. We started Anastasia back on physical therapy. We took her to the craniofacial specialist to see if her head was lopsided enough to warrant a molding helmet. The answer was no (Yea!) She reinforced my opinion that the asymmetry on the back of her skull was not as bad as most torticolis babies because she was a tummy sleeper.
That is kind of a pet peeve of mine. The "back to sleep" SIDS campaign promotes back sleeping like it is the cure for SIDS, when so little is understood about the "disease." What is not explained in the campaign are the behavioral markers, etc that make it a real concern. Infants of a healthy weight, at birth and through gestation who have active neurological responses are at extremely low risk. Each parent has to evaluate the information and their children for themselves and make their own judgement. Skull formation was much more of a concern to me than SIDS (before I even knew Anastasia had torticolis) and she preferred sleeping on her tummy. On her back I was at risk for not being able sleep for any length of time. Having twins and a history of very negative effects of sleep deprivation on my mental and emotional well-being, I made the best choice for me and my children. The most important thing to remember about medical "recommendations" is that they are based on generalized and incomplete data. Parents have to make intelligent choices about what is best for their specific circumstances.
Anyway, the specialist recommended aggressive therapy to get Anastasia's tilt straightened out and thought that everything else was great. Christen is her therapist. They (everyone in the PT dept loves the twins) were so excited to have the babies back and were amazed how much they have changed in the month they were gone. They put Kinesia tape on her neck like you saw on a few of the Athletes during the Olympics. I totally don't get how it works. I just hope it means that it will help Anastasia be an awesome beach volleyball player. Okay maybe that is a distorted notion of causal relationships. Still...
Oh, we had our first frost here last Sunday. We are having a roller coaster of warm and cool days, but it is all fantastic, cool fall weather. We got snow last year, so I don't expect it this year.
What is Genius?
12 years ago
3 comments:
I added your blog to my list, as well. :)
How funny that you should blog about torticolis and kineseotape today, when I am reading... James also has a little torticolis, which I noticed when he was just a few days old (thanks to being a developmental specialist...)and didn't want to nurse lying on his right side. One of my PT colleagues has been monitoring his head tilt, and we're also taping his neck! It's amazing how/why it works, but it does. Hope it works well for Anastasia!
I had a couple kids that could sleep for hours on their tummy but only minutes on their side or back. It is frustrating. All the "you shoulds" with babies.
That tape is weird stuff. I hope it helps. Maybe we should get some for Kelsea's ankle.
You know, Mr. Butler would only sleep on his tummy, he's a very tall, ornery 9 year old now. My babysitter when the little ones needed one, had an infant die under care of SIDS, and he was on his back! I don't really believe in all of that, I feel they are just special babies that Heavenly Father needs back with him, as tragic as that is, and no matter how they sleep, it doesn't matter. Moms need to do what works for them. Anyways, your girls are beautiful and healthy, and you are an amazing woman!
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