8 month old baby. Ankle clonus.

My 7 month old son has bilateral ankle clonus. 1 beat when awake. 4 beats when asleep. He was earlier than all his peers to sit and roll. He is crawling and pulling to stand. He can stand while holding onto something for a very long time. No other neuro signs whatsoever. How scared should I be about clonus?

[Dr. Kokil Mathur]

Hi
Welcome to the MedHelp forum!
Usually ankle clonus of more than 8-10 beats is almost always associated with cerebral palsy, mental retardation, borderline intelligence, and motor delay. Though your son does not exhibit any signs of these and the ankle clonus in about 4 beats, still it would be wiser to consult his pediatrician and a pediatric neurologist regarding this. I would not be too worried and in all probability this would disappear by one year, still I cannot be sure on net. Hence please approach his pediatrician once.
Take care!

[kellzymorgan]

I need to comment on this DESPERATELY!

My daughter had bi-lateral ankle clonus (sustained - well over 20 beats, especially when asleep or very relaxed - could go to beyond 40 beats!!!) until 7-8 months or so.  Then she developed white patches on her foot/leg (20 or so, with some in an "ash leaf" shape) and had a cafe au lait spot.  Between the white patches (a MAJOR marker for Tuberous Sclerosis - an AWFUL genetic disorder that causes severe seizures and potentially severe mental retardation, among many other things), the cafe au lait spot and the ankle clonus, I was CONVINCED CONVINCED CONVINCED she had Tuberous Sclerosis - DESPITE how well she was doing developmentally.  I was even CONVINCED she was having seizures - infantile spasms to be exact and I recorded some strange head drops.

So far my daughter has seen 4 pediatric neurologists who've all given her a clean bill of health.  And lest you think I live in podunk somewhere, my last two pediatric neurologists are the directors of the Pediatric Epilepsy Center at NYU.  They're world renowned and are like gods in the arena of pediatric neurology.

Well, after giving them her history and when seeing her white spots, she was promptly admitted to NYU for a 3-day video EEG (her second video EEG in 6 months).  Result:  PERFECT.  I was told "there is no way this child has ever had an infantile spasm with this EEG."  Then she had an MRI.  Result:  PERFECT.

She has no evidence of tumors ANYWHERE on her body, her brain is perfect, she is ABOVE average developmentally (currently 18 months) and wicked smart.  

Between month 4-16 of my daughter's life, I have been a wreck.  An absolute basketcase.  I was convinced she had cerebral palsy and when she saw the first Pediatric Neurologist at 7 months (who specialized in Cerebral Palsy) and he chuckled "there is no way this child has cerebral palsy," I was barely able to breathe before I was on to the next thing:  Tuberous Sclerosis.  And she's completely cleared of that.

Life is short.  TOO SHORT.  I intend to spend the rest of mine enjoying my daughter instead of reading medical literature that scared the hell out of me and turned out to contradict what my experience was.  The papers I read were clear that NO CHILD should have ankle clonus AT ALL beyond 6 months - otherwise it was a neurological abnormality.  

You know what FOUR pediatric neurologists told me?  That that was PATENTLY UNTRUE and that though they couldn't say why the child had some sporadic ankle clonus, it did NOT mean she was neurologically impaired.  They weren't even remotely concerned about it.  

In fact, my best friend's son saw a Ped Neurologist (for an unrelated issue) and my friend thought to probe her regarding my daughter's ankle clonus and this doctor (Harvard Med School) said she'd personally triggered a couple beats of ankle clonus in each of her 3 children up until they were 18 months old.  

My daughter's bi-lateral ankle clonus meant nothing in the end.
Her multiple white patches and cafe au lait spot meant nothing in the end.
She's perfect, smart and developing like a champ.

I've aged decades, however!!!  (God help us all!!!)  :)