# Involuntary head shaking HELP?



## Lizafava (Nov 28, 2004)

for the last couple days, my 8mo DS has had these little "head shaking" episodes. He shakes his head like he's signaling no (though thats obviously not what he's doing). It looks like a tic, and is really freaking me out. It happens several times a day, usually when he's tired. A woman in my play group said her daughter did it too as an infant. But I'm going to call the dr. this morning and make an appointment ASAP.

Has anyone heard of this? Is this something thats remotely normal? Any ideas what it could be? I've been reading about mini-seizures . . . and really freaking out.

TIA!


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## nabigus (Sep 23, 2004)

From what I understand, totally normal, just a "hey, look what I can do with my body" thing. my ds did this a couple months ago. Lasted about a week, then he went on to other bodily experiments.


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## Cardinal (Feb 6, 2006)

Totally normal. The kid I watch twice a week did it so my son picked it up for a while since he saw it made mommy look!


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## Lizafava (Nov 28, 2004)

Thanks so much for your replies. I think I calmed down a bit, and will just keep an eye on it now. He did it last night when he was in a sort-of asleep state, which made me think it was more than a "what can my body do" thing. But it probably is just another funny baby move.


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## sunnysideup (Jan 9, 2005)

I'll third that--it's totally normal.


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## laohaire (Nov 2, 2005)

My DD is 8 months too, and she just started doing that this week! DH and I thought it was funny, for the most part, though after a few times I wondered about it too. We joke that she's a Bobble-Head Baby. She tends to do it while standing (as I support her) and she often flaps her arms at the same time.

I'm guessing by this thread that this is totally and utterly normal.


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## yogachick79 (Apr 4, 2006)

Yup, DS is 8 months and he now knows that it gets a funny response from us so he does it intentionally. But around 7 months he started doing it and I DID notice that it was whenever he was really tired or getting sleepy. Totally normal.

His little body would shiver a bit too when he was much younger and settling in to sleep. Something that DD did as well, and according to my mom I did too. Freaked me out a ton with both kids but doc said not to worry. My mom had all sorts of test run on me when I did it as an infant and nothing was found wrong. Babies can just have weird ticks, but it is NEVER wrong to worry and be on the safe side. NEVER.


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## redwolf2 (Jan 3, 2006)

My Ds did this too. He is a twin and his brother never did it. He is much younger and doesn't really do it any more. It was like a shiver and he'd make a sound too. He really looked confused when it hapened, I freaked out. My ped told me that they would do an EKG(?) of it seemed like he did it more and more often. She said a movement they would worry about would be like a head drop and arms coming in at the same time. Its a sign of some sort of infant spasm? Has anyone heard of what im talking about. Any way what you describe is normal especially at that age. They try all kinds of movements.

NAK

namaste


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## onlyboys (Feb 12, 2004)

My son does it too, and what the neurologist told me was abnormal is an increase in duration or intensity of the tremors as the baby gets older. Also, any periods of apnea after the newborn period is not normal at all. Hope that helps!


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## kyangel80 (Oct 5, 2005)

Just wanted to let you know that I was on here several months ago asking if my son might have Tourettes b/c he was doing this and it freaked me out too.







Totally normal and I think possibly more common among boys. Has something to do with being tires and a specific muscle I think. Can't exactly remember but totally normal.


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## lauraheartslittle1 (Apr 12, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Lizafava*
for the last couple days, my 8mo DS has had these little "head shaking" episodes. He shakes his head like he's signaling no (though thats obviously not what he's doing). It looks like a tic, and is really freaking me out. It happens several times a day, usually when he's tired. A woman in my play group said her daughter did it too as an infant. But I'm going to call the dr. this morning and make an appointment ASAP.

Has anyone heard of this? Is this something thats remotely normal? Any ideas what it could be? I've been reading about mini-seizures . . . and really freaking out.

TIA!

I've heard that it's totally normal. My dc does it lots when he's tired.. or when he's cranky. So most of our afternoon commute consists of him sitting in his car seat shaking his head side to side and going "blahblahblahblah," "mamamamama," etc.

He started doing this around 9 months old or so. He'll do it when he's tired and sitting in the middle of the floor giggling and laughing while doing it. He'll also do it because he finds my reaction to it silly. I'll say, "Oh, really? You don't say!" and then tickle him. I figure that it will fade as he learns new things.


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## ChristinaLucia (May 1, 2006)

Don't worry - I just took my DD to the ped for this - and she said it was totally normal. It freaked me out too!!!!


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## beebalmmama (Jul 21, 2005)

Ds was doing this at night occasionally. For him he seemed to do it when he had energy to get out before going to sleep at night. He still does it at 9 mo and other funny things, now with his hands.


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