It is very common for infants and babies to prefer looking one way and not the other. This could be a result of in uterine positioning, reflux, environmental setup, torticollis, or other reasons.
Here are some options for stretching out that side that they don’t like turning towards to make sure your babe stays nice and flexible! If they like to look to the right, we want to stretch them to the left, and vice versa.
I will describe these for the baby that likes to turn to the RIGHT, so flip everything if your babe likes looking left. Reach out if you have questions!
I find this to be the most comfortable for me in most situations. Here’s how you do it- find a comfortable seated or standing position. Hold baby’s trunk facing you with your right hand. Place your left hand on the back of baby’s head and turn to their left (your right). Use your chest as a resting spot for their head during this stretch.
Lie baby flat on their back with their head close to you. Put your left hand on their right shoulder to help keep it flat on the floor. Use the right hand at or right behind the ear to turn baby into left rotation.
This is a good one to do while you feed baby if you do bottle feeds, but you can also do it if they are not eating! Put baby in your lap facing you. Place left hand behind the head to help turn it to their left (your right). Keep your fingers soft, remembering not to dig!
This is similar to the bear hug, but they are facing away from you. Hold babe with left hand and use right hand to rotate the head against your chest to the left.
Put left hand behind baby’s head while they are flat on the floor. Use the right hand to show them a toy to encourage rotation, and use left hand to stretch into left rotation.
Remember for all of these to avoid soft spots and keep fingers flat (no digging)! With a little time and practice, you’ll be an expert stretcher!
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