3 yr old twitching/jerking in sleep.

[SquishSquasherHellHounds]

Ds was poorly a couple of weeks ago with a fairly high temperature.
Whilst awake and asleep, he kept jerking his arms and legs, almost like a dog chasing rabbits in its sleep, but for a shorter time, he did it on and off for 6 hours that night until he properly settled.

Saw the GP the next day, who felt it was a reaction to the temperature (which we struggled to control), sort of like a precursor to a febrile convulsion.

Two nights ago he did it again but not as obviously and only for ten minutes immediately after falling asleep. He didn't have a temperature.

Last night he settled well, but came into bed with me at midnight and was on and off twitching for a good 2 or 3 hours before properly settling. Again he didn't have a temperature.

Today he seems fine, has a bit of a cough, but is ok.

I'm going to try to film this so I can show the GP what he's doing, but if anyone can reassure me, that would great, or give me a clue what is going on.
Thank you.

Jerking and twitching as we fall asleep is called hypnic jerk and is very common and normal. My dd did a very similar thing recently of twitching and jerking in sleep with high fever too. Was quite concerned but then observed my 7 year old and I was amazed how often his body twitched too in sleep. I have just posted because my daughter yawns in sleep and I am worried about this too but I think children are naturally quite fidgety in sleep its just we don't usually sit and watch them all night. Good to record and investigate to put your mind at rest though.

My 3 year old has been a very 'active' sleeper since he was 6 months old.

The other night, 5 minutes after falling asleep he started thrashing as though he was scrambling away from something. Quite freaky actually.

So far, he hasnt sleptwalked but has slept talked/rolled/sat up/crawled nd thrashed. Ive been assuming its normal cos Im a sleepwalker.

Its often worse when DS is overtired.

Overtired could have something to do with it.
He's always been a very still sleeper, not fidgety at all (co-slept from birth, now he starts in his own bed and appears at some point in the night)

He slept fine last night, no twitching at all. He did say during the day that he had a sore throat, so maybe he's been a bit poorly again for those couple of nights.

My other dc are fidgety sleepers, but this is different, more involuntary jerking movements.