Worried about strange arm movement in DD

[Torwood]

Hi, my DD is 10.5mths and I'm a bit worried about her development. She seems slower than her older brothers to do things but not very slow if that makes sense. She is crawling but not yet cruising. She babbles but not with the vigour that the boys had. they also had 2 or 3 words by now but she seems nowhere near speaking.
However, my main worry is a strange movement she does with one arm. She will raise it up then drop it again. Sometimes 2 or 3 times in succession. It's a fairly quick movement. She doesn't seem bothered by this or even to notice that she's doing it but it's really worrying me. DD does this maybe once every hour or 2 and it is always her right arm. It's not an excited flapping movement as its only ever one side and it doesn't seem to correspond to anything else. She isn't trying to wave or anything.

Just to add that her crawling seems fairly symmetrical but when she first started crawling it was commando style and she would pull herself along using just one arm; the one with the strange movement. she would pull with that arm then reach for toys and stuff with the other arm. She seems to finger feed with both hands and hold toys with both hands. Having said that, her grasp or grip isn't anything like as strong as the boys at the same age but I don't know if that's a boy thing. They walked at 10/11mths if it's relevant. Has anyone else's baby had a similar movement going on? Did they grow out of it?

[flipflopsonfifthavenue]

I remember being worried about all sorts of arm movements with DS1 before the age of 1. Can't remember exactly but there was definitely some flapping and shivering/shaking movements. He's 2.5yo now and perfectly normal.

However DS2 (14wks) has one very rigid arm, his right one. Whenever you pick him up he keeps it dead straight, down at about 45degrees to his body and slightly behind him. Makes holding him really awkward. He uses both hands the same way so can bring them together and suck both fists etc but whenever you lift him he goes into this rigid arm position. He's very strong and pretty much held his head up from birth and holding him feels like he's pushing away from you even when he's not. Difficult to explain.

All I can think is that he was in this position in the womb...?

Best advice is don't compare to your boys and see what happens over next few months and maybe mention to HV at 12mo check?

[Torwood]

Thanks Flipflop. I don't think I'd worry quite so much if it was both arms but the fact that it's just one worries me. DH says the best way he can think to describe it is it's like she's doing a nazi salute. She doesn't even seem to notice.

[Torwood]

Bump

[Quiero]

Honestly, I don't know about the arm movements other than that babies can be weird defo check with HV.

The other stuff is definitely nothing to worry about. I suspect your boys were ahead of milestones and DD is "normal". Neither of my two DC could say any words or cruise at 10 months and both developed normally.

[bakingtins]

Video it and show your GP. Anything that could possibly be neurological shouldn't be ignored. If you are not happy ask for referral to a neurologist.
My DD 8m, has just been diagnosed with infantile spasms, they look like very mild uncontrolled movements ( head drops, arms fly up) repeated several times. They cause catastrophic brain damage and arrested development if left untreated. I am not saying that's what your DD has, just that your mother's instinct should not be ignored. Get it checked.

[backtowork2015]

does it look like the guarding reflex they have when they're born? the one where they raise one arm when they turn their head?

[backtowork2015]

none of the rest of what you say sounds slow btw

[girliefriend]

The moving and talking thing sound totally normal, the arm thing is probably nothing but as pp said maybe video it and show gp to put your mind to rest.

[Torwood]

Thank you everyone. Backtowork, no, it's not like that fencing pose where one arm goes up and the other down when they're sleeping. It's out in front of her when she's sitting or standing against something or even being held. It goes out and up, down, up down then stops. Then same thing a while later. Having something in her hand doesn't seem to stop it.

[Torwood]

Bakingtins, thank you also for your post. You are right in that I'm worried that leaving it or ignoring it could cause damage even though it seems subtle. I hope your dd is doing well.

[Torwood]

Bumping in case anyone else recognises this as a 'thing'.

[Mistlewoeandwhine]

My son did weird arm things from birth and was later diagnosed with epilepsy. There is such a thing a partial epilepsy where one limb is affected. Definitely get it checked out. And GPs are often not great at epilepsy diagnosis - if possible, video her doing it to show the GP.

[Torwood]

Thank you both. I know it looks subtle but it doesn't look right to me. The boys flapped and stuff especially when excited but this is different. Her receptive language is also pretty much non existent. My boys had reasonable receptive language at this age ie where is your dummy/socks etc but she just looks at me blankly. Not sure if the boys were ahead and she shouldn't really be big in RL yet or whether she is showing signs of delay. Just so worried at the moment.

[Svictory26]

Did you get any further info on this? My daughter is the same age right now and doing this also. It seemed to start after I taught her "so big" but now seems to be like a tic or something on just one arm. She will be walking around or sitting and randomly do this. Arm goes up and her face sort of tenses and then right back down. Pretty concerned.

[KylaKins]

@Svictory26 hi there, I wonder if you ever got any answers about this? My 8 month old is doing the same and I am worried sick.