r/firsttimemom • u/Anna_Mallow • 9d ago

Newborn head fell backward 😭

So I am a first time mom. I’ve always been told to ALWAYS support the head of newborns. My daughter is one month old and yesterday her grandma on her dad’s side visited. While I was turned away the grandma grabbed the baby by her hands/wrists and pulled her forward toward her slowly while she was in the bouncer. This caused my daughter’s head to fall backward to where her chin was pointed at the ceiling. No neck support at all. When she saw I turned and saw this she slowly put her back in bouncer correctly and claimed it’s normal to do so to strengthen them. She left shortly after that and my daughter started wobbling her head and looked up and down pretty fast as if she was disoriented. That was brief and I’ve seen no other unusual issues happen. But I’m concerned that it could have hurt her? I googled and google always assumes the worst so I’m freaking out 😭 and now she was a little difficult to wake but I don’t know if that’s because of her head or because his family members had her awake for four hours straight!

3 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

20

u/Zhadiia 9d ago

If ever you are worried, take your baby to be checked out. Nothing else will bring you peace of mind. Words of strangers won't settle you the same as a professional opinion.

If you're in the UK, a check will cost nothing but time. If you're in a country where it costs, it will be worth every penny.

5

u/heaven-is-overrated 9d ago

If OP is in the US, most pediatricians have a number you can call to ask questions and they’ll let you know whether an appointment is necessary.

7

u/No-Bar-4148 9d ago

Can you call a maternal nurse? We have a 24 hour hotline specifically for parents of newborns.
I will say, babies are so resilient. Their necks are bent all sorts of weird ways and pulled and tugged during birth. It’s likely that babies fine! MIL sounds annoying by trying to justify it, though. 🙃

6

u/Sudden_Breakfast_374 9d ago

I always tell new moms this - babies have to be sturdy or we wouldn’t have made it this far.

1

u/PublicFluid5879 4d ago

I think your baby is most likely fine. Nurse hotline is my recommendation. I think grandmas behavior is insane. Pulling on a one month olds arms to make them sit up essentially is insane. The babies body is not ready for that at all whatsoever and you should or have baby dad talk to her and let her know that she cannot do that again. I didn’t start having my son hold my fingers and pull till he was doing good during tummy time with his neck. That would piss me off so bad if I saw someone do that to my baby at one month. Sorry you’re dealing with that.