Baby shaking ?

[BakersDozen]

This isn't a post about shaking a baby, thank goodness! My baby has three times done something none of my other babies did and it is concerning to me. I brought it up with my pediatrician but she said as long as my baby didn't appear overly sleepy after the shaking she wasn't concerned.

 

What happened is that while baby was nursing his head started to shake side to side very rhythmically and sharply. It's not the same as babies who just move their head back and forth, this was...different. When I put my hand on his head it stopped briefly then started again. The first time it happened I popped him off and watched to see if it would continue (which it didn't), yet as soon as he started to nurse again the shaking began. That happened two more times over the span of a few weeks.

 

I wish I had this on video as it is hard to describe it well with words. I'm not typically a paranoid mom but this is just odd. It's like a spasm that lasts entirely too long for my liking.

 

Thoughts?

[fhjmom]

Just curious, does he have any light colored birthmarks, either smooth or "pebble-y"?

 

I really don't want to scare you, but my grandson was recently diagnosed with a genetic disorder that can cause seizures. In doing the research on his condition, I have learned that seizure activity in infants often looks nothing like what an older child or adult has. Babies do not necessarily get drowsy after a seizure either. I have a sports medicine background and thought that I would be able to recognize seizures. Even before DGS was referred for this particular condition, he had several episodes that were just "odd" to me. Kind of like you describe (although his were not when feeding), but they were definitely not movements that were anything like my own children ever did. They just felt "off" to me, but no one ever took me seriously. We are now waiting on an evaluation to see if the condition is indeed causing seizures.

 

If you have a feeling what you are seeing is not totally normal, try to record it and keep talking to doctors until someone takes you seriously.

 

(((HUGS!!)))

[Rosie_0801]

Is it happening only when he nurses on the one side? Or both? If it's only one side, I'd take him to a chiro. If it's both, well, I'd probably take him anyway just to be sure, coz I'm like that. :tongue_smilie: If dd's neck was out, she'd vomit (ds would vomit whether his neck was out or not :rolleyes:) or they'd shriek and try to claw their way vertical. I'm wondering if there's something out in your bub's neck that's putting pressure on his ears.

 

Rosie

[Kebo]

My oldest did something like that twice when he was a baby -- once around 6 months old and another time at about a year of age. We called the nurse on call the first time and she had no idea what it was but said it didn't sound like a seizure. It went away after a few minutes each time. We never saw that behavior again, although at a slightly older age we saw episodes that made us think he might be having occasional complex partial seizures. EEG results were normal, so we'll never know for sure, but he's 13 now and he hasn't had any sign of those problems in years.

 

I agree that you should keep a video camera handy in case it happens again -- with something strange like that a video is so much more revealing than a description.

 

Best of luck to you in getting it figured out.

[ktgrok]

My daughter did some stuff that resembled that, but with her arm not her head. It was chalked up to "an immature neurological system" and she outgrew it in a few months.