Twirling of hands and feet...

[Jessicalynnexo8]

Hello everyone I am new to this so please bare with me.. :)
My daughter is 17 months old. She twirls her hands and feet when she is excited and tired, sometimes she holds her breath for a second or two. She has done the twirling since she was a young baby. I have tried researching this online but haven't gotten far. I know children with autism are known to "twirl." Her pedi is aware she does this and we are on a waiting list to have her seen by a specialist. She has hit all her milestones at normal times. Her pedi says he thinks everything is fine with her she just does it to vent her excitement. I'm just curious if anyone else has been through this and has some answers.... Thank you! :)

[Jessicalynnexo8]

Thank you! I will look into that

[madwomanbackintheattic]

Lots of toddlers flap their hands when excited - is that what you mean by 'twirl'? Or you do literally mean a very circular motion? (Have also seen a fair amount of babies and toddlers doing this)
Dd2 has athetosis - which can present as writhing, and she has at various points had athetoidy toes/ fingers etc. This is from brain damage though, and there were lots of other signs.
Retts is another syndrome which can be categorized by hand movements., but again you would have other noticeable symptoms.
I think your dd has a perfectly normal and very common habit that is not indicative of any additional need

[Jessicalynnexo8]

She twirls her ands and feet in a circular motion when she is tired or excited. She's done it since she was a baby. The thing that bothers me a little is how she holds her breath when she does it for a few seconds. Thank you for responding, I looked up both of the things you mentioned and I do not believe it's either of those. I know children with autism "flap" their hands so I was more worried about that. I noticed a lot of moms saying their children twirl their hands and feet too. Hopefully I'm just being over cautious :)

[sbalexander]

My 2.5 year old daughter does the exact same thing. She twirls her feet and holds her breath with the craziest looking face when she's concentrating on something. Her pedi said he's never seen anything like it before, but she's perfectly healthy and normal (other than this weird quirk). I hope your daughter is okay as well! Did you ever take her to a specialist?