Baby Having Little Fits

My son did something very similar when he was younger. The pediatrician told me that if I could "snap him out of it" by touching him or calling his name then it probably was not a concern. She also said to watch his behavior afterward and be concerned if he lost consciousness, acted very sleepy, or behaved oddly (loss of balance, disorientation, etc). After observing him closely I noticed that none of the concerning factors applied and he actually only did it when he saw food or animals (his two favorite things!) :) He is now 18 months old and hasn't done his "excited shiver" for months.

Good luck! I hope it's just that she is really excitable!

Neither of my two children did this but that doesn't mean that what your child is doing is normal or abnormal. I could see where this may be your baby's personal mannerisms and I can also see why your husband may suspect possible seizures. Definitely call your doctor's office and either ask them what they think is possibly going on or book an appointment to have your child checked out. If her shrugs are just a body movement that she makes, then you will have peace of mind having that confirmed by her doctor. If it's something more, then you will be able take action on it a lot sooner than you would have if you had chosen to follow a course of denial or inactivity on this issue.

Until you get a chance to speak with your doctor, start really taking note of how often she is doing her shrugs and what's happening when she is doing them. This kind information may you give some insight into the how's and why's behind her shrugging.

Wishing you all the best.

My oldest did this and we were concerned until we figured out it would happen when she would pee! We call it the pee shivers. Anyway, you should mention it to your doctor but it is probably something simple like having the pee shivers.

I say take baby to the doctor, quickly.

My daughter was doing a similar thing. She would drop her head like it got really heavy in the front. It wasn't something that took minutes it was as fast as blinking an eye. We thought it looked like she was trying to sneeze until it got really regular and then when she started doing it in the bath and almost dunked her head under the water I called the doc. We were set up for all sorts of tests for seizures and she did sleep studies and the whole shebang. Good thing we have good insurance because we were there a lot with testing and talking to the neurologists. Definately get it on video for the doc and take a lot of notes about things that happen around the time when it happens. Try to notice if she's doing it when she's sleepy. My daughter did do it a lot more when it was close to a nap or bedtime, but I guess that didn't mean much for us. We never figured out what it was. I was really scared for a while but it suddenly went away as suddenly as it appeared and it turns out it must have been nothing cause she's fine now. But there was no guarentee of that. I hope you have as good of luck with it as we did cause from what the neurologist said it could have been bad. Thank god it went away. Would like to have known what it was, but I am just happy it's gone. Good luck.

My 4 month old has twice shivered really bad just before getting her bottle. I asked her ped. about it at her check up and she said it could be infantile shivers which is commonly associated to food. I was told if she still has her motor skills not to worry but if she loses motor skills then it could be a seizure. She said the best thing would be to record it on my phone and show her at my babies next appt.

this is the sort of thing that you trust your mommas instinct with, and not a husbands random paranoid and freaky suggestion! (i wouldnt say that if my hubby didnt do that same thing all the time when we only had our first two kids!!)

if you cant figure out why shes doing that, then it would be safe to have a casual doctors visit. but i definitely wouldnt worry about it too much. no need to stress yourself out anymore than you already are! especially if it is something worse, the more calm you are the better you can deal with it and help your child manage.

If you even think at all that your baby is having seizures please take the baby to a doc ASAP. Also, if you can catch on of the fits on a video camera this is VERY helpful to the doctors. Then they can actually see what your child is doing rather than guessing.

Hi E. - My child was doing something similar to what you are describing and I brought her into my Dr. right away. It was a good thing I did because she had very early signs of "Infantile Spasms" because we acted so quickly we were able to start a treatment right away and we currently have them under control. These are not your standard seizure, so there isn't the confusion or sleepyness that you would normally see. It is very unlikely that your child has the same thing as my daughter because it is rare. So don't start researching all the scary things - but do see your Dr. immediately.

The best thing you can do for your child is to record a video of her when she is doing this with your phone or camera and write down every time it happens in a notebook that you can bring to the Dr. appt. Include what she ate, what she was doing before and after and what time, how long. Anything that you can tell the Dr. to help figure out if it is nothing or something that needs medical attention.

I'm not sure why the other Mommy commenting discounted the fathers concerns. If either of you ever feel concerned it is always best to check it out with your Doctor. It really worries me when I see all these Mom's posting for medical advice on these social networking websites. Even if an actual Dr. replied to a question, they don't have the medical history or the ability to examine the person so a wrong diagnosis could easily be given.

I sincerely hope it is nothing and congrats on your baby girl!
-E.