Baby muscle spasms, due to low potassium???

[AirForceDad]

Hi,

In the last two days my seemingly healthy-almost 8 month old daughter has been having involuntary arm/shoulder/upper body spasms.  Yesterday, I saw it happen maybe three times, (2-4 twitches per instance) today, there were probably over 100 times that she had this spasm, all except while sleeping. No fever or any other sign of sickness.  Seems to have most when she's excited, like an excited fist pump. Any other parents have this due to low potassium? She is exclusively breast fed and for almost 2 months has been eating rice/oatmeal veggie/fruit servings with 4 nursing sessions daily. Now, lately we have not been giving her the Poly-vi-sol vitamin regularly, maybe once a week, if that. So before I freak out over what brain disorder that is causing this in an otherwise perfectly healthy baby with no complications EVER since conception, I hope someone may be able to help. Thanks.

[plymouth]

i would go ahead and call ur pediatrician. could be nothing but with little ones its best just to call ur doc. try to get back on track with ur vitamins and maybe she just strained something. are there any signs or symptoms of pain or discomfort with the twitches?

[AirForceDad]

No, she is a very happy baby. Her motor skills are great, if anything scooting across the floor forwards better this morning. She can be laughing while it'll happen, it mainly happens when excited by either a toy or feeding her some cereal/veggies. I've observed her sleeping for over 45 min's total at different naps, and I don't see any jerking/twitching/spasm while sleeping. I have called the pediatrician, closed on sunday. I'm debating taking her to emergency today, all they'll do is check her vitals which I'm sure are fine, maybe they'll take blood work which I'm very interested in her iron and potass. levels. I'm just surprised I haven't found anything like this with other breastfed only babies, but I haven't searched that deeply. Thanks for your reply!

[RockRose]

AirForceDad - you describe this as if it's an involuntary muscle reaction - are you sure it's involuntary?  My nephew started something like this at that age - they called it "being intense" for lack of any better word.   It was hard to tell whether he was doing it voluntarily,  but it could replicate it EXACTLY if you said hey Dave be intense.  

Since then I've seen parents describe this on this forum occasionally.  

I think you're doing the right thing taking her to the doctor.  But first,  get good video of her doing this because its hard to picture with just a verbal description.  Video is a GREAT thing to have at the docs office!

Best wishes.

[mommyofnathan]

I would suggest you take her to a specialist.  I don't think you should ignore abnormal movement patterns.  Better be safe than sorry, ask for an EEG.  Rock Rose has a good point, for some reason once they go to the doctor, there's nothing wrong!!  good luck

[mummy0208]

my four year old son when excited twist his hands round and in the air in a fist,also when he is sitting down or lying down settleing for sleep his face contorts as if he is pictureing things and his arms and legs are thrashing around when i talk to him and ask him what he is doing he says he is thinking!he doesnt seem to be aware he is doing this and has done so since he was about six months old.what is it?

[Annasmom327]

My daughter has similar movements.  She is six months old and when I am feeding her a bottle her arms (not at the same time) flap up and down.  I get worried because to me they seem to be involuntary.  I know that can be a sign of cerebral palsy.  However, at this time I have been advised to "wait and see" how her motor skills develop because she is on point otherwise (developmentally).  So I am keeping my fingers crossed that she will outgrow this and have a normal lifestyle.  I will keep you and your daughter in my prayers and hope for the best.

[KimHaas]

Wow - I was just perusing the internet seeking some advice for the EXACT same symptoms.  Our 7 1/2 month old  seems to also have these shoulder spasms - almost like a muscle tick, like he's shrugging his left shoulder.   He's very happy and it doesn't seem to bother him at all, I've just noticed it more and more.  Let me know what you find out.  I'm calling our pediatrician tomorrow ...

[mommyofnathan]

just make a video recording of it first.  Children (regardless of their level of abilities) have the funny way of NOT doing what you want them to do for the doctor...

[malcolm300]

My baby boy is doing these spasms, he's 8motnhs old. None of the above have reported what came of their visits to doctors or what has happened since. Can anyone say what happened or give any advice?

Much appreciated

Malcolm

[Brockyboy]

Wow my 8 month son is doing the shrugging thing aswell. I didnt know whether to go to the doctor or not. It first started as a twitch to the left shoulder and now its turned into a dropped head movement. I have no idea why he has just started doing it. Ive only noticed it in the last 3 weeks. He is a breastfeed bub, and eating fruit, vegies, custards and yogurts each day. He is extremely happy with no regard to what he is doing. He can do it 6 times in a row than nothing for a while. He has excema on his neck so I thought it might that might be making him do it, like a lazy way of scratching it.???

[adzogolonzo]

Just to try and help.  I have a 5 month daughter who does this.  Seems to normally be when she is tired, or just woken up.  My Daughter was diagnosed as having cerebral Palsy from birth and though we believe them to be muscle spasms, there is a chance they can be very small fits.  So it is also worth checking these things out

[JennaAndAJ]

My breastfed 5 1/2 month old son started having shoulder spasms a few days ago... it looked like his whole left arm was straightened and his shoulder would shrug up to his ear, then he would be like it never happened for a few seconds or a minute, and it would keep happening.  The three days that he had these spasms, it was while he was in his hichair at around 10 in the morning, eating cereal or applesauce for breakfast.  

I took a video on my camera thee days ago, 1 minute and a half long, with 19 spasms, and he was doing it again so I called his pediatrician yesterday. She had me bring him in, she rotated his shoulders, had him hold something in both hands to see if he could hold things normally, she even felt around his stomach, and then she told me to take him to the hospital today and have an X-ray done to check his joints... ?  Which confuses me.  I asked if she had ever seen something like this before and she said no, she didn't even know what diagnosis to write on the scrip to take to the hospital.

We decided to wait a day or two and see if he keeps doing this... He's such a healthy baby, there were no complications with my pregnancy or birth, and he hasn't even had a cold.  Right now we are going to wait and see.

[flare]

Hi,

My daughter is 9 1/2 months now and just started this shoulder twitching a few days ago as well. It is worrying us a lot. It initially was just a couple of times a day, now it seems to be happening quite often..maybe because we are watching her closely now. The twitches does not seem to bother her and it last just a few seconds then stops. Sometimes her shoulder will go up to her cheek, sometimes is just a tiny twitch. Mostly happens on her right shoulder. Going to take her to see a Paed this week.

Has anyone got any results back from their visit?

[jazzcats729]

My 7 month old is doing this exact same thing - I went online to try and find some information and this discussion describes perfectly what she is doing.  She is also very healthy and breast-fed.  I am really freaked out - has anyone gotten any answers yet?

[jazzcats729]

Did some more research - looks like possibly benign myoclonic seizures