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Facial Spasms
I have a wonderful baby girl named Makenna. She is 10 months old. We noticed her teeth are finally cutting a few days ago. It seems like since that day she has been having facial spasms. My wife and I are very concerned. It happens very quick (between a half second to two seconds), often when she is either excited or frustrated, but sometimes just out of the blue. She doesn't seem to notice them at all and just continues about her business. After a serach on the internet I am terrified. Could she have Infantile spasms? Prognosis is poor for IS. Her spasms don't look like the IS spasms I am seeing online, but I don't know if they start small and then progress. We have an appointment with her Ped tomorrow morning. We have no idea what to expect.
She has been a miracle baby since she was born. She has been breastfed since day one, she has slept through the night for months, she eats anything we give her, and she is really the happiest baby I have ever seen and rarely cries unless she is tired. I can't imagine anything actually being wrong with her.
She has been a miracle baby since she was born. She has been breastfed since day one, she has slept through the night for months, she eats anything we give her, and she is really the happiest baby I have ever seen and rarely cries unless she is tired. I can't imagine anything actually being wrong with her.
My boy will be 7months soon and he started having facial spasms (tic, cramping - his mouth goes all crazy, one eyebrow lifts really high, sometimes his shoulders will tense up) couple of days ago. We got so freaked out that we went to an ER (showed them a video where our baby does that thing) - they said it doesn't look that bad, it probably is just a phase that baby goes through but advised to see a pediatrician. Yesterday i went to our clinic and some physician took a look at him (our pedi couldn't see us until today) and said that he'll be fine and i don't have to worry. How can i not worry if my son is having facial spasms - each one lasts about 3sec and it happens more than 10times a day? So we are seeing our pedi later today, will see what she has to say.
His facial spasms happens only when he's moving around and smiling. If he's sitting in his car seat, eating or just laying in his stroller - he's fine and i haven't seen the cramping to happen during those times.
What freaks me out the most - no one has ever seen this to happen with a baby! No one - i have talked and emailed the video to a bunch of people and all of them have never experienced such thing!
His facial spasms happens only when he's moving around and smiling. If he's sitting in his car seat, eating or just laying in his stroller - he's fine and i haven't seen the cramping to happen during those times.
What freaks me out the most - no one has ever seen this to happen with a baby! No one - i have talked and emailed the video to a bunch of people and all of them have never experienced such thing!
can you help me? My daughter is only 3.5 month and has started showing the tic. The ped adviced MRI rather than EEG. I don't why but I don't want the MRI b/c of the anesthesia. Does any of you know if MRI is ok for such a young baby? I am so terrified and worried. Please help. The tic on her face is so frequent. When it happens, it could be every 1-2 minute. She won't have it when she sleep or feed. Thanks much for your help!!!
I just got an email alerting to a private message regarding this thread. It has been a very long time since I posted this and I remember the fear vividly. My second post shows my frustration. Makenna will be four in January and she has never had any further episodes. She is a very healthy, happy, and well adjusted little girl. She also has a little brother that is due any minute now. He's taking his time though. I keep telling my wife that it feels like the day before Christmas... everyday!
To all the parents searching for information on this mysterious topic, I hope this thread helps. I remember finding nothing constructive on the subject, only bad news. I didn't realize the activity generated on this thread, but it looks like all the parents that have posted have kids that turned out healthy. Good luck... and try not to drive yourself or your spouse crazy while you go through the paces of the EEG and the MRI.
To all the parents searching for information on this mysterious topic, I hope this thread helps. I remember finding nothing constructive on the subject, only bad news. I didn't realize the activity generated on this thread, but it looks like all the parents that have posted have kids that turned out healthy. Good luck... and try not to drive yourself or your spouse crazy while you go through the paces of the EEG and the MRI.
1 Comments
Thanks so much for following up--It's now been many years since your post! My daughter is 8 months and doing something similar to what you are describing. She is so developmentally appropriate in every other way its just these random facials spasms... Reading this makes me feel much better!
I just wanted to leave a post regarding this subject.
