7 month old doing neck/shoulder jerk/twitch/spasm

[Truckerdoo]

Hey all,

1st, let me start off by saying I *will* be bringing my baby to the dr about this this week.

My 7 month old son has been having these neck/shoulder twitches/jerks the last couple weeks. A couple times a day he involuntarily twitches his head forward/to the side.

I have read that this could either be his Central Nervous System "settling in" and will go away, and could possibly be corresponding with the fact that he has been learning to creep and crawl the last few weeks.

I've also read terribly scary stuff about infantile spasms and seizues and stuff and now of course am totally freaked.

These movements are like shudders, or like a chill - they don't seem seizurey or spasmy. Also he doesn't lose consciousness or stop what he's doing or anythign like that.

Anyone see a similar thing in their baby?

[by-the-lake]

When I questioned this in my DS, I went to youtube and watched a ton of footage of parents taping their kids infantile spasms. It helped confirm that was *not* my sons issue, but was a valuable tool for me.

[Truckerdoo]

Yeah I've been watching those for the last hour. Avett isn't really doing anything like what I saw...what specifically was your DS doing that made you concerned?

[by-the-lake]

He holds his arms in extention, hyperextends his fingers, and shakes and grunts, sometimes for an hour or more. If we distract him, he stops but then goes back to doing it. It has been identified by his physical and occupational therapist as 'stimming' or self-stimulating behavior.

[jess152]

Our DS1 had this starting at around 9-10 months. It didn't last long...maybe ending just after a year. They were short spasms that seemed involuntary and only lasted a few seconds, but he couldn't pull himself out of it.

We were scared. It's scary to see your baby doing that! We took him to our family dr who forwarded us on to a neurologist who recommended an EEG. They found absolutely nothing and like I said, the behaviour stopped.

I had myself convinced it was because we had him vaccinated, but now, who knows.

He's a completely normal 3 1/2 year old now. Terrible! lol

[Truckerdoo]

Thanks so much for sharing, it makes me feel better. One of my friends with a 4 yr old said her DS did this too, until he was about 2. Then he just grew out of it. I'm hoping that's the case here! We have a dr's appt Thursday to check him out.