Parents Handling skills of their child

I was somewhat intrigued on my prac by the number of children who presented with torticollis. What I noticed with most of these parents and spent a lot of time discussing with my supervisor was the parent’s poor handling skills.

A lot of parents noted that they placed their child on their stomach for ‘tummy time’ however none of the parents we saw would roll their child to place them in prone, but would lift them in an almost A-P direction, turn them then place them down on their stomach. Additionally when going to pick up their child, very few added any rotation to the movement. For most of these children they did not know how to roll or reposition themselves as they are never given an opportunity to do so. I was amazed by the number of parents who did not appear comfortable positioning/handling their child and verbally expressed their lack of confidence in doing so…

With demonstration and practice of some handling techniques involving how to roll and pick up their child differently, most parents would come back the next week and tell us how much their child had improved and would now roll to both sides and was now more comfortable in turning their head to both sides as well. The parents also told us how they now felt more comfortable in handling their child and placing them in varying holds and play positions.

In this age with fewer siblings, or fewer family members around (parents/grandparents), are we lacking the opportunities to play and hold little babies anymore and learn these basic skills?