Is this normal? Because it doesn't seem normal!!

[AnotherWorry]

My DD (7) in the last week or so has started to move NON STOP!!

It's like a wee-wee jiffle, tiny little hops from one leg to the other.

After a few days of asking her if she needed a wee, I finally said "what on earth are you doing?!"

The answer was counting. In 8s. As in 2 bars of 4.

She is a hobby dancer and a good pianist but this is a very sudden thing.

And it is literally all the time. For the last week I haven't see her not doing this dancing/fidgeting thing.

Would you be worried? Is she displaying some kind of OCD stress coping mechanisms and about to have a nervous breakdown?

[Gorgeous73]

Coping mechanism for what? Has there been a big change/trauma/anything that would affect her? Maybe you could discreetly try to see if something's happened in school for example, because of this is a coping mechanism then there must be some underlying anxiety she's trying to manage. But one week isn't a long time and children do display minor compulsive behaviours while growing up. If this doesn't stop soon then I would speak to teacher and/or GP.
Isn't she exhausted from all the hopping? What does she do when she has to go to bed (and effectively stop hopping)?

[AnotherWorry]

The moving doesn't pass on to other available limbs. No foot or finger tapping for example. So she only does it when she's on her feet. She says she does it at school and no one has asked her why she's fidgeting.

But it's very disconcerting to watch.

There's not been any changes or trauma. No divorce, deaths or moves. Some normal 7yo tears about school, worried about getting into trouble for not getting her work right (she's not at any risk of that) playing hockey in the cold etc

[AnotherWorry]

She has pulled her her since being a toddler though. Not pulled as in yanking chunks out, but playing with it until it snaps then playing with the loose hair. She's done that forever - it started with my hair when she was 10 weeks old then moved into herself.

And she bit her nails from 2yo until 6yo.

[Gorgeous73]

I can imagine it's worrying to witness. I'm assuming you've already checked if there is no physical cause (although she's old enough to say about pain/itchiness etc but nevertheless, that's always something to get out of the way first). Is there anything else that's changed (i.e. lack of concentration, loss of interest)? Does she manage to sit and finish a meal, for example? I still think if she keeps doing it for a while or if her behaviour becomes more intense, then GP would need to investigate (or perhaps school counselor).
If there aren't any physical or emotional causes at the root of it, then I would try to either ignore and see if it changes, or try to divert her energy into something else.

[Gorgeous73]

Your DD is reminding me of mine when she was her age (almost 16 now). In my DD's case, we realised she had very high expectations from herself and it was making her quite anxious. It took us a bit of time to figure it out as she was too young to express all of that (also that we might have had inadvertently encouraged her perfectionism by constantly saying how she was always great). It might be completely different situation for your DD of course. Either way, if you're very worried, you can always have an informal chat with her GP and take it from there.

[AnotherWorry]

Thank you for your advice Gorgeous. The only change for her has been the jump from Yr 2 to Yr 3. Maybe it's harder for her than I realised. Or maybe it's just come on since she decided she wanted to be a professional ballerina!!

I'll have a chat with her about it in more detail and keep an eye on other indicators and see a dr if it doesn't stop soon.

[Gorgeous73]

Good luck

[MdNdD]

My five year old started clapping his hands next to his ears. All the time. Started one day and seemed to come from nowhere and he just didn’t stop.
Turned out he was learning (and totally loving) bucket drumming at school and was practising the beat!
I’d been about to take him to the doctor until I went to school music presentation and it then made sense!

[KalaLaka]

Ask her why she does it and how it makes her feel. How would she feel if she didn't do it? Sounds like OCD but lots of children go through this.