10 Month Old Head Twitch/jerk When Sleepy and Excited

This may sound weird and I'm not sure how to describe it but a few days ago while playing in her walker I noticed that my daughters head did this twitching or jerking to the right side. Kind of like a tic. It happens really fast and does it around 2-3 times in a row each time. I took her to her pediatrician and she said that kids do funny things around this age and it's probably something she picked up and is developmental and it will probably go away on it's own in a few weeks. I don't want to worry to much, but that answer just doesn't sit well with me. Since she started doing it, I've watched her closely to see when she does it the most. It seems like when she's sleepy or when she's excited and playing it happens the most. I'm not sure what to think about this. I would like to take her in for a second opinion or to a nerurologist, but I don't want to overreact. Has anybody experienced this with any of their kids?

Respond to Question

What can I do next?

Add your own comment
Ask your own question
Join the Mamapedia community
Report this as inappropriate
Share this with your friends

Write A.A. a private message
Read more that A.A. has written
Browse local questions
Is this helpful? Yes | No

So What Happened?™

I wanted to follow-up and let you know what happened after my post. So my daughters pediatrician followed up with me about a week or so after our appointment to see if my daughter was still having the twitch, which she was. She ended up referring me to a neurologist over at CHOC in Orange. Unfortunately, I couldn't get an appointment for 6 weeks, so I waited. I eventually met with the neurologist who ordered an EEG to measure my daughters brain activity for possible seizures. So I made the appointment for the EEG and finally on the day of the appointment I went and they had me down on the wrong day. You can only imagine how mad I was. So they rescheduled me for the end of that week. She went in and had the EEG done and I called a few times to see if the results came in. They got mad and told me not to call anymore, but scheduled an appointment with the neurologist to go over the results. So I got to the appointment, to no surprise did they not have my test results in after over 2 weeks went by, which is why I was calling in the first place because I knew something like this would happen. So I waited til later that week, when the doctors office called and said that the EEG came back normal. That was a big relief, especially after all that I had gone through with CHOC. I am just happy there is nothing wrong with her. The neurologist said that babies under 2 years old will sometimes have clusters of cells in their body that collect at certain places that cause the body to have weird reactions, in this case with my daughter it is twitching. She is no longer doing it, except for maybe once every few weeks, and it will lessen until it stops.

Featured Answers

C.Y. answers from Los Angeles on May 30, 2008

I cant help with the tics but I can honestly say that you probably are doing too much if you work full time, go to school part-time and then do Avon on top of all that. is there any activity you can cut back on? All these little people really want and need is YOU.

Helpful? Yes | No Report This Share

More Answers

J.B. answers from Los Angeles on May 30, 2008

over react!!! That is your right, my daughter passed out in the tub and they told me she was dehydrated, finally insisted on a CT scan and she has a cyst in her brain, go to CHOC, they take all insurance and will even pay for it if you do not have insurance. INSIST on a second opinion, to me it sounds like a seizure, but I am not a doctor, and don't mean to alarm you, but if you are uneasy it is not worth it, she is your child, you both nee to be easy about it. Praying it is nothing here.
BTW Contact me, I am in N. OC and looking for avon!

Helpful? Yes | No Report This Share

S.B. answers from Los Angeles on May 30, 2008

It is not possible to over react when it is your child. Do whatever you feel you need to do for the health of your infant.

Helpful? Yes | No Report This Share

V.V. answers from Los Angeles on May 30, 2008

Hey Angela,
I saw something on the Learning Chanel several months ago where the child had the same sypmtoms that yours does. I'm sorry I cant remember the diagnosis, but the child had been misdiagnosed many times till someone finally knew about this problem. It required surgery and the child is fine now. Please exaust every avenue. Google the symptoms too. I wish I could remember more, sorry.
God bless you,
V.

Helpful? Yes | No Report This Share

E.L. answers from Los Angeles on May 31, 2008

Try taping it so that your doctor can see exactly what concerns you. Best of luck.

Helpful? Yes | No Report This Share

T.M. answers from Los Angeles on May 30, 2008

Take her to the doctors, after all it won't hurt, just to make sure, you noticed somethig different, other wise you would have not written in here, follow through on your intuition MOM.... I love your daughters name very pretty..

Prayers sent

Helpful? Yes | No Report This Share

C.F. answers from Los Angeles on May 31, 2008

First video tape her doing it. Also keep a long of the time of day, and circumstances when she does it. Give it a few weeks to determine if it gets better, worse, or stays the same. (Not trying to freak you out, but if other symptoms appear, especially something dramatic like unable to sit up, seek help immediately.)

If you have PPO or can afford to pay cash, make an appt w/ different dr for 2nd opinion -- w/ a developmental pediatrician or ped neurologist -- be aware these may take weeks to get in and they may decline to give appt w/o referral. Be persistent.

Good luck.

Helpful? Yes | No Report This Share

K.T. answers from Los Angeles on May 30, 2008

Your hunch is usually right--seek a second opinion or call the local Childrens Hospital for a Pediatric Neurologist's name. I would not just leave it as "normal".

Helpful? Yes | No Report This Share

C.Y. answers from Los Angeles on May 30, 2008

Helpful? Yes | No Report This Share

T.C. answers from Los Angeles on May 30, 2008

Hi Angela ,

I have b/g twins that are now 14mons old. When my daughter
was about the same age she started doing all these tick
things as well. Her favorite was to close her eyes real tight and keep them closed. Almost like her eyes hurt or something was wrong. This scared me so much that I also took her to the Dr. He told me the same thing, but he said if you would feel more comfortable I will order a brain scan to rule out any problems. I scheduled the scan and then backed out because I was nervous and scared to put her through all that. Then I started to second guess myself and thought what if something was really wrong.

So, I rescheduled, took her to the hospital, and we were there for 5 hours doing a brain scan. The results came back
negative. The blinking and eye closing stopped a couple of weeks later. All my friends said this is normal, babies do these things. I kind of feel silly now, but I do not regret my decision. What if something was wrong ????

You need to do what you feel is best for you, but ,
taken from another Mom, I guess babies just do all these little quirky things from time to time. Just enough to scare us. We learn a lot being first time Moms.

Good luck

Helpful? Yes | No Report This Share

signup