[honeybee]

Ds3 does this thing where he twitches his arm and repeatedly rubs his head. He has been doing it for a few months, although whereas his arm used to just wave around, now he seems to more deliberately rub the side of his head. He will do it with either arm. Recently, this has evolved into shaking his head back and forth, like he's saying no (although he'll still do the arm thing on occasion, but more often it's the head shake). But, he's not saying no, he is just shaking his head... repeatedly, and sometimes pretty aggressively. It's like he gets pretty wound up and almost manic. He is not upset when he does it. He's usually grinning and giggling. Sometimes he will get his whole body rocking back and forth.

Has anyone had a child who did this? I am just worried it might be an early sign of something neurological? I guess I am thinking autism spectrum. But, he is cuddly, interacts with people, and holds eye contact.

He's 7 months old, had a peaceful, easy, intervention-free home birth, never been vaxed, and never had any meds.

Is this just a cute quirk, or something that may need attention or that I should keep my eye on?

 

[karika]

dd1 had a thing where she would do a certain motion over and over, and she also would repeat a phrase over and over. not sure if they happened at same time, dont remember. i thought something was wrong too. she did receive some vaccines the hep b at hosp, and 2nd hep b and one combo at 2nd ped visit. i assumed it was from that. interesting your child doing it too and nonvaxxed. she was about 2 yrs, 4 months old at the time, and she would periodically get caught in a time loop (it looked from the outside) for little over a year till she was almost 4. she is very intelligent and seems fine now. she is very active, demanding type personality. i think it is just part of that stage of growth, mimicing and practicing seem to be the skills...

 

[FnkyGreenMama]

I say cute quirk/experimentation. My guy was doing the head shaking around 8 months, and still does occasionally at 10 months - probably because it feels interesting and because of the reaction he gets. We usually say "No?? Yes!" and then nod yes. He thinks it's hilarious. I'm not worried because he is otherwise on track physically/cognitively/socially, and I figure it's no surprise that one of his first communications to us is NO!

Sometimes he does it when he's dancing

:

 

[pbjmama]

I think it is probably normal. The one thing it makes me think of is sensory issues, which my ds has. So if you start noticing similar things as he gets older, texture issues (clothes or food, sand, playdoh), avoiding or crashing into objects, etc it might be something to consider.

 

[honeybee]

Thanks. He also has congestion issues, so sometimes I wonder if he's just trying to clear his sinuses.