[newchicagomommy]

When she is strapped in... car seat, stroller, high chair. She will start to pull on whatever is on her chest, straighten her legs and almost convulse. I can snap her out of it if i can get her attention, but it is really starting to concern me. I try and loosen the tray of her high chair which seems to help a bit and the other day I let her eat w/o a bib on and just a naked little belly... she started pulling on her skin the way she usually pulls on her bib or whatever article of clothing she has on when she does this and she cried since she was pinching herself... it was so sad! i took her out at once.

I'm not srue if I'm explaining what she does well... She grabs her clothes on her chest, puts her chin to her chset and looks down with a bright red face b/c she is breathing funny, then her legs are like super stiff and she they move in a very rhythmic way.. if that makes sense, kind of like shes rocking.

It seems like she is doing this more often these days, so i'm starting to get concerned.... especially since she did it to her own skin the other day. So wierd!!

Any thoughts???

 

[eepster]

Unless you are strapping her in so tightly she can't breath, it sounds like she has come up with a very complex way to communicate that she wants to get out of her seat.

 

[boodafli]

are you strapping her in super tight? she might be letting you know that she's uncomfortable.

 

[newchicagomommy]

In her stroller.. she has a super loose lap belt and I strap her in so that the straps stay up and NO tighter in her car seat. She isn't even strapped in in her high chair?! and I make sure there is a ton of room between her and the tray... I thought it might be the bib that was bugging her, but she pulled on her skin, so its not that??

 

[boodafli]

does she have sensory issues? i mean, do clothes bug her too? would she rather be naked?

 

[Bella Mia]

My dd has started doing things like this, but I've just taken it as her way of telling me that she definitely DOES NOT want to be contained.

I usually have to distract her to get her in her seat because she gets this way, and when she starts doing it in her high chair, I usually let her down as it's pretty clear at that point that she is done with eating!

If your dc is as independent and opinionated as mine, maybe it's just a way of her asserting her independence and communicating her desires with you.

 

[newchicagomommy]

Clothes don't bug her at all... only time she pulls at them is when what i described happens.
And shes a pretty laid back kid about everything else.... but maybe it is just her having enough of being contained??

thanks for everyone's input.. i really appreciate it!

 

[4Marmalade]

This may sound strange but I'll tell you our experience because some of the things you mentioned sounded similar to our dd's antics which started at around 1 year. Whenever we put her in her carseat, stroller or high chair she would start some rhythmic straightening of her legs. Her face would get a little red and her breathing would get a little rapid. It freaked us out a bit and we wondered what the heck she was doing. After a while we realized that she was doing some sort of "feel good" behaviour. At first she would only do it when strapped into things but eventually she started doing it other places and would kind of curl up into a fetal position on the floor and do the rhythmic rocking. She went through a period where it seemed like she was doing it all the time

Now at 2 years old, she rarely does it. Once she became more verbal we asked her about it and when we asked "does it feel good?" she would give a big smile and continue doing it so.....

Not sure if that's what's going on but thought I would throw it out there. I know that we were surprised when dd started doing it at the ripe old age of 1

 

[riverscout]

Last month, there was thread very similar to this one.

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...hlight=seizure

You might find some helpful information there. It was the first time I had heard about "feel good behavior."