We looked all over the internet to find out what was happening to our little boy Fraser some 7 months ago. He was having some involuntary tics or facial spasms that started at about 7 months of age that just didn't quite fit the IS diagnosis. They progressively got worse for the next 2-3 months so much so that we thought it best to get a EEG scan. It's hard to describe the symptoms, but his eye lids would flutter and his face would contort into a mild grimace for 0.5 to 1 secs 3-4 times in a row. At it's peak these kind of episodes would happen about 5-8 times per day. We couldn't isolate any pattern to this either through his diet or time of the day - it just seemed so random. The closest we could find to a trigger was bright light, but even then it was sporadic.
I probably don't need to illustrate the fear and worry that goes through your mind at this stage, as you're probably there at the moment, but we did find incredible comfort from the this thread - which leads me to this post. Between the EEG (where incidentally he did have an episode) and the following specialists consultation (several weeks later), things improved dramatically and they seemed to just stop. The specialist said that there was no abnormal brain activity, even while he had the episode, which was a huge relief. But by then I felt fairly certain this was just going to disappear. The problem only lasted about 3 months and has now complete gone. It's now been 4 months since he had a spasm and it looks to have naturally cleared up.
I truly hope this post reaches parents who are worried about these kinds of spasms that the medical community doesn't seem to have classified. Our specialist was equally mystified. After reading the previous posts and through our experience, I suspect brain development in some infants can veer slightly off course during this rapid period of growth, but self corrects. He's lovely boy, bright as a button and developing ahead of the curve with whole world ahead of him.
Best wishes to your family and I hope everything works out as well for you.
We looked all over the internet to find out what was happening to our little boy Fraser some 7 months ago. He was having some involuntary tics or facial spasms that started at about 7 months of age that just didn't quite fit the IS diagnosis. They progressively got worse for the next 2-3 months so much so that we thought it best to get a EEG scan. It's hard to describe the symptoms, but his eye lids would flutter and his face would contort into a mild grimace for 0.5 to 1 secs 3-4 times in a row. At it's peak these kind of episodes would happen about 5-8 times per day. We couldn't isolate any pattern to this either through his diet or time of the day - it just seemed so random. The closest we could find to a trigger was bright light, but even then it was sporadic.
I probably don't need to illustrate the fear and worry that goes through your mind at this stage, as you're probably there at the moment, but we did find incredible comfort from the this thread - which leads me to this post. Between the EEG (where incidentally he did have an episode) and the following specialists consultation (several weeks later), things improved dramatically and they seemed to just stop. The specialist said that there was no abnormal brain activity, even while he had the episode, which was a huge relief. But by then I felt fairly certain this was just going to disappear. The problem only lasted about 3 months and has now complete gone. It's now been 4 months since he had a spasm and it looks to have naturally cleared up.
I truly hope this post reaches parents who are worried about these kinds of spasms that the medical community doesn't seem to have classified. Our specialist was equally mystified. After reading the previous posts and through our experience, I suspect brain development in some infants can veer slightly off course during this rapid period of growth, but self corrects. He's lovely boy, bright as a button and developing ahead of the curve with whole world ahead of him.
Best wishes to your family and I hope everything works out as well for you.
Our baby had "facial spasms" when she was around 6 month old. These happened over a course of a week and would happen several times during the day. She would have an unusual mouth opening and curving expression. We taped this and showed it to our pediatritian who tought it is probably nothing but recommended seeing a pediatric neurologist just to be sure. We did an EEG which came back normal showing no seizure activity. We also did an MRI which showed some brain abnormalities. It is uncertain if those spasms were related to this in any way. She is 10 months now and she never had any other "events".
If your child is having facial spasms, while it is probably nothing, it is good to ask for a specialist oppinion.
If your child is having facial spasms, while it is probably nothing, it is good to ask for a specialist oppinion.
facial spasms tend to happen when a young child is growing quickly. It's fairly normal and goes away on it's own. My cousin had it for a few months and then it was gone. haven't had any problems since and everything is perfectly normal.
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